Ask the Readers: Planning a Cheap Road-Trip Vacation?

Hi…we’ve made several cross country trips and one thing I’d do is get a National Park Pass. It’s (I believe we paid 75 dollars this year) and then after that you get in free to National Parks and Monuments versus paying for each one). We’ve found some are very crowded at the right (wrong?) time of year, but some are really uncrowded. I think Big Bend National Park in Texas is the least visited National Park, it’s a bit of a haul, but it’s beautiful and uncrowded.

Also, camping at State Parks is very cheap…can be as low as ten dollars. If you are backpacking at all, backcountry permits in National Parks are free (we just did it at Yellowstone and the Tetons). Some backcountry sites are as close to a mile off the road, but of course they fill up first. If you’re willing to hike maybe 5 miles, you’d have your pick of sites and never see another person.

The great thing about the Smithsonians are that they are free, however do not eat there. A cookie can be 4 dollars. Definitely bring sandwiches into the Mall area and eat outside…who wants a crowded cafeteria anyway when you can sit in the shadow of historical buildings?

Also, print up your maps and destination information from the internet instead of the from the library. That way you get current information on opening and closing times and current construction going on. It’s tempting to get to a visitor center and buy guides to each place which can add up fast. Find a ranger who is helpful (and there are a ton of them). Pick their brains and take notes. Many live in the area and can give you info not just on the place where you’re at, but to other places off the beaten path.

Souvenirs are expensive. I have a huge collection that I love and it’s free…I keep all the free guides you get when you go into a place. I love looking at them and they will last longer than a T-shirt.

Have fun!!!
Sharon

It sounds like you have it pretty under wraps already. Make sure you know exactly where you are going before you leave so you don’t get lost because that will cost you lots in petrol.
One of the cheapest ways to eat is pasta. You can buy a bag of pasta for less than $1 and all you need to cook it is water. Simple take some pre-made spagetti sauce (or even canned spagetti sauce) and you can whipp up a feast for the two of you for just a couple of dollars.

Also why not write a book or write a blog about your trip and that way by writing you can make some money whilst on your trip. I am all for the ‘making money’ as opposed to the ‘saving money’ aspect of things. That is why I run my blog and that is what I always talk about. Make more money and your trip will be even better

To save money on internet– A lot of libraries offer free internet (at least in Maryland) and if you bring your own laptop there’s no time limit.

Don’t waste your money on a mobile internet card, almost every public library that I have been to has free wireless. Along with numerous restaurants, Friendly’s and Pinera are two that I know have free wifi. I believe the rest areas on the New York through way also have free wifi. Several websites have lists of wifi hot spots throughout the country. http://www.wi-fihotspotlist.com/ is just one of them.

I did a maine to cali and back in a VW in the ’90′s just me, car camping, cooler and a camp stove, 3 1/2 weeks 10,100 miles for about $500.
you may want to look at camping with the corps of engineers ( book )
stay off the hi-way much more interesting on the two-lane, and don’t sat too tight of a schedule.
for meals try manifold cooking
There are countless ways to cook a good meal. You can barbecue, grill, sauté, braise, blanch, bake, deep-fry, pan-fry, stir-fry, steam and even boil. But here’s an unusual method you’ve probably never tried. It’s called manifold cooking, and you don’t do it in the kitchen, instead, on the open road. With manifold cooking there are no dirty dishes to clean up and the only appliance you need is your car.

i’ve done a lot of road trips over the years, have managed to see every continental state except north dakota (and can’t really imagine a situation where that will be remedied anytime soon). it’s a great way to have a vacation that doesn’t cost a bomb.

yeah, don’t waste your money on an internet card– there are so many places with free wifi these days that you really don’t need it.

i agree with the suggestion to bring a cooler, and would say to stock up on cans of your favorite drinks in advance– it’s amazing how much money you save not buying a drink every time you stop for gas. bring cereal and get smaller cartons of milk along the way so breakfast is covered, and lunch out of the cooler will be more fun if you have a picnic somewhere scenic. for dinner, don’t be afraid to eat out, but do it thoughtfully– there’s no sense spending money at applebee’s when you can do that at home. instead, hit a local diner which is usually cheaper and always more interesting.

with regards to lodging, i’ve had good luck with hitting sites like hotwire or priceline a few hours before we roll into a destination, places are hungry for your money at that stage.

i also agree with getting the national parks pass, and note that many state parks are free and frequently less crowded than NPs.

also, if you’re bringing your laptop anyway, i suggest bringing a handful of DVDs that you want to watch. rainy evenings or boring small towns may make you want to blow $20 on going to the movies for entertainment, but if you have good DVDs you’ll have fun and not spend anything extra.

have fun!

