Solo multi-day roadgeeking adventures

[A.J. Bertin]

I was just thinking about something. Every year from 2007 through 2010, I took a multi-day roadgeeking trip by myself for a few days. I love getting away and taking these trips by myself because I can go off, do my own thing, and not have to worry about whether another person is being entertained. These trips usually involve clinching new highways (or new stretches of highway) and staying overnight at inexpensive motels along the way. For anyone who's curious, all these solo trips for me have been within my home state of Michigan (except for one trip that involved jaunting into Indiana for a little while).

Doing entire road trips (several hundred miles) in a single day can be very exhausting, and I truly enjoy staying in different hotels/motels (reasonably priced). I know lots of roadgeeks like to do long drives all within a day and then just return home in the evening.

Is it a pretty strong consensus in the roadgeek community that people like to take these kinds of road trips alone? I'd be willing to guess that a lot of people who participate in the forum are introverted and really value their alone time. Is that a good guess?

I was not able to take a trip like this in 2011, and it's looking like I won't be able to in 2012 either with everything I have going on this year. I'd be curious as to what people's thoughts are on this topic.

[corco]

Solo multiday trips alone are my favorite thing- it's a huge destressing vehicle for me.

When I'm in a suitable area, I like to camp solo too in the middle of roadtrips- get a ways down a logging road, pitch a tent and build a fire. I don't particularly care for motels, but a lot of the time they're a necessary evil. I'd rather stay at a motel than sleep in a formal campground. In the last year or two, I've really started enjoying eating at local restaurants though. I always go to a Steak 'n Shake or a Runza once a roadtrip if I'm passing through the appropriate territory, but otherwise I like to eat local whenever possible.

Since I'm working full time and going to school full time right now, I don't have the spare time I'd like and it really weighs down on me- as soon as school is out this summer and I'm only working 30 hours per week 3 days a week, I've got four separate road trips planned- 3 of which are to northern Arizona/Utah/Colorado/New Mexico and will allow me to finish driving the Arizona state highway system and another out to Oklahoma/Texas/Arkansas/Louisiana, clinching Oklahoma 3, US-266, US-371, and US-380, among other things. Things pick back up for me schedule wise in mid-June (working 50 hour weeks), so that's really my only window to drive this year.

Even if somebody did want to come they wouldn't be invited.

I like to do at least one big, 4-6 day multi-state trip every year and then get two or three overnight trips in for sure.

[agentsteel53]

I do these all the time.  I'll even fly out somewhere sometimes and then drive around for a few days.

I did Four Corners last weekend.

[realjd]

My wife is asleep within 15 minutes of getting in the car on road trips so I may as well be alone!

I do enough solo travel for work. I have no interest in doing it in my spare time. I can see the appeal though.

[xonhulu]

I'm not as "hardcore" as some of you guys; I have never taken a multiday trip with roadgeeking as the sole objective;instead, I'm sightseeing/camping/hiking and I roadgeek only the places convenient to that trip.

That being said, it is a lot easier to do roadgeeking alone; pretty much nobody I know would understand why I'm interested in it!

[oscar]

I always roadgeek alone, though sometimes I'll sneak in a little roadgeeking on a short trip with non-roadgeek friends.  Most people couldn't stand my schedule, and the ones I know who might are constrained by job or family commitments.  As a solo retiree, those are not issues for me, though even when I was working I was pretty aggressive about taking time off during irregular lulls in my workload.  In 2008, that meant taking most of the summer off for two cross-country trips, when an unexpectedly quick court victory left me and most of my office with little work to do (we had expected a long, hot summer stuck in Washington D.C., with not even weekends off), so my management actually appreciated my absence.   

It sometimes isn't just "multi-day" for me.  For example, I spent seven weeks on the road this February and March, though about a week of that I was more or less stationary in south Florida, and much of the rest of the trip was a series of day stops (plus one weekend in the outskirts of Death Valley National Park) to soak in hot springs in the southwestern states, with roadgeeking worked in-between most of those stops. 

I'm usually able to camp, and sometimes have no choice (such as no lodgings in remote locations, or everything's booked when I roll into town), but prefer a motel -- usually a Super 8 or Motel 6. 

[okroads]

Basically all of my roadtrips from 2002-2007 were solo, including my 12-day, 24-state, 6,600-mile trip through the eastern U.S. in 2005. Then I met the woman who I ended up marrying, and she's joined me for most trips I've taken since 2008. I still take a couple solo trips per year, mainly to states surrounding Oklahoma, for county-collecting purposes.

