(Part 3) Top products from r/roadtrip

Fantastic question u/ardnassac115, and I'm glad you asked it. For some background on me, I'm 25 and used to work full-time in a pretty serious career before deciding to return to graduate school full-time. This lined up for me, and is probably one of the few times in my life I'll be able to do something this long and live-changing. When in my life will I have the holy trinity of time, energy, and money again? I had budgeted through grad school to 1.) make sure I could go through grad school without working, and 2.) make sure I had enough leftover to do something like this before returning to work. I still live at home and my major monthly expenses are student loans, car payment/insurance, and a cell phone bill. I budgeted to make sure the cost of this trip, in addition to those expenses, could be covered while I was gone before returning to work. I hope that answers your question regarding saving up.

Planning the trip was difficult at first, but became easier over time. I've never done anything like this in my life and I had no idea what I was doing. The most important thing is to first decide how long you want the trip to be. Everything else comes afterwards. I decided 6 weeks because it'd be enough to see a lot while not killing me financially. Next, I knew I wanted to see national parks, but had no idea how. This helped me immensely. It's an "optimal route" to see all the national parks in the lower 48 states (note there have been two new NP additions since: Gateway Arch NP and Indiana Dunes NP). In what I'm sure is a cardinal sin of this sub, I took the fastest, most direct routes in the interest of time rather than looking for scenic routes most of the time. I cared more about time in the parks than pretty views from my car (although there were many). If you look at the order of my route and the route through that link, you'll notice it's very similar. After, I just started researching parks and seeing which ones I want to see the most, and which ones I could skip for now or save for the future. Once I had that down, I opened up an excel sheet and google maps and started actually mapping each day, how long the drives would be between destinations, what I wanted to do, where I'd sleep each night, and how long I'd spend at each destination. How long was decided during the research part on the parks I decided to see on this trip. For example, parks like Rocky Mountan, Zion, Grand Teton, Yellowstone, Yosemite, and the Grand Canyon all got 2 essentially full days because they were so big that I didn't think I could do all the things I wanted to do in a single day. Parks like Badlands, Great Sand Dunes, Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Kings Canyon, Sequoia, Carlsbad Caverns, Gateway Arch, and Cuyahoga Valley I knew could be done in a single, very packed day. To preface that, I'm in shape and did a lot of hiking at a pretty unhealthy (read: fast) pace, allowing me to do a multitude of trails each day to get everything. I'm not going to lie, it took me a ton of effort to route my trip and make sure it was within the time frame. I essentially made an itinerary for myself. It's not as rigid as I'm making it sound, as the only thing really holding me to schedule was reserving campsites or AirBnBs. Otherwise I'd be able to do that research a few nights prior and alter as I needed. On the flip side, when it's 7PM and you don't know where you're sleeping that night, that can be a scary thing if you're not used to it.

I want to emphasize my planning of each day at parks too. I touched on that above, but this blog, where the authors spent 52 weeks doing all 59 (at the time) national parks for the centennial in 2016, was extremely helpful. The pictures, descriptions, and other info were so valuable. My friend's dad caught wind I was doing this trip and lent me three national park guides: Fodors, National Geographic, and Lonely Planet. These were the most important for actually planning my days in parks, with Fodors being by far the most useful, National Geographic also being good, and honestly not much help from Lonely Planet. Just an FYI, the links are for the exact copies I used, but there are newer versions available that you should get if you look into it. A note on this - it saved me a tremendous amount of valuable time when I got to parks to already know exactly what I wanted to do. If I had extra time and could do stuff I didn't know about, that was great! But on packed days it helps to know where things are in each park and how reasonable your "want to do" adventures are for the time frame.

For road trip prep I had to buy or borrow some things I didn't have and got the rest from my house: sleeping bag, sleeping pad, bed comforter, tarp, tent, knife, bear spray, pepper spray, a road atlas, a lantern, an abundance of snacks (clif bars, larabars, peanut butter crackers, etc), national park passport, a good cooler for water/food, camp stove and bowls, matches, paper towels, hand sanitizer, and some other things that I'm surely not remembering. A good, solid backpack and some good water bottles are necessary. Multi-tools are useful. Don't forget some engine coolant and wiper fluid just in case. Don't forget to stop for an oil change if your trip is long enough. For clothing I put a suitcase in the back seat of my car and lived out of that between laundry. Also had a box with some of the above items in it along with toiletries and other essentials like baby wipes, phone charger, electric razor and charger, nail clippers, sandwich baggies, and a few other things.

