How to Road Trip
If you’ve ever been on an extended road trip (or are thinking about taking one some time) you know there are certain things you learn about yourself, your trip mates, you car, and the area you’re traveling. Here’s some of the stats and info we have accrued so far.
TRIP STATS:
Day: 13
States traveled to: 9
Current state: Idaho
Miles traveled: 2500
National Parks Visited: 4
Number of showers: 4
Bears spotted: 6
Bear attacks: 0
Number of times Katie has cried fearing bear attack:4
Tubes popped: 1
Car shops visited: 2
Pairs of sunglasses lost: 2, then 1 because we found one under all our things in the car!
# of ridiculously kind people we’ve met who have helped us: 9
Nights slept in the car: 2
Nights slept in a real bed: 2
Campgrounds visited: 9
Coffees consumed: 28
Days that is has rained: ÂĽ (barely)
Days it has been over 90 degrees: 10
Other important things to know:
There is such a thing as an animal bridge. These bridges are specially constructed so that wildlife can safely cross into different parts of a park without having to cross the freeway.
When traveling in the middle of nowhere (much of the US) there is such thing as an “endless scan” where you hit the scan button on your car hoping for something to pop up on your radio and it never stops. We’ve had a few of these go on for hours.
Cottonwood really does fall like snow in July. EVERYWHERE.
Tent camping really lights a fire to buy a real camper. Dave and I have searched on craigslist in almost every town we’ve stopped in to see if we can buy an airstream, scamp, a-frame, or westfalia van. A few times we’ve rationalized spending way too much money on one of these. Usually after not sleeping well many nights in a row.
Things we’ve bought that we didn’t think we would need:Â
PILLOW, we are on day 13 and just bought pillows today after complaining every single night of being uncomfortable
inner tubes (never would’ve guessed that one)
pretzels (because sometimes you pack a lot of dehydrated/processed foods, but they aren’t the *right * dehydrated/processed foods)
Duck tape (car repair tool)
eye drops (hello elevation)
chapstick (ditto elevation)
coffee cups.
Which brings me to our coffee cups. These need a spotlight because we wanted to find something that was reusable, washable, and held a lot of coffee. While in a Wal-Mart in South Dakota, Dave randomly grabbed these faux Starbucks plastic coffee cups that came in a pack of five and were only 3 dollars? The lady at the register was extremely apathetic and looked at the price, shrugged, and let us go on our merry way.
But anyway, these cups. They are the best because we have been able to make our coffee over the camp stove and pour them into our Starbucks looking coffee cups everywhere we go. Including the Badlands, Yellowstone, Hamilton MT, our backpacking trip in the Tetons-everywhere. I keep wanting someone to ask me while we are on a backcountry trail miles away from a gas station, let alone a Starbucks - “Hey, where’d you get that coffee?” See below these coffee cups in all their glory sitting on a mountain in the Tetons.