[Alex]

I have done solo roadtrips before, like a Saturday in 2004 when I couldn't find anything to do or anyone to hang out with, so I drove from Newark, DE to the west end of I-68 and back on a whim. Andy and I made it a tradition to do one trip per year where we would set a block of 5-7 days for the specific purpose of roadding and nothing else. We did this with Oregon/Washington/Idaho, having Chris Kalina tag along with us for part of it, did New England in 2007, framing it around a visit to my 2nd family's cottage in VT, etc. etc. In more recent years flaroads (Brent Ivy) and I have made it an annual tradition to do the same trips, having gone to Michigan/Indiana twice and Ohio with Carter Buchanan another year for the sole purpose of roadding. If you have liked minded travelers with you, who can happily endure 700 miles or more a day while also being ok with inexpensive motels and eating on the fly (or packing a cooler), this is the way to go about roadding with $3-4 gas. We almost always rent a car too, why put the miles on our own personal vehicles?

[corco]

why put the miles on our own personal vehicles?

This is key in my experience- the actual cost to use a rental car balances out for me as long as I drive at least 450 miles per day (a new small car gets better gas mileage than my Jeep, but I am subject to under-25 fees), so I end up actually driving extra miles (about 700 in the west is my golden number for an average day of driving on a long road trip- but really I drive from sunrise to just before sunset) just because I have a rental car. It's a lot easier to stomach driving 7000 miles over the course of a few weeks when you're doing it in a car you don't care about.

[agentsteel53]

We almost always rent a car too, why put the miles on our own personal vehicles?

the one reason that might have the numbers work out is if the miles are for business.  55c/mile really goes a long way.  That's why I'm driving a beater and using my road trips to buy signs, sell signs, document signs in the wild - lots of legitimate business purpose there, so I write it all off.

there is a "sweet spot" for rental cars - anything under about 300 miles per day and you're paying to park the car, but anything over about 600 miles per day, even the unlimited mileage becomes less advantageous than 55c/mile.  those numbers are highly approximate, but I did the numbers for my costs and it is the sensible choice.

[Alps]

I've taken roadtrips of multiple days with other people. Things tend to get punchy by the third day. That's why anything longer than that, I'll go alone.

[agentsteel53]

Things tend to get punchy by the third day.

second, if you're driving round-the-clock.

[corco]

I've taken roadtrips of multiple days with other people. Things tend to get punchy by the third day. That's why anything longer than that, I'll go alone.

I'd agree with that as a general rule- a few years ago I went on a roadtrip with two of my best friends from  high school to New Hamsphire and back. Things started to get tense somewhere around Toronto. On the way back we were in such a hurry (made it from Columbus Ohio to McCall Idaho via Denver in 36 hours) and we were all ready to get home that it didn't matter.

That's why I don't like going with other people- I (and I suspect most of us) have a much longer sense of patience than most when it comes to driving. I'm content to drive 1000 miles on a 2 lane road paralleling the interstate, but 99.9% of the population can't do that. It might be different with other roadgeeks, but who knows.

second, if you're driving round-the-clock.

That I disagree with- it almost becomes a challenge- how far can we drive without stopping?

[agentsteel53]

That I disagree with- it almost becomes a challenge- how far can we drive without stopping?

yes, but the sleep deprivation does result in irritability just as a physiological fact.

[F350]

I may be one of those extremes...

I am fortified with solitude. I love to just sit in my recliner-like seat of my van, gazing into the center lane. I drive slow most of the times also. I drive during the day for the most part. When dusk approaches, I pull over and rest till dawn. Or paint the town red. I also live in my vehicle whenever I'm on road trips. When I was a child, I had dreams of exploring every mile of the Interstate system. I'm halfway there. I think I can speak for most in here that I thought I was the only road geek in the world. So I got used to the idea of flying driving solo. I have taken road trips with other people once or twice.

[hbelkins]

All of my trips have been solo. The last few years I have been combining trips to meets with extra travel for the purposes of route- or county-clinching. My wife is not a big fan of driving for the sake of driving, and someone has to stay home to feed the critters.

[corco]

I am fortified with solitude. I love to just sit in my recliner-like seat of my van, gazing into the center lane. I drive slow most of the times also. I drive during the day for the most part. When dusk approaches, I pull over and rest till dawn. Or paint the town red. I also live in my vehicle whenever I'm on road trips. When I was a child, I had dreams of exploring every mile of the Interstate system. I'm halfway there. I think I can speak for most in here that I thought I was the only road geek in the world. So I got used to the idea of flying driving solo. I have taken road trips with other people once or twice.

Very well said. I refuse to drive somewhere new at night- why even be there if you can't see it?

[agentsteel53]

Very well said. I refuse to drive somewhere new at night- why even be there if you can't see it?