1. Couchsurfing.com. Stay places for free, and meet interesting folks while you’re at it. I took a trip through the American South this way.

2. Drafting and other hypermiling techniques. I usually don’t do this, figuring the effort involved is too much. But when you’re driving 6000 miles, a 25% bump in fuel efficiency is a big deal. And you’re not in a hurry – so slow down and draft big trucks, save a bundle.

The one thing I would do is plan your trip so that at most you only need to buy one meal a day(unless you are happy with making all of your meals – it is supposed to be a vacation so you might want to buy lunch or supper and make the rest). You can really start to ‘bleed’ money when you are paying for all of your meals. Heck, even when I go on vacation overseas, I pack a snack for each day I’m away. Also, when you need to buy food, get it from a grocery store because the prices will be much better.

My wife and I are road trippers. But my biggest and longest one was while I was in college. I went 8,000 miles over 24 days from Oklahoma to Seattle and back in a big counter-clockwise circle around Utah. The whole thing cost me $800 which was my goal.

First, the more people in your one car the better if you are splitting costs. It takes the same gas but it gets divided 2 or 3 or 4 ways. We had two people most of the time.

Second, gas was about $1.60/gal back then (circa 2000) so that added up but not as fast as it would today.

Third, we camped everywhere in state and federal parks. Some campgrounds had fees of $10 or so, but again splitting it 2 ways made that almost negligible.

Fourth, we ate real cheap. We made pancakes at the campsite and hot dogs or the like for dinner. We got a couple free meals when we went through cities where we had relatives or friends of the family. And we always made our own sandwiches for lunch while driving.

It was a fantastic experience. I saw most of the major Western national parks (Yosemite, Glacier, Olympic, Crater Lake, Grand Teton, Yellowstone, etc). It took one month of my summer and it cost less than $1,000 for me. If I had the time, I’d do it again in a second.

Ummm, don’t do the drafting behind big trucks thing as suggested a few posts earlier. The trip is no fun when you’re dead.

If you can pack partially prepared high-quality meals for the earlier part of your trip, that will help you keep to your plans to eat at “home” (campsite.) When you have less work to get your dinner on the plate, you are more likely to pass by the restaurant.

I wonder how useful a solar cooker would be for a trip like this, if you are based at a campsite for several days? There are instructions online to make your own. It looks fairly easy and the materials cost little.

Most important thing might be organization, a folder for dining tips, with a local google map, ditto, camp grounds or cheap lodging. DO NOT PLAN ON STOPPING TO CHECK ONLINE, it is a hassle, organize on paper in folders, by state/attraction.

While the advice above is good, having done a bunch of road trips (i don’t camp, but have found really cheap lodging out west)

I think that job 1 on controlling expenses is washington dc lodging and food:

Near DC (about 10 miles from a metro stop) are 2 Fairfax Va parks w/campgrounds, i think the cheapest is 25/night

KOA has a campground too

http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/parks/campgrounds.htm

For Food:

when visiting an expensive city, i find the local newspaper, and search on cheap dining, frugal dining, and budget dining. Invariably this leads to a list of good cheap restaurants in that city.

Natl park passes are a must (you are going to the Grand canyon, the upgrade won’t be that much extra)

I agree about libraries and wifi, also many other places offer free wifi, plus (my wife is a biz road warrior), laptop cards are only as good as the service, go to rural arizona and try and find some 3G service I dare ya.

Natl Parks, State Parks, Natl Forests, all have cheap campsites, the Forests are often the cheapest (I always look for cabin camping)

As for food. Never Never Never plan on buying groceries in a natl park, they are outrageously expensive. ditto gas.

You would be amazed at some of the good cheap food that can be had out there. In the southwest, look for tex-mex joints, in the south roadside bbq. DON”T PAY FOR AMBIENCE. Better yet, get your meal to go and eat it in a park. Free Ambience!!!

Never buy too much food, the storage and monotony destroys the savings. a jar of Peanut Butter is great, PB&J, but also a quick protein fix on an apple snack (much more filling and satisfying).

