planning a "road trip"

[apawllo]

basically, this past labor day weekend i got a dui cause i'm a fucking idiot. as a result, this has probably been the longest winter of my life, and so i plan on making up for it in the spring and summer months...

being that my license is under suspension until september, i don't have the option to drive any place unless i want to risk having it suspended for a number of years, but i'm planning on leaving around april/may/june regardless. whenever i decide i have a reasonable amount of money and decent plans in place, i'll leave here and just travel by any means available. i might find some random spots that i'd like to see, or make some sort of route to take but really i'm just hoping to meet some new people, have a good time and learn some things.

so, the point of the thread basically is this: i haven't done anything much like this before, and i'm wondering if anyone here might have any tips. i've been checking around on couchsurfing.com and a hitchhiking forum off and on for the past month or so to sort of get an idea as to how i might go about this. i'm hoping to potentially get some more advice here if possible, but at the same time i realize it will likely be sort of a baptism by fire in a way. at any rate, any suggestions would be much appreciated...

[ellipsis]

hitch hiking forum? link?

[apawllo]

http://www.digihitch.com/forums.html

pretty interesting discussion and seemingly informative guides

[Ele'ill]

Squat The Planet also has some interesting reading material. http://www.squattheplanet.com/

[Os Cangaceiros]

I love driving, and I've done quite a bit of it (through all of the states in the continental USA, and a large part Mexico & Canada). I can't really think of any tips, though, except that if you're in possession of any illegal drugs and/or a firearm, stay well away from highways that are close to the border, especially in the New Mexico/Texas area. I'll come back to this thread later if I think of anything else.

I did write down some cool roads/highways, if you're interested in that sort of info...

[apawllo]

yeah, definitely. i've heard about a couple routes i'd like to take...one highway through northern california and oregon. i can't recall the name at the moment. several people have said the scenery is beautiful though. but, anything of that nature would be great for sure.

[Os Cangaceiros]

You're probably thinking of Big Sur. I went along that road as a kid with my parents, but I don't remember much of it...only some crazy guy claiming that there were grizzly bears "up in them hills".

Alright, here's a few that I remember:

The Badlands (South Dakota) - The Badlands are pretty awesome to visit. I recommend making a detour through S. Dakota to see the area. North and South Dakota in general have a kind of desolate look that I find oddly beautiful...I'd never want to live there, but it's cool to drive through.

Route 22/Highway 20 (from Salem, Oregon to Bend, Oregon) - Really cool road. It's like driving down through a wooded mountainside, with plunging gorges on the side of the road that plummet down into winding rivers. I actually had a sort of near-death experience here when I thought it would be a brilliant idea to smoke a cigarette while standing on the edge of one of them. I started sliding down the incline, and only grabbing a clump of grass on the side of the slope stopped me from taking a tumble down into the river. No one would've found my body for a while.

After you drive through Bend, the road (Highway 20) becomes one of the most desolate stretches of highway I've ever travelled down. There isn't a gas station for 100+ miles...pretty much nothing until you cross the border into Idaho. The only other major highway I've been on like that (i.e. absolutely nothing forever) is I-10 in central Texas, where I ran out of gas and had to get a ride from a truck driver to the next town.

Highway 93 (from Kingman, Arizona to Phoenix, Arizona) - From woodlands to desert. I personally really like the scenery in the American Southwest, and there's plenty of it to see on this highway. In fact I think that's named as an official "scenic highway" or something...I didn't know that when I first drove on it, though. Lot of red rock and endless desert...in fact there are spots along the highway where you can pull off and drive out into the desert, on long dirt roads that look like they stretch out forever (kind of like some of the farm roads in Kansas and the rest of the midwest, only in the desert). I started doing that once and chickened out, though...I wouldn't recommend it.

Interstate 15, running through Arizona - This is actually a really, really short stretch of road. Go ahead, look at it on Google maps...short, huh? It probably takes about half an hour or less to drive through as you pass through Utah into Nevada, but you literally drive through a canyon. Yeah. It's awesome. Towering walls of red rock on either side of you. It's probably my favorite interstate section I've ever driven on. I normally don't like interstates that much, as they don't have much character (although they're undoubtedly the fastest way to go from point A to point B).

So those are my suggestions, for now.

[Le Libérer]

You're probably thinking of Big Sur. I went along that road as a kid with my parents, but I don't remember much of it...only some crazy guy claiming that there were grizzly bears "up in them hills".

Alright, here's a few that I remember:

The Badlands (South Dakota) - The Badlands are pretty awesome to visit. I recommend making a detour through S. Dakota to see the area. North and South Dakota in general have a kind of desolate look that I find oddly beautiful...I'd never want to live there, but it's cool to drive through.

Route 22/Highway 20 (from Salem, Oregon to Bend, Oregon) - Really cool road. It's like driving down through a wooded mountainside, with plunging gorges on the side of the road that plummet down into winding rivers. I actually had a sort of near-death experience here when I thought it would be a brilliant idea to smoke a cigarette while standing on the edge of one of them. I started sliding down the incline, and only grabbing a clump of grass on the side of the slope stopped me from taking a tumble down into the river. No one would've found my body for a while.

After you drive through Bend, the road (Highway 20) becomes one of the most desolate stretches of highway I've ever travelled down. There isn't a gas station for 100+ miles...pretty much nothing until you cross the border into Idaho. The only other major highway I've been on like that (i.e. absolutely nothing forever) is I-10 in central Texas, where I ran out of gas and had to get a ride from a truck driver to the next town.