Woooo, that was a long winded post! There is so much to think about and plan when doing something like this, and I'd be lying if I said a great deal of work didn't go into my plan. If this trip had been shorter, a lot of this wouldn't be necessary. Six weeks though, that's a long time away from home, completely on my own. Having never done something even close to this, I felt I needed to do a lot of this prep work to make sure this went as smoothly as possible. It did go very smoothly too, but I attribute a lot of that to planning. I hope that this essay response helps you understand the pre-trip process I went through a bit better. I'd be happy to answer any questions you have!

My wife and I have camped pretty extensively across the West and a bit around the East (we’re just down from you in NE Ohio). First, I have to say that the Western US is where the natural beauty of North America is at its best, so spend as much time as you can out there!

We started camping around with a really basic and cheap Coleman Redwood tent that definitely did what we needed. We didn’t do trips as long as yours though, and we found some disadvantages for camping in the mountains and on the Great Plains. At first we used an air mattress and two cheap Coleman sleeping bags. We threw all our little stuff in plastic bins you buy at Target or Walmart, which kept rodents out of our food and random sundries like lighters, dish soap, duct tape, cooking fuel, etc. separate from our eating utensils. It makes it way easier to load/unload everything from the car onto a picnic table or wherever to use them. We cooked over our campfires using the grill on the firepit and cast iron skillets my wife found at thrift stores.

We camp mostly the same way now, but we learned a ton from our first Western road trip—most especially that it’s extremely cold to sleep on a bare air mattress, especially at high elevations in the mountains where temperatures approach freezing at night even in July. It’s also cumbersome to set up an air mattress, since you need the blower and batteries to inflate one, which is annoying when you camp in super remote places or you get to camp when everything is already closed. Therefore here is the gear I’d recommend for sleeping:

• Get a small tent—sleeping in a car is not comfortable, especially if it’s full of your gear. Small tents stay warmer at night because you have less air space to heat up with your body, and less surface area for heat to escape. We upgraded from our Coleman 4-person to an REI Half Dome 2 Plus which fits the two of us and maybe a little room for shoes/flashlights/water bottles at your feet and vestibules outside to keep stuff like boots/shoes dry. Get a footprint for it too, so you have easier setup than with a tarp, and so it doesn’t channel rain under your tent.
  
  
• Buy a blow-up camping pad—we got Therm-a-Rest NeoAir sleeping pads that are human inflatable in 1-2 minutes (no batteries needed) and are lined with Mylar, which reflects your infrared back at you to help you stay warmer. You could use an air mattress and lay a space blanket down between you and your sleeping bag, but it’s much more cumbersome. We also found these pads were more comfortable as well as easier and faster to set up. They are also super small and light, and work well for backpacking, which we eventually want to get into. Get something that suits you, but don’t feel like you have to buy it right away. You could upgrade during your trip at an outdoor equipment store after you get a couple weeks of camping experience under your belt. These things were pricey, but they were worth it!
  
  
• Buy a cheap sleeping bag, and ignore the temperature ratings. Read the reviews of each bag and see what people say about the one you’re interested in. You can get more expensive ones that pack smaller and are lighter, but they aren’t necessary for staying warm and comfortable. We haven’t upgraded from our Coleman Green Valleys, which are rated 30-50 degrees but get a tad chilly in the 30s if you’re not wearing extra layers (which you need if you have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night).
  
  
• Get a set of Mylar-lined base layers—these things are A M A Z I N G ! We stumbled into a Columbia store when we were in Portland and got a set on sale and we never leave home without them now! They are comfortable for hiking or sleeping, and keep you so much warmer than long underwear ever could.
  
  
• Wool hiking socks—but a bunch of these—because you’ll never want to wear any other socks again if you get decent ones. I found a whole bunch on clearance at Dick’s Sporting Goods one September and I wear them summer or winter, because they are über-comfortable and keep my feet dry whether it’s hot or cold. They keep your feet much warmer when you sleep too.
  