Look for free ranger programs in the parks, usually excellent, even pay ranger programs are often a good value.

there are so many good natl parks between dc and the canyon, i can’t list all

shennandoah
smoky mountains
mammoth cave
arches
canyonlands
bryce
zion
yellowstone
grand tetons
dinosaur
mesa verde

are the biggies

JD – I have met many people between 50-80 on these trips, it is a great vacation when you are older, and I strongly encourage everyone to do it once.

OOH last thing, talk to the locals, talk to truckers, they love to give you tips

I’ve done a couple of road trip vacations. We kept food cheap on the road by bringing our two-burner coleman camp stove, a small, sturdy sauce pan, a roll of foil, and my cast iron skillet.

We brought a lot of shelf-stable foods which cook quickly: cous cous, canned tomatoes, canned chick peas, tuna, rice, orzo, smoked oysters and a few other things. We’d buy veggies and small portions of fish or chicken at grocery stores along the way when we could. We ate a lot of pilafs, which are super easy to improvise, and cook in one pan.

Camping, of course, and hostels if you must stay inside four walls (look them up online ahead of time in cities you know you’ll be in). Depending on where you go, the temp can really drop at night, and even if June, there can still be blizzards up in the mountains, and having someplace to stay indoors is welcome (last time I used a hostel, it was $15/person/night).

For food, a large cooler with ice for things like milk (for cereal), fruit, sandwich fixings. Also pack a box for the room temp groceries (bread, cereal, chips, Clif bars).

You can also get frozen burritos from a convenience store, wrap them well in aluminum foil, and put them on top of the engine manifold under your hood, drive another 30-45 minutes, and then have dinner.

When you’re planning your trip, determine what sites you want to see, how far you need to go each day to get to them, what else there is to see along the way, and where all the campgrounds are in the areas you think you’ll be stopping in. You can always make a final decision when you get closer, but it’s good to know how far you need to drive each day, and what camping facilities are in the vicinity. It’s REALLY not fun to not know where you’re going to be camping when the sun is going down and it’s starting to rain.

Sounds like you would be putting up a tent every night – that’s no fun, and you will be surprised how expensive tent sites have become. Think, instead, of staying in cabins at KOAs. You just bring your own bedding. Stay in a motel every 5th night and enjoy the lovely bathroom.

For meals, think about bringing a small microwave. The KOAs have electricity in the cabins and tent sites. With a cooler and ice in the car, you can stock up on some real food to cook in the microwave or some Stouffer’s lasagne and some microwavable veggie packs, popcorn, etc. Better, cheaper eating. We bring our own coffee maker.

Splurge on a jeep trip into Canyon de Chelly. Go to Santa Fe and visit a few pueblos – check their websites for schedules and don’t go around Lent as they close to the public. Flagstaff is wonderful – hit the Northern Arizona U. Museum. In D.C. park in an outlying town and take the metro in. Make time for some moseying around the Eastern Shore.

I did a cross-country trip a few years ago with a friend. We had my Honda Civic and we borrowed a cooler that plugged into the car lighter. That way we could keep food fresh in the car and in our cheap motel rooms, too, just by plugging it into an outlet. We ate lunches and breakfasts out of the cooler and dinners we ate out. We did find lodging was the biggest money suck. So I am looking into getting a used Roadtrek-type self-contained RV. It will pay for itself after a bunch of trips. I blogged my first Roadtrek on my blog (Oct. 1-8) this year. I got the Roadtrek for free so I could blog about it. Very fun!

