This is the first posting of what I hope will be a series of postings from my camping trip across the country and back. Though I have traveled the world I have not seen much of the USA except what is on the East Coast and Colorado. My parents lived in Colorado for several years, affording me the opportunity to visit and vacation there. There was also a raft trip down the Colorado River with friends.
I should really name this trip the Bucket List, because I hope to be visiting many places that I have read about or seen pictures. My first stop will be Fallingwaters in southwestern PA. Near Fallingwaters is also another Frank Lloyd Wright house that I can view the same day.
Planning my trip has been a fun experience. I used to have a RoadTrek class B RV and loved traveling in it. But I sold it when gas prices hit $3.00 because I was only getting 8 miles per gallon. But my wondering spirit wanted to do a trip with or without an RV. The stock market crash and housing bust clearly forced me to plan my trip using a tent. My car is a Prius and it cannot tow anything. On the bright side, my car can get over 50 mpg when I drive well. I will be loaded down with equipment on the trip so I expect to get at least 45 mpg (hopefully).
I started planning by getting regional maps of the US from AAA. I also got a National Geographic book covering all of the National Parks, "1000 Places to See Before You Die," a 2012 Rand McNally road atlas, a book entitled "A Guide to Scenic Highways & Byways" also by National Geographic and Woodalls Camping directory. As a Geography major, I took a course entitled the Physiography of the US. So I pulled out my books and maps from that course as reference materials.
As I studied the maps and read the books I realized that the trip I really wanted to do involved visiting the National Parks in the west. I circled the National Parks in which I was interested, or ones that happened to be along my sketched route and checked for scenic byways and the 1000 places book which I had previously marked up for potential visiting. As I mentioned I have a BA in Geography (as well as Art) and used to work as a map editor, so maps is MY THING. I have a good sense of direction and can read maps well. (or I thought I could until I was looking for a camping spot between Vegas and Barstow, CA and wondered why all the sites were dry. Then I noticed, scrolled across the map in red, were the words "Mojave Desert."
I just randomly picked a week's stay at each National Park and then added travel to and from the west. Google maps and Mapquest were invaluable. I could plug in potential destinations and see what the time and mileage would be and could begin to plan my overnight stops. My planned equipment influenced my choices of overnight stays.
My tent is new and 10 x 16, which is pretty big as tents go; a Eureka Copper Canyon.Why such a big tent? Well I had a small tent and a separate screened in fly. I also had a cot that was only 6 inches off the ground. It fit into the little tent but nothing else did. The tent also required getting down on hand and knees to get in and out of it. I already knew I was replacing the cot for a full height one, so I needed a tent to accommodate that. My screened in fly had sloped sides and didn't have rain protection, so I used to have to hang sheets of plastic around the inside in the event of rain. Not fun and the plastic obstructed my view and reduced the size of usable room. The Copper Canyon has two rooms. The first is the sleeping area 8 x 10 with a covered floor, windows and a door to the outside as well as a door to the 2nd room. There is also a skylight and all the openings are screened. The screen room is also 8 x 10 and has no floor. There are huge windows with screens and again, two doors, one to the outside and the other to the sleep area. I can erect the tent over a picnic table at a camp site if I choose. When I purchased the tent the salesmen at Campmor assured me that I could erect the tent myself but that is not the case. Because the poles are on the outside, someone has to stand in the inside to raise the roof so that the corner poles can be attached. I could not be both places at once. As a result I came up with the design for a "tent helper-putter-upper." I got two sets of telescoping poles to use for uprights and some pieces of PVC pipe to be cross bars and have made a tripod sort of arrangement that I can raise inside. It is stable enough for me to then go outside and put up the side poles. It all breaks down into easily packed lengths.
I have hiked at least 1000 miles of the Appalachian Trail and have used a bivy sack, backpacking tent and shelters. I know what it is like to hike all day and then set up camp, filter water and cook a meal. Only to get up and do it all over the next day. I figured that driving, sometimes as much as 7-8 hours, equaled hiking and that I knew I would be tired upon arrival at my campsites. So I planned on two night stays. The second day I could sight see or veg out. Interspersed with the two night tent stays I put in several motel stays, usually because of an extra long day of driving.