  Besides the sleeping gear, we’ve also added a little camp stove we got at Aldi. It’s super small and light, and saves us the trouble of building a fire to cook things up in our cast iron skillet. The only problem is that some places out in California don’t sell the butane cans the thing takes for fuel—so you might want to buy a cheap propane stove instead, since you’ll probably get a lot of use from it. Definitely make sure you learn the wonder of the potato! You can make them in so many ways that are awesome and they’re wonderful for energy.
  
  As far as wild animals go, learn how to camp in bear country—there are tons of vids from the National Park Service about this, and they will increase your confidence. We’ve done tons of trips with plenty of camping in developed campgrounds and have had zero problems with them. Just follow whatever local rangers tell you, and you should be fine. To abbreviate, never bring food into your tent, so the smell of food doesn’t sink in—and keep your food and eating utensils in hard-sided vehicles out of sight or in a bear box (a big cabinet at most campsites). Bears are attracted to scented items—even a stick of gum, a tube of toothpaste, or dish detergent can get them rummaging through your tent.
  
  And whatever you do, don’t rush and try to see everything in one trip! Spend a few days in the best places, and assume you will be back to see more someday. I don’t feel like I need to drill this into your head all that much compared to most people, but don’t expect to see even just the Western US in 2-3 months.
  
  As far as destinations, make sure you hit Yosemite (my personal favorite), Yellowstone/Grand Teton, Glacier, and Olympic if you’re going in summer months. If you’re going Sept/Oct or Apr/May, then definitely hit Zion, Arches, Grand Canyon, and anything else in Southern Utah, Southern Nevada, or Northern Arizona. And buy a book, Your Guide to the National Parks, as it makes researching and planning so much easier!

Okay, the servers went kaput here at work, so I got a chance to look at your route some more.

For the east coast, I'd probably go US 1. I've not done the east coast highway yet, but all the reading I've done on it says it's quite pretty. (You also might want to give this a read: http://www.amazon.com/The-Great-American-Road-Trip/dp/0813527414 ). And really, if you're almost all the way down to the south part of Florida, you might as well push through and see the Keys

From the east end of Tennessee, I'd go west to Memphis and south along the The Great River Road. The Jack Daniels distillery is a really cool tour, Graceland really is worth a stop even if you're not a huge Elvis fan and the Blues Highway has a bunch of R&B and Blues sites and clubs to stop at. That gets you down to New Orleans like you originally planned. (Here's some shots I took when I drove that neck of the woods a couple of years ago: https://www.flickr.com/photos/tonyjcase/sets/72157627567128155/ )

Not much experience driving Texas and Oklahoma, so I'll skip that. Utah, on the other hand - I concur with GameHenges - Moab is mindblowingly beautiful. Also, Zion and Bryce are astoundingly beautiful parks. Well worth a day each stopover each. And since you're in that area, I might throw a stop at Four Corners in too. Yeah it's tourist trappy, but it's still fun if you're going past.

From there, I've already covered US 101, so lets look at from Washington back to the east coast. Once you get to the puget sound, I would hop a ferry from Kingston to Edmonds and hook up with Highway 2 instead of driving I-90. The drive through the mountains is stunning, Levenworth is a fun little town, and it's a more interesting drive through Eastern Washington. Plus go check out Grand Coolee Dam's laser light show, if you're in the neighborhood come nighttime.

edit
Sorry, forgot that you're hitting Rainier. Ignore the ferry advice and go Highway 12, which goes RIGHT past Rainier. You'll miss Levenworth and the Dam, but the drive through the Rockies is pretty cool too.

Highway 2 also sets you up nicely for Glacier National Park, too. From there, down to Highway 14 should get you through the interesting parts of South Dakota (be sure to hit Wall Drug) and back home.

Last year a buddy and I took a 1300 mile trip around Colorado /r/dualsport ride on a Husqvarna 701 and a Yamaha WR250R. Here's a photo of the gear from last year.

This year we are adding one person (riding a monster, brand new, KTM 1090 Adventure R) to the crew and moving a little farther west to see some of the amazing sites in Utah. I put together a 1500 mile route, and will tack on White Rim Trail (if we can get passes) and wander around in Beef Basin for a bit.