Food. Granola bars for breakfast most days, gives you a quick no hassle start to the day. WELL insulated cooler, saves money if you have to buy ice. I like a single burner propane stove, good enough to make coffee and great for simple dinners like many of us did in college. Eat out at neat places, special, or “local” it’s part of making memories, at least a couple times a week. Don’t forget to talk to the locals about where they eat, frequently the best places are not in the guide books, I remember this out of the way old Mission in El Paso, the best food and atmosphere.
Check out guide books (from the library) for where you are going and read them BEFORE you go. Check the web sites (where available) and print out coupons (from their web sites) and schedules (for museums and parks). See if they have anything special scheduled (Indian dancing, Ethnic/Local food, unusual local sport) and pencil them in on your calendar that way you can do them if you choose rather than finding out as I did that the tulip festival was last week and they have already pulled all the flowers. (Pella IA was still neat though, even if no flowers).
Some places are hard to find, print out maps from mapquest or googlemaps so you have them if you need them. Three ring binder, put all your notes in this, you can pull out the ones you need for the day and keep the rest organized. Try to have more things to do/visit then you possibly can do. That way you deep six the ones that are too tacky/touristy and still have a full trip. Keep ALL brochures/programs in one place. Years later you can pull them out as you are looking at your photos. I sometimes take nice photos of the good brochures so that I can view them later. Every major trip I take I try to find one christmas ornament that has something to do with the trip. Then every year as we put up the tree we get to remember that pueblos and 7 falls in colorado, Miami beach, Station 9 3/4s in london, The Alamo and related missions (that was last month!) and river walk in San Antonio.
Camping is cheap, but takes time to setup tear down. Reapply water proofing to your rainfly BEFORE you go. Get a new ground tarp even if your tent does not need one, keeps the tent clean and off the wet ground. Bring extra rope/tent pegs. Stay at a motel or KOA every few days so you can get a real shower. Hit a laundromat weekly, limits how much clothing you have to lug around. Read other peoples travel blogs about the same area you are going to that way you learn which things are great and which not. Just remember somebody else’s point of view may not match yours. Something they think is a snoozer might be right up your alley.
Once you are on your trip, don’t sweat the little stuff. Remember to have fun. And remember to look after your girlfriend. Needs to be fun for her also, a special piece of clothing from the local artisan (My wife has a certain skirt from Santa Fe…). Keep the pace fun. You don’t have to do something everyday, sometimes it’s nice to kick back. On my Honeymoon (Fl) and on a few Ski trips. We would be at the park/resort when they opened. Would leave (get hand stamped, keep ticket/receipt) when the day got hot and people were starting to drag, had back to our room for nap, shower, lunch then head back. When we got back people were starting to leave looking beat, we were bright eyed and stayed till closing. One of my favorite memories is being at the top of Keystone (ski resort). As we got off the gondola, the lift operator shut the lift down, asked if we were okay and left. All alone 9-10 o’clock top of a mountain in skis (runs were illimunated) the sky so wide above us, no sound from the lifts. Just the wind in the trees me with my girlfriend (now my wife of almost 20 years).
Remember to make memories. To stop, look around, see the sight, hear the sounds, the smells. Remember to kiss the girl. Sorry this was so long. Started tripping down memory lane. Need to go look at some pictures now. Remember the three most important rules. Have fun, have fun, have fun.

No friends or family to stay with?

I did an Iowa to San Diego trip and had friends/family in convenient spots to stay with in Omaha, Denver, Phoenix, Las Vegas, and San Diego. (The other nights we camped at KOA.)

Convenient and cheap, yes, but a very good “excuse” to see people who don’t live nearby.

Sharon,
We’re going sometime in the summer, and don’t have anything planned out for day of the week yet. We had talked about hitting the larger places towards the middle of the week just to avoid crowds. I think last time I was at the Smithsonian it was a Tuesday and there weren’t many people around at all.

Rhea, was the internet free? At the places I’ve been around here they like to charge extra for that. A camper would be fun – but we don’t have one, and we do love the 35mpg my car gets, but I guess you make up for gas in lodging.

Kay,
What sort of prices have you seen on cabins? Normally we avoid KOAs because their camping costs more than state parks. Since we’re trying to go really cheap, we’ll camp a lot, but cabins might be a fun idea on nights with bad weather. I’m also hoping to have enough credit card points built up to get a few free nights at motels.

Lilblueeyes,
Yep, we know a lot of random family places to stop by. We’re hoping that will save quite a bit! I’m glad to see someone else who understands going to little mom and pop places – a lot of our friends think we’re crazy when we take the backroads to visit them just to find stops like that. Asking them for local ideas is a great idea too, thanks!

Don’t know if this would be feasible, but have you considered buying a second hand camper van and then selling it after the trip. It might be more economical than paying for lodging along the way. I have made three cross country trips and the best one was when we bought a camper van for about $9000. It was just a regular van with a high top – it had a bed, kitchen area, toilet, storage cabinets. It was extremely comfortable and convenient, although it didn’t get the greatest gas mileage. We were able to sell it for close to what we paid for it. For my first cross-country trip we camped, and it is not as easy as you think. Setting up and breaking down a campsite every night or two is a pain. A lot of the time, you just end up sleeping in your car.