Some national parks fill up by mid morning, and I knew I wouldn't be getting in until late afternoon in most cases. I did not want to risk "having no place in the inn" syndrome so I started making reservations at the national parks. Even booking in January, I found some sites already booked, despite my traveling in the spring. Expedia coughed up some decently priced stays for me going and coming and in Las Vegas. I decided that if I was only spending one night I would use KOA Kampgrounds as they have many amenities such as washer and dryers, ice, camp store, and all important Internet connections. I also booked a stay in Tahoe using my timeshare points.
By automatically assigning a full week to the parks, I worked backwards to fill the nights getting to and from the west and between parks. I came up with a trip almost 3 months long. I hope it won't kill me, as the mileage just to do the trip, excluding day trips, is close to 7000 miles.
Once I had my general route, I started compiling lists of equipment, both camping and personal. I made some decisions such as, two small coolers, instead of one big one, to cut my hair and not use any beauty products except shampoo and moisturizer. There will be no place for a blow dryer and who wants to attract bugs with hair products etc. I also chose state parks where possible because they are cheaper. What you trade in price, of course, is no showers. Luckily I have a Coleman portable instant hot water heater. It is powered by the same size of bottled propane as my camp stove and lantern. It has a spigot that swings out for dish washing and a hose and nozzle fits on to the spigot to make a shower. I can shower in my screen room when necessary. I ditched big towels as I have learned that towels never dry---- ever, when car camping. I will use backpacking mini squeegee things. I decided that if I brought any dress clothes it would be one nice jacket. The rest of my clothing will be for hiking or jeans for driving. I will bring two rain suits. One for everyday use in public and one made of tyvek to use for erecting and taking down camp. Because it will be spring and I will be up at elevations I have a down bag, down coverlet, and warm fleece clothing. Hats, gloves, wool socks and polypropylene underwear. Everything will be washable. While hiking the AT (Appalachian Trail) we used to wear our rain suits (commando style) to the laundromat and wash everything else in one load. I hope I won't be quite reduced to that.
On the home front, I had to arrange for all my bills to come electronically and to pay most thru EFT. The hardest thing to prepare for was how to have my cats boarded. I finally put an ad on Craig's List and got an immediate response from a lovely young couple right here in town. I went to interview them and I am happy they will be caring for my two cats.
Over the years I have found that long drives are made so much easier if I listen to a book on CD. Cracker Barrel stores have books to take at one location and return at the next store. That arrangement has worked well for me but I also started collecting CD books that I found on sale at BJ's or other locations because I don't know how many Cracker Barrels I will encounter.
One of the biggest problems is how to get three months of medications and still have my insurance pay for them. I still have not figured out this one yet.
All this talking about equipment etc was because my route was picked to make it as easy as possible for me to drive the long distances but also to be able to withstand the rigors of tent camping. I can also say that I intend to take a nice mattress, as well as my backpacking mattress, so that I can get a decent nights sleep. I will take out other equipment to make my foam pad fit! And I recently had my tires checked to see if the tread will last the full length of my trip.
After booking the national parks, I started to fill in the other nights and came up with some surprises. April 2nd is early for camping and some parks and state parks are not open that early. That necessitated me to have to change my stops. In most cases I have found something near where I had originally planned but oftentimes not the cheaper state parks. Some camping sites are 1st come 1st serve and I am hopeful that in springtime the odds will be in my favor.
Then I started looking at attractions along the way and right off the bat discovered that my first stop at Fallingwaters was planned for a Wednesday and they are closed on Wednesdays! So I had to push up my departure date by one day. As I was scanning my maps I also decided I better know when I was changing time zones, as well as mark down holidays and birthdays of family.
After telling a friend about my trip she suggested I get a MIFI. I suppose it means "mobile" something. So I went to Verizon Wireless and purchased a 4G MIFI. It means, theoretically, that if a cell phone signal is available I could get on my computer anywhere. In theory! I brought it home and played with it for three days and took it back. While sitting in my kitchen, from which I get good cell reception, I had trouble getting onto the Internet. I was dropped often or mid-session. I found I couldn't get online, period and that sometimes all of the lights went dark. Either I got a bad unit or the technology needs more work. So I will have to rely on hotspots and wifi where ever I can find them. There won't be cell coverage in most of the national parks because they are so remote or up in areas with low density of population. I hope I can find places to connect on my days traveling between the parks, at motels and KOA's.