A few of my friends have started using Polar Steps, so I've setup a trip and will try to keep it updated. I also maintain a simple website and will post photos on my flickr account.

Now, on to the fun, because sorting out gear and packing is half the fun of a /r/motocamping trip.

I'm involved in volunteer search and rescue (/r/searchandrescue) so a lot of this gear comes from my callout pack and extended incident command packs. The more experienced riders will notice that I'm lacking any tools, spares, tube slime, etc. I'm fortunate enough to be riding with 2 other riders that are packing all that jazz.

Two mottos:

1. buy once, cry once
   
2. high speed, low drag
   
   motorcycle
   
   

• Yamaha WR250R 2018
  
• Dunlop D606 tires
  
• heavy-duty tubes
  
• Tusk rack
  
• Tusk handguards
  
• Rox Speed 2" risers
  
• Seal Savers
  
• Moose Racing skid
  
• HaloCam front+rear dashcam
  
• IMS 3 gallon tank
  
• Double Take enduro mirros
  
• Edge2 fender eliminator
  
• USB charging port
  
  navigation
  
  
• Garmin 64s - Most Garmin's allow OSM maps. Free, crowd-sourced maps are a huge win in my opinion.
  
• Garmin inReach Mini - in the event I "full send"
  
• OSMAnd+ - Open Street Maps offline maps
  
• GaiaGPS - offline satellite images, private/public property maps, USFS road maps and topo maps
  
  photgraphy
  
  
• Sony a7iii
  
• Sigma 14mm f1.8
  
• F-stop Navin - mounted on my chest, holds my Sony a7iii
  
• Lowepro Toploader chest harness
  
• Lance Camera strap
  
• 3x Sony batteries
  
• Osprey ultralight dry sack 6L
  
• GoPro Hero 6 Black
  
• 6x GoPro batteries
  
• GoPro battery charger - charges 3 batteries at a time
  
• GoPro ND filters
  
• various GoPro mounts
  
  medical and hygiene
  
  
• SAM splint
  
• NAR Hyfin vent chest seal
  
• NAR rolled gauze
  
• QuikClot clotting gauze
  
• thermal blanket
  
• 3x hand warmers
  
• triangular bandage
  
• medical tape
  
• wound seal
  
• NAR tourniquet
  
• Leatherman Raptor medical shears
  
• basic meds
  
• basic bathroom supplies
  
  wearing
  
  
• Forma Adventure boots
  
• Fox v2 VLAR helmet
  
• REV'IT! Wind Jacket
  
• 100% Accuri Sand - the "sand" model helps with wind blowing on my eyes and drying contacts out
  
• grey smoke lens
  
• Mammut Neon Light 12L backpack
  
• Nonoise ear plugs - I know they are a bit pricey, but I've worn them 5 days in a row over 1500 miles and didn't even know they were there
  
• Road iD - blood type, date of birth, allergies and wife's contact info
  
• gloves
  
  sleeping
  
  
• Kammok Roo Single hammock
  
• Twisted Root Cloudburst rainfly
  
• Big Agnes Hitchens UL 20 sleeping bag - ultra-light, ultra-compact, I carry this for winter SAR activities
  
• ALPS Mountaineering compression sack - medium size, I use this in place of the Mosko Moto tail bag because it fits my sleeping bag, rainfly and hammock
  
• REI Flash sleeping pad - insulated is important
  
• Osprey ultralight dry sack 12L - used for my sleeping back, inside the ALPS compression sack, to ensure my sleeping bag stays dry
  
  inclement weather
  
  
• winter riding gloves
  
• Olympia Horizon rain pants
  
• rain jacket - cheap, no-name, fits over riding jacket
  
• face mask - ski/snowboarding style
  
• windbreaker - for over riding jacket, cheap no-name brand
  
• smart-wool base layer
  
• fleece jacket
  
  food
  
  
• 2.5L Osprey Hydraluics LT - inside the Mammut backpack
  
• GSI Pinnacle Soloist pot
  
• Light My Fire spork
  
• UST Delta Stormproof lighter - this actually failed to work on my trip last year to Colorado, but I think it was because we were at altitude
  
