Today is June 15th, about 18 days before July 3rd, the scheduled trip date. “Scheduled trip date” was the date chosen on my calendar thirty seconds ago for the road trip to kick off. Besides being around the time of 4th of July weekend, Friday July 3rd is also the end of the week following a business deal I’ve been working on for a couple months. The few days after the closing of the deal should hopefully serve as a few days of relaxation time and and for some efficient preparation and last-minute equipment/supplies orders.
Over the past few months, I’ve been contemplating the idea of a cross-country road trip, occasionally shifting between certainty and doubt about the trip’s likelihood of happening. This blog is meant to serve as a concrete motivator and major step toward making the trip a more concrete plan, rather than a vague idea. Many times over the past few months, I’ve wondered whether I would actually follow through and complete this trip.
Questions/Concerns
Numerous questions have been on my mind. The questions and brief answers are below:
- What I am hoping to gain from this trip?
- This is the most important question and it’s been a top priority for me to pinpoint the exact reasons why I’m doing this trip, what I want to achieve/gain, and how I hope to do so. The main reasons/explanations are as follows:
- Deep-rooted desire for adventure/freedom: Growing up in a religious Jewish household with strict (and sometimes irrationally overprotective parents), I’ve always felt a need to push the limited on adventures/freedom. Since early in high-school I’ve dreamed and planned for world-wide travels, road trips, backpacking trips, and the accompanying indescribable feeling of freedom, peace and satisfaction that comes from being free and connected to nature. Furthermore, after reading books like Nate Damm’s “Walk Across America” and Cheryl Strayed’s “Wild”, this thirst for freedom and adventure and the feeling of satisfaction and peace that supposedly comes with it, seem to be much more attainable and conservative, relative to the experiences of each of the authors in the above books. Also, the last motivating push I needed was receiving regular updates on the year-long international road trip travels of Mr. and Mrs. Adventure and also running into another road tripper on a recent trip to Death Valley, CA (milesinthemirror.com) . I feel like this road trip is another way to fulfill this long-suppressed desire for adventure and freedom.
- Experiencing new cities, new people, new culture and growing as a person: Another goal for the road trip is to gain a greater perspective by being immersed in different ways of living, people with different perspectives/upbringings, local and regional cultures and more. Born and raised in LA and spending over 90% of my life there, I’ve mostly been exposed to the hustle, business, and active lifestyle of Big City Life. Hopefully the small towns’s throughout the United States and the culturally unique large cities will help me better understand and appreciate my future relationships. In order to ensure that I’m always equipped with an adventurous, curious mindset I’ve committed to journaling at least a couple of times a week on this blog. I hope this will provide me with a more aware, present mind and absorb the huge amount of experiences/realizations that these 30 days will include.
- Real Estate Knowledge: As technology improves, real estate is transitioning from a local business into a national/international business. On this trip I hope to gain a familiarity of urban areas throughout the country, including Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus, St Louis, and much more. Even if all I’m gaining is a familiarity, I hope to be able to become mildly familiar with a few areas which may help down the line in my work.
- This is the most important question and it’s been a top priority for me to pinpoint the exact reasons why I’m doing this trip, what I want to achieve/gain, and how I hope to do so. The main reasons/explanations are as follows:
- Is 30 days enough for a cross-country roundtrip road-trip?
- The viability of the preliminary schedule has been a concern, but not a worry. After I planned to drive about 4-5 hours per day, every day, regardless of whether I’m visiting a large interesting city or a uninteresting small town. Fortunately/unfortunately, the extent of the trip planning will probably be the four maps listed below with listed attractions so there will be flexibility if I decide to skip through some quiet towns or spend an extra night or two in cities I find fun. This flexibility/openness is what makes a road trip a road trip: spontaneity, uncertainty, freedom, and adventure. As far as I know, this trip might last 20 days, 50 days, or anywhere in between.
- Will I be able to stay in control of my work while I’m on the road?
- Absolutely, technology has improved to the point where communication is enabled (in many forms), information accessed, and work created/accomplished whether you’re in a coffee shop in Montana or in a full-service office building in Los Angeles. With mobile document scanners, 4G internet access, and mobile devices, people can work more efficiently while on a road trip today than someone 25 years ago could work in an full-service office building. Especially since I’m not too busy and am just trying to hold ground, working remotely hopefully won’t be an issue.
- Would it be better to find someone to go on the trip with?
- This question has been a difficult one. There are many benefits of having a road trip companion (or up to three of them). Some of these benefits are splitting the gas/lodging costs by four, having a driving companion/driver on long driving days, and having a full-time companion to hopefully help against loneliness, boredom, and exhaustion. However, the possibility of having a dull, unadventurous, energy-draining road trip companion made the idea of having a companion a non-starter, especially on a fast-paced, challenging, uncomfortable road trip that’s planned.
Preparation
Over the past couple of months, I’ve been preparing for this always-distant road trip by skimming RoadTrip USA by Jamie Jensen, while simultaneously using TripAdvisor.com to quickly search for activities in each city, and also plotting out the locations of the cities/activities on Google Maps. The full road trip map in three separate parts is below. The red markers indicate locations where I’ll be staying the night and the yellow markers indicate locations of activities (mostly top-rated attractions on Trip Advisor.
Budget Information
The anticipated budget for the trip has been an important factor in the trip planning. Based on my initial estimates, I arrived at the following breakdown:
- Gas: (7500 miles at 25 MPG and $4 Gallon): $1200
- Lodging ($50/Night): $1500
- Food ($20/Day): $600
- Activities ($20/Day): $600
- Total: $3900
To keep the costs as low as possible, I’m planning on camping/AirBNB/Couchsurfing for lodging, shop at supermarkets for some meals, and try to plan inexpensive/free activities in nature.
Equipment Information
Here’s several items I’m planning on bringing along for the trip:
Honda Accord: Small 2-door car. It’s great on gas, but unfortunately it’ll be difficult to sleep in and it’s not roomy.
Folding Bike: Bikes seem like a great/cheap/efficient way to see much of a city in a small amount of time. Instead of attaching a bike rack on my car and there being a high chance of it being stolen, a folding-bike that can be stored in the trunk might be a good option. The quality seems average, but at $130 I decided it’s a risk worth taking.
External Battery charger: To recharge my phone without access to an electrical outlet
National park pass: Yearly pass to national parks throughout the entire country
Audiobooks: Audiobooks are a great method of using time efficiently in cars and productive entertainment
Josh 🙂
