Summer 2007 Road Trip: One girl. One car. Over 8,000 miles.

There are several things I noticed and learned on my five cross-country road trips.  Yep- I’ve now completed five of them.  I will share these pearls of wisdom with you now:

• Get Triple A if you don’t have it. Not only do you get discounts at pretty much every hotel, but you will be covered if you break down!
• Not once was I asked for proof of having Triple-A when asking about the hotel discounts. They just gave it to me. No proof or card needed.
• So yeah, if you don’t have Triple A, you can pretend to have it at hotels, get discounted room rates, and nobody (except you and your conscience) will be the wiser.
• There is a community of travelers out there that you will know nothing about unless you go on a road trip. You see this community of people when you are at rest stops, tourist traps, and generally on the road. They are mostly a very friendly and intriguing breed of human.
• When you are driving alone, remember - you aren’t really alone. Every single vehicle you come across has at least one living/breathing human in it. Even that annoying big rig 18-wheeler that accidentally cut you off.
• People from Florida must really like to go on road trips. I spotted more Florida license plates - in every single state I went through - than any other state license plate!
• On my entire road trip, I didn’t see any other New Hampshire plates except when I was in the Northeast. Yet, I saw California, Florida, Missouri and even Alaska plates in almost every state! (Georgia and Texas were also pretty popular).
• For the most part, people in Ohio seem to drive pretty darn slow. Of course, I saw more speed traps and highway patrol cars in Ohio than anywhere else.
• You can (and I did) easily hit speeds of 100mph on I-40 between California and Arizona. I don’t recommend it, however.
• The absolute easiest way to cross the continental divide (rockies) in the USA is on I-40 through Arizona and New Mexico. You will go up just over 7000 feet in altitude, but you will barely notice. There are no scary sharp hairpin turns or drop-offs.
• The lowest place to cross the continental divide is on I-90/94 in Montana, but the roads twist and turn quite a bit. The highest altitude is just over 6000 feet. However, there are no scary sharp hairpin turns or drop-offs.
• The highest and scariest place to cross the continental divide/rockies (in my opinion) in the USA is I-70/76 through Colorado. You will go over 11,000 feet in altitude, not to mention there are a lot of twists and turns and breathtaking scenery.
• Another halfway decent route over the rockies is I-80 through Wyoming. It’s a loooong road, and Wyoming tends to be very windy (thus lowering gas mileage) but it’s not too bad. You will go just over 7000 or 7500 feet in altitude.
• There is a stretch of I-15 somewhere in Utah or Nevada that is about 80+ miles long with no exits and no services. I vaguely recall from one of my last road trips seeing a sign that said “no services for next 85 miles” or something.
• Utah and Colorado are the most physically beautiful and breathtaking states I’ve seen yet. Of course, New Hampshire in the fall is astoundingly gorgeous as well.
• Rest-stop bathrooms in California (both North and South) are the dirtiest and most disgusting I have yet to see.
• They are doing construction in every single state with an interstate running through it. They were doing construction in the exact same place in some areas that they were 5 years ago when I went through on my road trip (and nothing has changed!!!!)
• Driving through Upstate New York in the left lane is quite a challenge. First, you will need to go at least 80mph. Second, you will need to stay within 3 feet of the car’s bumper in front of you, or else you will rudely get cut off. Third, if someone gets about 1 foot from your back bumper, that is your cue to get over - regardless of if there is room to get over or if you are already tailgating the person in front of you. If you do not get over, be prepared to be given the finger, as well as having expletives hurled at you through the window. And yes, this happened to me, although I think the guy was giving me the finger because I turned my windshield wipers on when he was about 2 inches from my back bumper.

That’s all for now!