• [Primus Micron trail stove](primus pocket rocket) - mine is an older model
  
• Primus fuel cannister
  
• 4x backpacking dinners
  
• 4x backpacking breakfasts
  
  motorcycle
  
  
• 2x Primus 1.5L fuel bottles - unleaded fuel is important
  
• funnel
  
  clothing
  
  
• 1x riding pants
  
• 2x shirts
  
• 3x pairs of socks
  
• 3x underwear
  
  luggage
  
  
• Mosko Moto Reckless 40L saddlebags - I did 1500 miles through CO last year with these and absolutely loved them. A key feature for me is that I can snag the "sleeves" and run under a rainfly and setup my entire camp. Other brands, all your gear is in a bag, on the bike, so you have to stand next to the bike while you setup camp. Also important for when staying in hostels.
  
• Mosko Moto Pico tank bag
  
• Rok Straps
  
  misc
  
  
• Moo cards - I carry these for dropping in geocaches and sharing my photos with people I meet.
  
• Zebra H600Fc - recommended in /r/flashlight by /u/Zak
  
• 2x USB cable - multi port - these are nice and short, and can charge both micro-USB and USB-C devices at the same time
  
• Leatherman Skeletool
  
• flip flops
  
• shorts
  
• t-shirt
  
• 10x rechargable AA's

Just random notes -

• go to the library (or buy your own) and check out guide books like National Geographic's Scenic Hwys or Road Trip USA to get ideas for scenic drives along your route
  
• if within your diet, Memphis BBQ
  
• maybe go no farther than Hot Springs the first day
  
• example of scenic highway you can find in those guide books - Talimena
  
• maybe Amarillo, TX, for the second day - Cadillac Ranch, Palo Duro Canyon SP nearby
  
• Santa Fe for food and museums the 3rd day; maybe overnight here or continue on to some place like Durango - lots in the Santa Fe area like Bandelier NM, Jemez Springs Mt Trail, Valles Caldera that you can check out while in Santa Fe or on your way to next destination
  
• Now you're entering a stretch where you wish you had more time. You could do Mesa Verde NP, Arches NP, Canyonlands NP, Dead Horse Pt SP, Goblin Valley SP, Capitol Reef NP, Bryce Canyon NP, Zion NP, Cedar Breaks NM, Snow Canyon SP but that would take a week; instead take as many scenic highways as you can - UT24, UT12, UT14, and more if you look. Hate to recommend not actually stopping at any of the national parks but you really don't have time - so take notes for your planning your next vacation; you can search out some cool restaurants on these scenic roads too. like Hells Backbone Grill; maybe overnight in St George for the 4th night (lodging near the National Parks is expensive and likely booked)
  
• maybe head to the Mammoth Lakes area for the 5th night
  
• You don't mention time of year for the trip, but if Tioga Rd is open (generally early June), take that and swallow the Yosemite entrance fee (unless you've already purchased a National Park pass for $80 that's good for a year); if Tioga Rd not open, then go up to Tahoe area before heading to San Francisco

Some things that made our trip (over 3000 miles) go very smoothly:

My wife bought a small cookie sheet for each child from the 99 cent store and spray-glued fabric on the inside of the tray. If the kids ever ate in the car, they used the tray. Also, when they wanted to color or play with legos, they now had a firm surface to use.

Books on tape. I downloaded a few books for the family to listen to as we drove. We mostly listened to the Fablehaven series, the kids really liked it and it wasn't horrible for adults.

My wife put together little goodie bags for each day of the trip. A brown paper bag with a snack and an activity (mechanical pencil and sketch pad with instructions to draw something specific, one day it was a couple of those brain teaser unlink the chains, my favorite was a blow gun made of a section of PVC pipe and cotton balls). Thirty dollars will buy you a lot of sanity at the 99 cent store. I complained about finding room for the box of activity bags, but it was worth it. Each child had a small plastic bin under their feet to keep these goodies and any other treasures in, although truthfully half the stuff was recycled that day.

We picked a few places that we would be stopping and had the kids do some research before we left. Each child was "the expert" at a few stops. We checked out a couple of library books to bring with us and stashed those under the seats, so on the way to the next stop I might ask the animal expert what kind of animals we should be looking for and the plant expert something similar.