Do you have friends or family who live around the country – try to break up the camping by staying with a friend every so often, if you can work it into your trip. You will need a break from the road, a hot shower, and a comfy bed.

Definitely stay off the highways – and stick to the back roads.

The most interesting trip we did was when we took a southern route, rather than a northern route (sorry northerners).

For the western portion of your trip, check out BLM and National Forest campgrounds. They’re much cheaper (sometimes free) than National Park campgrounds, and usually less crowded. Camping on a Shoetring – Western Edition lists many cheap campgrounds. You might need to stock up on water before you stop, but many small towns out here have water and dumpstations available for free (or cheap) for people camping nearby. If you go to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, try the Kaibab National forest.
Don’t count on a campfire to cook dinner- fire restrictions are common in the west, but propane stoves are almost always allowed.

I second the National Parks Pass suggestion – it can pay for itself almost immediately.

If you are staying at campgrounds, try to go for the ones that are National Forest / BLM managed. They are smaller, much more primitive (pit toilets and no showers), but only cost $5 – $10. Then stop at bigger campgrounds or truck stops for your showers. (and bring lots of quarters!)

If you don’t mind doing without any type of campground at all, my understanding is that it is legal to camp anywhere on BLM land without any type of permit or fee. We do this regularly. We have a large ‘trucker’ map book that has BLM land delineated. (Perhaps you can get this with GPS. I don’t know.) When we are tired of driving, we pull off onto a dirt road that goes through BLM land and follow it until we come to a good place to camp. (Although just to be on the safe side, I wouldn’t recommend this for women traveling alone. And depending on where you are camping, wildlife (particularly bears) can be a real fear. For people who are trained to use them, I would recommend camping with a firearm.)

Of course the majority of BLM land is in the western US. The biggest problem is usually wind in the open land. In non-desert areas, the biggest problem is finding a place to camp that isn’t right on the freeway. Still, we’ve camped this way through out Neveda, Utah, and Arizona and never had a problem. We’ve also done so in sierras of California, although it is harder to find BLM-owned land if you don’t know the area.

Also in CA, open wireless internet is really common. Safeway (big chain grocery store) and the larger gas stations all have it.

Good luck

If you’re planning on tent camping, be sure to get an air mattress. Some people like the giant inflatable ones, but a smaller Thermarest will do just fine (best $50 I ever spent). They are self-inflating, and it really doesn’t matter if you have 1/4″ or 6″ of air between you and the ground, as long as you’re off of it. On my first road trip I had a foam pad and woke up sore every morning, but once I got the Thermarest, I slept much better.

The National Parks pass is great, especially for out west, but east of the Mississippi there are very few places to use it.

Dinners at camp are one of my favorite memories. I usually tried to find the Lipton noodles that required only water (like the Teriyaki noodles), then I would add peanuts for a little extra flavor.

Finally, if you’re descending in elevation and your ears will not pop, and it goes from discomfort to pain — stop the car, pinch your nose, and try to blow out your nose. This increases the air pressure inside your ear canal, which will even out with the higher pressures on the other side of your ear drum. (Thanks, Death Valley!)

It sounds like you could do at least part, if not most, of your trip along Route 66. I’m a bit biased since it runs through my hometown, but along it you’ll find a lot of classic mid-century Americana, as well as a lot of good diners and inexpensive lodging for the nights when you’re sick of camping and want a real bed. I can’t imagine taking a road trip through the Southwest that doesn’t include 66.

Here are some good info sites for it:

http://national66.com/
http://www.kidson66.com/
http://www.oklahomaroute66.com/
http://www.route66motels.com/
http://rwarn17588.wordpress.com/

And if you or your girlfriend happen to be fans of The Outsiders, you could check out some of these film location sites while passing through Tulsa (and maybe catch a movie for cheap at the Admiral Twin):

http://tulsatvmemories.com/outside1.html

Hope you have a good trip!

A great easy way for something besides sandwiches for lunch and to have something hot is to put hot dogs into a thermos with boiling water. We did this for every leg of our road trip last summer. It was a big hit with our kids. We didn’t camp but had some long days of driving between hotels and the hot dogs (or sometimes Lil Smokies with BBQ sauce) were always a nice change from sandwiches.