Some of the best photos I've ever taken were at night.  

but indeed, during the night I generally try to use the interstates or other well-known routes to reposition myself for dawn.

[AsphaltPlanet]

I do most of my roadgeeking solo as well. I typically do a couple of multinight trips in a given year. I like the solitude of driving solo. Sometimes I find myself rocking out to my iPod while other times I drive in complete silence. I also photograph roads somewhat uniquely. I generally don't take a lot of photos of road signs while driving. Rather, I prefer to take pictures of highways from unique vantage points, whether they be from freeway overpasses or preferably high rock cuts adjacen to the highway. Most people aren't patient enough to spend a couple hours photographing a short segment of highway. I have generally shied away from large organized road meets for this reason. I personally find little satisfaction in just driving a road and taking pictures from behind a pane of glass.

It's almost roadgeek season here in Ontario. Getting excited!

[realjd]

I am fortified with solitude. I love to just sit in my recliner-like seat of my van, gazing into the center lane. I drive slow most of the times also. I drive during the day for the most part. When dusk approaches, I pull over and rest till dawn. Or paint the town red. I also live in my vehicle whenever I'm on road trips. When I was a child, I had dreams of exploring every mile of the Interstate system. I'm halfway there. I think I can speak for most in here that I thought I was the only road geek in the world. So I got used to the idea of flying driving solo. I have taken road trips with other people once or twice.

Very well said. I refuse to drive somewhere new at night- why even be there if you can't see it?

Because sometimes there are reasons other than sightseeing to be some place. For sightseeing, driving at night is to be avoided IMO, but when you need to be somewhere, it's unavoidable.

[corco]

Because sometimes there are reasons other than sightseeing to be some place. For sightseeing, driving at night is to be avoided IMO, but when you need to be somewhere, it's unavoidable.

If you're on a trip just to roadgeek, shouldn't you plan around that?

[Duke87]

I have considered doing multi-day solo trips to nowhere in particular but I've never done it. I've spent 12 hours in a day just driving around, but every time I've driven somewhere with an overnight stay, the trip has had some sort of purpose or excuse for its existence.

I doubt I will be changing this in the near future - now that I live on my own, having time completely to myself is the norm and I don't need to leave home in search of it.

And, honestly, the idea of taking a multi-day trip somewhere completely by myself seems a little depressing. I'd want to find someone to go with me or at least somewhere along the way be able to stop and meet up with someone.

[corco]

And, honestly, the idea of taking a multi-day trip somewhere completely by myself seems a little depressing. I'd want to find someone to go with me or at least somewhere along the way be able to stop and meet up with someone.

I think it's something you grow into- my first overnight trip I felt that way, I was really bummed I was alone- I went to drive the north-central Washington highway system and went camping by myself near Lake Chelan, Washington, and it just felt depressing. The second time was an overnight roadtrip by myself with a destination to see some friends, and I felt a bit more comfortable. Then when I moved to Wyoming I extended the 12 hour drives from Laramie to Idaho into 22-23 hour drives to roadgeek, spending an intermediate night, and then from there I became comfortable going on overnight trips with no destination.

Then in the last year I've become comfortable going into restaurants on roadtrips by myself- when I started roadgeeking I would never do anything but fast food but now I have minimal reservation walking into a local sitdown restaurant and asking for a table for one, especially if I'm near a freeway or other major corridor. I'm still a little wary in towns that through traffic really wouldn't be in, but I'm getting more comfortable every time.

People do give judgmental looks sometimes, but you have to convince yourself that you'll never see them again, and on a couple occasions I've started talking to the waitress/another patron at a bar/whatever, and it's actually been fun. Wherever possible, sit at the bar, because more often than not you're not the only person eating alone and even if you don't talk to them, it feels more comfortable. Usually there's a sporting event or something on you can watch if you don't make conversation,  but oftentimes you'll end up making conversation.

I find it fun to occasionally make up an alter-ego and be that person- you're never going to see these people again, so you can be whoever you want.

[Brandon]

I've done a fair number of day trips, but no multi-day trips for roadgeeking.  Usually it's lunch off the dollar menu (yes, I'm a bit cheap, but you don't overeat then as well) and a stop at a mall or two with a side road to pick up a county, but all done in one day and back home late.

[realjd]

Like I said earlier, I travel regularly for work. Eating alone at a restaurant, you may think other people are staring but they aren't. They dont even notice. I have had a few issues with waiters unhappy that a party of one is take an entire table during the dinner rush (smaller bill means smaller tip), but that was only two or three times. My advice is to just sit at the bar, even if you dont want to drink. Restaurants have sit-up bars primarily to cater to solo diners and the service is usually better anyway since the bartender is right there.