Highway 93 (from Kingman, Arizona to Phoenix, Arizona) - From woodlands to desert. I personally really like the scenery in the American Southwest, and there's plenty of it to see on this highway. In fact I think that's named as an official "scenic highway" or something...I didn't know that when I first drove on it, though. Lot of red rock and endless desert...in fact there are spots along the highway where you can pull off and drive out into the desert, on long dirt roads that look like they stretch out forever (kind of like some of the farm roads in Kansas and the rest of the midwest, only in the desert). I started doing that once and chickened out, though...I wouldn't recommend it.

Interstate 15, running through Arizona - This is actually a really, really short stretch of road. Go ahead, look at it on Google maps...short, huh? It probably takes about half an hour or less to drive through as you pass through Utah into Nevada, but you literally drive through a canyon. Yeah. It's awesome. Towering walls of red rock on either side of you. It's probably my favorite interstate section I've ever driven on. I normally don't like interstates that much, as they don't have much character (although they're undoubtedly the fastest way to go from point A to point B).

So those are my suggestions, for now.

Of course if you make it down to I-20 ish, you could actually meet redstar2000.

[Magón]

Coast Highway/Big Sur, CA

You can take the "Coast Highway", which just goes up and down California. (Which is probably what highway you're talking about, when talking about N. Cali. Big Sur, isn't all that great. It's beautiful, pretty, and a good place to go for some fresh outdoors scene near the ocean, but the only place in Big Sur is a small little shop, some bathrooms, a camping area, and a cheesy little diamond (and other stuff) "holistic" sort of store. There's also an old lighthouse that you may or may not be able to check out. You can also walk around in the woods, which is fun, but don't expect a lot of animal life to come walking past, or anything.

Monterey, CA

Monterey is a fun city to stop off at, and has Cannery Row (Where Steinbeck wrote, Cannery Row, etc.) It's got a good little mexican joint that has out of this world tacos with red snapper fish in it. (My mouth just waters at the thought of how good they are.)

Luckily, Big Sur and Monterey are near each other, and they're both along the Coast Highway, and it's a pretty beautiful drive/walk/ride.

[Ele'ill]

The Lost Coast- Eel River Valley

[BlackPacker]

Travel light. Or at least just one pack. Try to look clean and not too cluttered. If you look like you stink, most people won't pick you up. Smile, even it it's raining.

When approaching a potential ride, stay far enough behind the passenger window that somebody can't bean you in the face with a beer can or pepper spray.

Don't hop freights, you don't know what you are doing.

Abandoned Railroad Tracks run from Marin to Humboldt.

Truckers don't stop for hitchhikers, so if you want to ride rigs, go where the truckers stop. (Avoid Highway Patrol weigh stations, though, duh!) Truck stops on major routes are great places for long hops, but some of the bigger ones will have security chase you off.

Quinoa is a complete protein and simple to cook in one dish with whatever you want to add, lots of nutritional value for the weight.

Call home, or at least a designated friend from every town.

Get an ID card, there is the potential that your license has been seized, and it is possible to get busted for presenting a drivers license for identification if it has been revoked.

Don't be an asshole. If you are nice and friendly, everything will usually go just fine. Leave when the yard bulls ask you to, and don't curse at the cops.

Don't take anyone's advice about the depth of any river, status of a bridge up-ahead, or the condition of a trail or pass without double checking. Back tracking ten miles in a car sucks, on foot, it's terrible...

[BlackPacker]

Travel light. Or at least just one pack. Try to look clean and not too cluttered. If you look like you stink, most people won't pick you up. Smile, even it it's raining.

When approaching a potential ride, stay far enough behind the passenger window that somebody can't bean you in the face with a beer can or pepper spray.

Don't hop freights, you don't know what you are doing.

Abandoned Railroad Tracks run from Marin to Humboldt.

Truckers don't stop for hitchhikers, so if you want to ride rigs, go where the truckers stop. (Avoid Highway Patrol weigh stations, though, duh!) Truck stops on major routes are great places for long hops, but some of the bigger ones will have security chase you off.

Quinoa is a complete protein and simple to cook in one dish with whatever you want to add, lots of nutritional value for the weight.

Call home, or at least a designated friend from every town.

Get an ID card, there is the potential that your license has been seized, and it is possible to get busted for presenting a drivers license for identification if it has been revoked.

Don't be an asshole. If you are nice and friendly, everything will usually go just fine. Leave when the yard bulls ask you to, and don't curse at the cops.

Don't take anyone's advice about the depth of any river, status of a bridge up-ahead, or the condition of a trail or pass without double checking. Back tracking ten miles in a car sucks, on foot, it's terrible...

[Bitter Ashes]

Seeing as though everyone's already said all the good ideas, please allow me to put forward the obligitary piss poor awful idea for somebody in good health. :lol:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZvm5H4F-aA

[ellipsis]

See old thread on hitch-hiking (http://www.revleft.com/vb/hitch-hiking-tips-t118235/index.html?p=).

[NoOneIsIllegal]

Driving through the rocky mountain states is pretty badass (mountains and shit). As much as I love the midwest, don't ever "simply" drive through it. If you plan on going through them, stop somewhere and visit.