How To Plan a Great Roadtrip – See a Few Highlights From My 2003 Trip Across America

Many years before Arthritis and Fibromyalgia stole my adventurous spirit and allowed me to spend eighteen hours behind the wheel, I was the queen of road trips. I really miss those days. I mean, I still vacation, but I just can’t drive that long, let alone go to a bar and drink until 2:00 am and do it all over the next day, and continue to do it for 19 days in a row like I used to. I was just watching The Travel Channel and saw a spotlight on Zion and Bryce National Parks when I remembered that I should start sharing some of my travel stories with one of my most favorite trips.

It’s hard to tell on the map, but I began planning a cross-country road trip when drinking on New Year’s Eve 8 months before. I had convinced my friend Becky that we could go on vacation for under $2,000 each for 19 days across America and she believed me. 

To find the best deals on cross-country travel, I start off by talking to every person I know who travels.  I know that this is the easiest way to get cost cutting details on the places I wanted to see.  I also utilize the internet and visit all the National Park websites, weather websites, photography websites, my local AAA, and go to the library to check out travel and reference books. I love to travel and it’s amazing what I (AND YOU) can do on the cheap. We even decided to bringing all of our own food in a cooler for the first nine days of the trip which saved us so much money, since we spent an average of $7 per day on food.

Since driving across the country takes a lot of time, I came up with the great idea that we would save four days of travel time by taking a cheap flight to Arizona and we would pick up Becky’s Grandmother’s $75,000 Cadillac and drive her car across the nine states we wanted to visit.  I thought to make the trip more fun that we would stay in Las Vegas for a nine day stretch, clubbing and basically having a ball. Since traveling is not about being a tourist, fate gave us the black out of 03′ which delayed us for two days.  We still had our determination, and we made it to those nine states.  Our first stop from Arizona was Four Corners - where Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado meet. We had fun, and it is a fun and fast stop to make.

We then made our way through to the desert, stopping off at various arches, roadside photo-ops, etc. We encountered a flock of bats that was terrifying. I hit an endangered bird going 70 mph and it’s blood was everywhere! We stayed in a hotel full of loud bikers, which was a little scary. We got lost only once.

Our next stop was in Cody, Wyoming, where I proceeded to get very tipsy thanks to a bar full of men. Do not attempt to enter Yellowstone National Park when you are horribly hung over. The altitude about killed me. We saw buffalo, an eagle, and even Old Faithful. It was the longest and yet one of the best days of my life.

We also visited the Grand Tetons, Crazy Horse Monument, Mount Rushmore, and Devil’s Tower. All were pretty cool to see. I hiked to the base of the tower in my flip-flops, it was that easy, and with my $50 pass to all of the National Parks, very affordable.

We made a side trip to the Craters of the Moon National Park in the rain, which made it even more creepy. Then, I had the great idea of going to Hailey, Idaho, home of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore. (Becky is a huge Ashton Kutcher fan.)  We decided to find their bar, and lucky for me, we visited on karaoke night, where I hogged the mic and had a great time, as we made friends with the bartender who let us hang out there until 5 am.  I may have ended up singing nine karaoke songs.  It always helps to go into a karaoke bar with a cowboy hat on.

We drove up to Salt Lake City, and were the only 2 people in the Hard Rock, so the staff let us have the run of the place and we loved all the semi-cheesy Osmond Family stuff throughout the bar. We had planned to float in the Great Salt Lake, but since the town stunk so bad, I was worried what we (and the car) would smell like, so we skipped it.

We made our way to Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon, where I experienced the most peaceful day, as the beauty of these National Parks are indescribable. I’d almost say it was holy.

We then drove straight to Vegas. We drank and drank and danced and drank. We treated ourselves to a Saturday night at the Hard Rock Hotel which cost $400 for a great room. We even ran into Clay Aiken at Baby’s. But we never made it to the Grand Canyon, one of my greatest disappointments. We were too exhausted after all that driving and parting. If you are planning a similar trip, do the Grand Canyon first, so you can skip some of the less important places if need be.

We spent way under our budget, even with the bonus $400 hotel room night in Vegas.  Roadtrips are an art form, and I’d encourage every person to take at least one out west just once in their lifetime.