Starting this summer, once I graduate high school, I’m hopping in my car and heading west out of Austin to wherever the road takes me. It should be a good time. After that, I’ll be looking for suggestions from you guys to create the rest of my trip. Any kind of suggestion, from “go to Seattle” to “climb a mountain” is welcomed.
Drewott's Travel Blog
Traveling the U.S. living out of my car (starts in July)
Are you searching for something in particular? Where did this idea spring from?
It’s a combination of things. I’m pretty annoyed, to say the least, that I’ve spent 17 years of my life doing the exact same thing.
The idea came from reading the book Into the Wild. If you haven’t read it, you should. Everybody should read that book.
I was originally going to try to make a documentary, but I realized that running a one-person documentary crew is pretty difficult, plus I don’t want to keep a bunch of expensive equipment with me in my car if I’m going to be sleeping in unusual places. On the trip I’m going to be looking for interesting stories of people and places so the eventual documentary will have a clear focus.
This has got to be the best idea I’ve ever heard of.
I’m jealous.
oh, and if you’re living out of your car, how are you going to shower and brush your teeth?
I’m not 100% sure how I’m going to brush my teeth. I imagine I’ll have big cases of water bottles in my trunk, so I guess I’d put the toothpaste on my brush, brush, then take a mouthfull of water from the bottle to rinse.
Showering will be more difficult. Most national and state parks have public facilities with showers. I’ll probably use those a lot. If I’m in a completely rural area, I can probably just use a water bottle for water and I’ll have shampoo with me. If I get really desperate I might be able to find a cheap hotel that will give me a room for an hour… but I’ll have to be careful not to lay on the bed (really careful).
And of course there’s the outside chance that I meet some nice people who give me a couch/floor to sleep on for a night and a chance to shower.
What happens if the nice people who offer you a couch are creepers?
That would be weird.
I still think this is a fantastic idea, but you’ll need a lot of good luck.
I’m really not worried about meeting “bad” people. Of course I’m going to be smart about stuff, but I think in general people are too afraid of each other. I’ll do a post about this in the upcoming weeks. By the way, do I know you in real life?
I forgot to say that I’m Kasia.
Sorry, I just figured that out. I’m not some weird person that lives in Utah or anything.
And why would you be moving to LA?
You should go to San Francisco, by the way. The hills should be a fun attempt without rolling back down.
And yeah, that would be kind of creepy if I just like showed up and had no idea who you were, right?
Sweet idea! I didn’t know what “the hills” were until I Googled it. http://mistersf.com/high/index.html?highhill01.htm Looks awesome. Any specific idea of what to do there?
I’ll be in California for about a month of this trip because of the National Parks and because I’m probably moving to LA eventually, so I’ll check out San Francisco for sure.
Thanks! I’ve always wanted to go there, so I’m thinking you should check out Chinatown and the Golden Gate Bridge. I’ll bet there are some really great photo opportunities there. That’s what I would do if I was there, anyway. I would be snapping away.
oh, and definitely Fisherman’s Wharf.
That could be cool.
Monterey is another city you should visit while in California. Monterey Bay is really cool, and I’ve never been to it but the aquarium there is one of the biggest in the world. And definitely San Francisco, just driving around is awesome.
If you’re going to be in San Francisco you need to drive down Lombard Street. To me it’s something everyone should do at least once in their lives. And last time I went to San Francisco I went to Alcatraz, it costs money to buy a ticket to go see the old prison but I thought it was very interesting and it was something worth going to.
Good call. I forgot that street existed.
Alcatraz would be interesting to check out. I’m going to try to spend less than $20 a day, so I’ll have to try to plan it out in the budget.
Thanks for the recommendations.
I hope to see ya soon Drew.
Keep up the blog!
I would love to hear the stories.
If you need a list of fun things to do in chicago, hit me up
Katie I’m “hitting you up” for sure when I pass through Chicago.
Hey Drew:
This is Kurt cole…from your film Late…I have been searching high and low for your e-mail address and cannot find it….I had a question…when you get a chance shoot me an e-mail at kseilh@sbcglobal.net…I would appreciate it…hope all is well