Once again, my wife did something awesome (I suspect that she got these ideas from pinterest or facebook): she made an adventure kit for each child. A pocket knife, some paracord, a compass, some folded plastic sheeting, magnifying glass, duct tape, stuff like that. There was never a reason to be bored, even at a rest stop in the middle of no where.

For food, we actually brought most of our food, as we camped much of the time. We ate a lot of grapes, apples and carrots for snacks. Costco has boxes of single-serving pretzels and sun chips, which kept the kids from eating a whole big bag of Doritos, or something like that. Trail mix and granola bars rounded out the snacks. We froze greek yogurts and deli sliced ham ahead of time and put them in the cooler with swiss cheese. The rolled-up ham and cheese with a yogurt and sun chips was a standard lunch. That or bagels and cream cheese. For breakfast, we did cereal a couple of times (a fun roadtrip tradition from my childhood was to buy the single-serving boxes of sugar cereals, the only time I got sugar cereal as a kid). Also, instant oatmeal can be cooked with the coffee pot in a motel room.

I would think that the Prius would be fine, but you may want to look into getting a roof storage rack. I used one very similar to what I linked, although the tie-down system was not strong enough to keep it from bouncing so I used a couple of ratcheting tie-down straps and that kept it in place.

I did the drive in late winter (March) from Connecticut in 2004. The hotels were very inexpensive since it was off-season. Went to portage Glacier and I was the only person there. Got stuck in Anchorage during a snow storm and went to the zoo and I was just about the only person there too. Fun trip.

Buy the current Milepost guide off Amazon and spend some time flipping through it.

The Alaska Highway is all paved except any short sections they are working on. You don't need a second spare tire or anything like that. I'd recommend a tire patch kit and a small 12v compressor. Also bring a spare headlamp bulb if you have halogens, some wiper fluid, and maybe a spare set of wiper blades in the trunk. Towing for breakdowns is super expensive so amp-up your roadside assistance plan and make sure it works in Canada. The distance from the last dealerships in Dawson Creek to the next ones in Whitehorse is ~900 miles.

The road is good with wide margins all the way to Whitehorse. Expect to see a lot of wildlife. If you're traveling alone bring some sort of tripod so you can take an occasional self-portrait with the timer function on your camera.

If you wanted a neat "theme" for your trip out there you could take US 50 almost the entire way to Grand Junction.

There's a really good book for road trip lovers that hits some of the highlights of this route:

https://roadtripusa.com/the-loneliest-road/

https://www.amazon.com/Road-Trip-USA-Cross-Country-Adventures/dp/1612389023

A lot of the trip is sculpted to conform to the recommended routes in this book. The Nebraska waypoints are only there for that reason. I don't plan on doing a lot of stopping there. After Colorado, it's mostly high tailing it back to NY.

I had thought about going farther up in to Oregon, but I've decided to save that for another trip. There's so much I want to see in OR, WA, WY and MT, that I think I'm going to save for summer.

Usually I use Tripadvisor or Google.
The thing is, not looking for food on the way, we want to travel places FOR food.
Found a couple guides online:

Roadfood 10th Edition

Great American Eating Experiences

Food Truck Road Trip

Southern Food: At Home, on the Road, in History

https://roadfood.com/ seems to have a good collection too

Can you recommend one of these?

:)

Oh and here’s the Gazetteer I was talking about, click on “Look inside” and scroll through a couple of pages, you’ll come to the list of campgrounds. Invaluable.

You could use something like this.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00000K2YR/ref=cm_cr_arp_mb_bdcrb_top?ie=UTF8

Like these: https://smile.amazon.com/Coleman-2000014865-5-Gallon-Solar-Shower/dp/B0009PUT20/ref=sr_1_3?s=outdoor-recreation&ie=UTF8&qid=1494949213&sr=1-3&keywords=solar+shower

Search on "solar shower."

You want this map.

Patricia cooks on the road with a crock pot in this video, and she shows you how to choose the right inverter to plug it in. This one is about cooking with a lunch box stove which plugs right into your cigarette lighter. And she's got a book with recipes and info too.

Skip Dallas and go to Austin instead. Once you get to Amarillo, you can follow Route 66 to the West Coast. Order a guide book, because there is plenty to see and do along the way.