Cross Country Road Trip!

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It’s almost time to make solo my bi-annual 2644 mile cross country road trip!

I’ve been making this journey between New York State and Arizona since 2017! I’ve flown a few times, but as of the end of this summer I’ll have made the cross country round trip from Arizona to NY 6 times. I’ve done it solo and with a partner, and for each individual leg cross country, I’ll have done the trip 12 times! I shared one of my trips in my blog How I Travel Cross Country For Free.

It’s kind of funny for someone who hated to drive, I’m now a traveling nomad!

In the Fall/winter months I spend my time bouncing around the warm sunny climate of the Southwest. I fell in love with the vast arid expanses of gorgeous desert and sky out there.

In the Spring, I trek back to the Northeast, where my entire family lives, and camp out for the summer in the hot steaming humid jungle of upstate NY. The rainy weather keeps the views lush and green, quite the juxtaposition to my desert playground.

Before my nomad launch in June of 2017, I’d never traveled solo out of NY state. Once the nomad bug got me, I never looked back!

Here’s how I do it safely and comfortably.

Safety

I grew up in a fairly small town, and camping in the Adirondacks we never had to worry about theft or harm, unless it was a marauding hungry black bear.

Now I’ve become much more serious about protecting myself. I’ve learned lessons that thankfully ended well, but each one gave me perspective on my personal safety. There’s been stalkers, tweakers, criminals looking for a smash and grab, aggressive panhandlers, and drunk men looking for trouble. I’ve upgraded my personal protection to something that’s a bit more intimidating than a pocket knife, which you can read about in my recent blog, Safety and Security On The Road.

Weather

Making a trip cross country in the spring and fall, driving right though tornado alley, brings a bit of excitement to this trip.

I check local weather forecasts daily, and use the comprehensive National Weather Service website for in-depth forecasts and predictions.

My favorite phone app for traveling is called Drive Weather. I enter my route and it gives me the forecast for the next seven days over the entire route. I check it every day and adjust my travel time based on the forecasts. It’s never let me down!

Stamina

One of things you learn quickly as a nomad is your unique traveling style. Because of my inherent stamina, or lack of it, the max I can drive comfortably is 4 – 5 hours a day. If I’m pushed by threatening weather, I can push myself to do 6. This does make for a long trip cross country, and it can be extended if I have to delay for bad weather. According to Apple Maps it’s a 38 hour trip … and it can be extended to avoid severe weather in my path.

This year I made it in record time when a severe storm front chased me across the midwest!

Although some people say it’s boring, I drive the same route every year. For the most part I don’t stop to do any sightseeing, but I have stopped to visit Roswell, the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona, and the Cadillac Ranch in Texas. My main goal is to get across the county safely, and not so worn out that I can’t drive. Being stuck in tornado alley with debilitating fatigue does not appeal to me in the least.

Overnights

Lucky me, as a van dweller I’ve got my comfortable traveling motel! The overnight stops I tend to stick to are Cracker Barrel restaurants and Pilot/Flying J Truck Stops. Pilot’s “Extreme Energy” coffee gets me moving in the morning, and after 10 you get one free! Most cracker barrels have RV parking spots, and don’t mind van dwellers overnight if you’re not out there trashing the place. One year I made a detour to a campground in Illinois, and ended up with two ticks on me, the first in my life! Now I just stick to parking lots on my cross country trip.

The good old days when a traveler could stay overnight in any Walmart, Loves, Planet Fitness, or Cabalas are over. Pilot/FlyingJ seems to have the most truck stops without “NO OVERNIGHT PARKING, YOU’LL BE TOWED ‘YA JERKS” signs. You do have to be aware of the rules wherever you park. I’ve recently been kicked out of a LOVE’s truck stop I stayed in to avoid a windstorm, and found there was no overnight parking at the Cracker Barrel outside of Phoenix.

Comfort

As far as being able to sleep in a truck stop, most truck stops have stadium lighting you can see from space, and there’s the flash of headlights all night. So I have blackout curtains and black felt-lined reflectix, but some of that light still gets in! I bought a soft cushiony sleep mask to solve that. After spending dark nights in the wild, it can be jarring to spend a night in a bright parking lot. As far as sleeping though the noise, I don’t use headphones or earplugs when I’m traveling for safety reasons. Depending on how close the trucker’s parking is to the public parking, the trucks can be noisy. Sometimes the hum of truck engines lulls me to sleep, other times not so much. It’s still worth the free spot!

One of the hardest parts of being a nomad is being away from my family for months at a time, but traveling cross country to the people and places I love, I’ve got the best of both worlds!