Around the country trip

So I have come to a mid-mid-life crisis in my mid 20s and have decided to save up some cash and travel around the country. I'm planing to do the trip in my truck(2014 dcsb), and the gf, possibly her small dog(probably not). I am starting in the SF Bay Area and planing to start the trip by going south first towards vegas, then onward to the eastern states from there. The trip will probably take me anywhere from 3-6 months depending on the places we stop.

I am currently looking for a shell and a RTT for our on the road camping. I already have another tent that we will be using for when we hike/backpack/camp along the road too as well as a ton of camping gear.

Any recommendations for places to visit would be great especially from locals and people that have lived in any of these states. Any recommendations for places to stay away from as well are greatly appreciated.

I want to see some cool nature stuff, eat some awesome local food, and drink a local beer or two.

So far my trip map looks similar to the link below, not finalized of course.

http://rhiever.github.io/optimal-roadtrip-usa/major-landmarks.html

The trip would start at mid spring next year.

Any mods to the truck that might help along the way would be great as well. I wanted to get a pelfrebilt aluminum hybrid bumper but it might be worse for mileage considering the weight.

 

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Any news on this? It's been a while but am curious if you have put anymore thought in this. I looked at the map and would recommend when going through NC, skip the Charlotte area and continue down the mountains. Check out Linville Gorge and Caverns. It's not far from Black Mountain. I believe there is a brewery there to check out. If you have an extra few hours, West of Black Mountain if Grandfather Mountain with some pretty good scenery.

 

@mCat you still doing this?

 

Hey guys, yep still planning on this. I have the camper shell sitting in my garage ready to go and all bills prepaid for a year. Now I just have to get the girlfriend to quit her job and we are goood to go. Probably wont happen until summer at the earliest. If anyone has more tips and tricks please do post. I greatly appreciate all that.

Awesome, thanks for that, I'm updating my map constantly to avoid places I've been already(mostly west coast states). But I will definitely add those changes to the map.

 

have my own couple of road trips this summer as well due to a military move. if going through eastern Oklahoma, someone told me I should check out talimena scenic drive. googled it and it looks pretty cool depending on time of year.

 

No problem man there are some members up in that area who could probably tell you some awesome local areas to check out. I live in eastern NC but check out and visit the western NC as often as I can. I love the scenery out that way and always go through Linville Gorge as there is a gravel/dirt highway that is miles long with some good views. Also has pull off camping spots that you can use. The park ranger asks that you register just so they know people are there but it's pretty cool. No water or electric. All rough camping but nice area.

 

NE Washington is beautiful but that's damn near gonna turn into a North America road trip not just a around the country trip

 

looks like you'll be driving by St. Augustine FL. Stop by the old city, check out the fort and there are a lot of great places to eat and explore!

 

Looks like a fun trip. We have a lot near Great Cacapon, WV. PM if you wanna camp during the week, or just want to have a backup. (Not on your map route.)

 

I'll be following this thread eagerly as I'm gonna do a road trip similar to yours when I EAS next fall

 

who knows, might see ya out on the road somewhere this summer latest update to our trip is I'll be in Pensacola for 5 weeks, then to Miami for a week, up through Orlando to Nashville, across home to OKC, load up the wife and dog and household stuff, and up through kansas, colorado, salt lake and over to Reno. All around beginning of August.

 

Thanks for the advice guys! I just recently took a trip out to Utah to the state parks and covered about 6-8 national parks in the trip. If anyone hasn't been out there, I'd highly recommend antelope and capitol reef, some of the coolest shit ever. Since I'm from California I figured I'd cover the close by states on my free time so I can just drive through them when it's real roadtrip time.