Everybody keeps remarking about "bears" and won't I be lonely, won't I be in danger blah blah blah. They keep saying how I have to check in with someone every day blah blah blah. I have camped where there were bears before and it is common sense to not temp a bear with ready to get food. The national parks have bear boxes for all food. It is better to use the bear boxes than to put stuff in my car. I will be lonely, of course and maybe even scared sometimes but, again, I have hiked the AT for weeks on end and survived, I have vacationed alone for years abroad and in the US. I live alone and don't have one of those cords you pull in case you have fallen (not yet anyway). I have not found anyone interested in doing such a trip, (who could blame them). I have driven long mileage by myself. I even went and got those little mirrors you put on your outside mirrors to warn of vehicles in my blind spots. I have a cell phone. I will leave an itinerary with my son. What should I do, stay home out of fear? I could fall, I could have an accident in camp or with my car. A lot of things could happen and some probably will, but I hope I can over come such obstacles and complete the trip. Once I get to California there is only one way home again, to drive it myself. I hope by planning a week at most parks that I can have some days where I just veg and don't move my stump out of camp. I can read, do sudoku, knit, sleep, nap, hike. I have planned to take a zero gravity lounge chair and a fleece snugly as well.
I suppose you are asking, how will this all fit? The fact is that when you car camp, what you need for one night is identical to what you will need for a longer period. I spent a week (in the rain) with similar equipment as well as my kayaking gear and it all fit. I do not relish folding up a wet tent and erecting a wet tent, my car will start to smell and will need a good cleaning now and then, but I am hopeful that I will not encounter as much rain out west as here in the east. It always rains when I camp or backpack here in the east. Rain gear (also covers as wind gear) is always on my list. Experience tells me that polypropylene, fleece and wool will be my saviors.
2/6/12
Went to AAA today to get up to date maps and tour books. They now have detailed maps of Yellowstone/Grand Teton and Yosemite as well as the tour books. What a lot of territory I am proposing to cover! I got fresh multi state maps so that I can mark them up for my proposed routes and the individual state maps for details. I will also be printing up local maps to help with finding campsites. Some places don't have very exact address data. Since I won't have a navigator on board except "Loraine" (my Gamin GPS), I want to be able to study things the night before so that I can navigate the next days' drive. Loraine and I get into fights now and then but she has been pretty reliable and not taken me down any wrong way streets yet. I recently did the yearly update to her data. I have a feeling she will get a headache and go blank in some areas.
Trying to decide if I want to take my hand held GPS along also for hiking. I would have to take the disks along and preload the maps for each area I will be visiting. What I can download doesn't have the best resolution but I like carrying one, however, so that I can always retrace my steps and mark way points etc.
Batteries, batteries, batteries. I have bought them in multi packs but will probably need more. Flashlights, mini-lantern, head lamp, alarm clock, camera, GPS. At least my emergency radio has a hand crank. Was invaluable during last August's hurricane to alert for tornadoes setting down in our area.
I have heard from one reader that Mickey D's has wifi. That is good news and bad news. Good for on-the-road connection, but bad because I am addicted to their Caramel Frappes at 650 calories per medium serving. Also heard from a reader that prescriptions might be started at Walmart and could be refilled at any Walmart. Great suggestion (except I try not to give them my business)
Then there is something I was reading about at Santa Rosa Lake Campground in NM. Things with diamond shaped heads and rat-ta-lee tails. Their web site suggested to watch hands and feet while climbing over the rocks. I may not be afraid of bears but I HATE snakes. Great brave one I am! Friends in MA have a nice electric fence that they move around to change where their animals can graze. Think I will get a nice double wired one to surround my campsite and never leave my site. Do they come with batteries? Now I grew up in a state with copperheads and rattlesnakes. Never saw a rattlesnake in my youth but had a copper head sun itself every afternoon on the big rock outside of my cabin at Camp Washington when I was a counselor. Then there was also the black snake that lived in the wall of the waterfront when I was Waterfront Director. I hated when that creature would make a visit when the campers were in the water. Think It all stems from a tussle I had with one in a stream while camping up at Stokes State Forest, NJ in 7th grade. Scarred for life. But I'm going anyway!
I am looking forward to some good reading about the places I intend to visit. Can't ever learn too much ahead of time. But overall I think the main focus of my attention will be on the lay of the land; on the physiographic provinces I learned about in school. There are so many land features that I have only read about and never seen. Hogbacks, loess hills and volcanic features.
phys·i·og·ra·phy [fiz-ee-og-ruh-fee] noun
iˈɒg
1. the science of physical geography.
Catherine i just want you to know that you are my HERO! I loved that you decided to hike the AT and now this! Awesome. I want to be like you when I grow up! take care and I will be praying for you!
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