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I'll give you a little hint on getting gas. Sure it's good to get gas at the stations right next to the interstate, but, if the off ramp is close to a town, not just some rural exit, you can sometimes find gas about 10 cents a gallon cheaper. I lived just off I-24 in W. Ky and have driven interstates from here to Myrtle Beach, SC and have found that to be true at many places. Somebody said buy several cell phones for the trip. Just buy that little cord to plug into your cigarette lighter and keep your phone on charge all the time you're driving.
Another thing is if you need to get out and stretch your legs from time to time, and of course you will, find some place for tourists. No need to travel across country and not see anything.
You know those hotel coupon books you see at truck stops and state welcome stations? You might as well cut them up, put them on a cardboard tube, and hang it in the bathroom. Wife and I tried using them from time to time and most of the hotels never heard of the discount and wouldn't give it to us.
56 year old female here, I do several 8 hour drives a year, and have made a few 1000 mile drives split into 2 days.
Some of these have already been mentioned but need repeating-
Stay in a hotel that has a lobby. Doesn't have to be high end.
Let friends and family know where you are each day, and where you plan to be that night. Make sure they know your license plate numbers and make model and color of your car.
Get gas at truck stops if possible. If you have to go inside to pay or use the bathroom, try to park where you can see your car from inside before you head back to your car, so you can see if anyone is hanging around it.
My husband and I have a code word, one that would not come up in our normal conversation, but that I can use easily if I am somehow in trouble and need to let him know without others knowing- for instance if someone has put a gun to my head and then demands I drive them somewhere. If he calls me I drop that word into the conversation.
Be aware of your surroundings at all times and walk purposely and with your head up.
Please invest $ 150-175 in a portable Garmin navigator. If you get lost at night all the maps of the country won't help if you don't even know the name of the town or street you are using. The Garmin will put you in the right direction within minutes.
Once you got it, practice a day or two on familiar roads.
After you learned to use it, the navigator will take you to the closest motel, bank, gas station, restaurant, grocery store, city park; you name it, the Garmin will find it. You don't need an address: just click on the "motels" near where you are or in any other town or city.
This is a portable device, if you ever get another car, the unit will go with you, and you can even loan it to a trusted friend. Also, you can pre-progam addresses and destinations in the comfort of your home and save it under "favorites". Since we got ours we became much more adventurous travelers.
There is no need to look at the screen while driving, because it will talk to you, and if you make a wrong turn it will recalculate and request a U-turn or whatever else it takes to guide you to your destination.
Last edited by mgforshort; 09-24-2013 at 05:11 PM..
I've traveled multiple times cross country with my husband or just me and the dogs. I book my hotels ahead of time, always with a restaurant like Olive Garden near by so I can just call in a take out order. I also pack a cooler full of sandwiches, munchies, water and chocolate covered espresso beans for a quick caffeine hit and then I don't have to stop at a fast food place and can simply eat when I'm hungry.
I would add to carefully look at the local weather for each area. I live in the Colorado Mountains, a couple days ago the snow level dropped to 9,000 feet and closed I-70 over Vail Pass for a few hours in the morning, personally at this time of the year onward to the spring I would take the more southernly I-40 route.
Thanks ThugLyfe,,,,,,,I am actually going to print out some of these suggestions....I also experienced my CC being cancelled,,,,,they do this if you try and use card in a completely different location than you usually use and live,,,,,
Great advise folks!!
Good point on the credit card. They look for odd patterns and will put a hold on the card until they can get in touch with you. My CC company has a link on their website so I can tell them I'm traveling and where so that doesn't happen.
If your company doesn't have this, call them before you go and give them the heads up. It will avoid problems later.
Hello......I thought I would ask how many people have driven across country, or even half the country. I am wanting to especially target females but absolutely want male input also.
I am looking for the most logical safety tips, to more subtle safety tips.....if anyone can add to this please let me now.
1. Map out trip
2. Make sure to arrive to motel/hotel at least an hour before dark
3. DO NOT DRIVE AT NIGHT.....
4. Make sure to have car super super inspected prior to leaving, even with this done...never know,,,,,,
5. Make sure AAA card is ACTIVE! and fullly covered.
6. Weapon......?? This question is very subjective.
7. Make sure to let friends and family (at both sides, where you came from and where you are going) know daily where you are....
8. Make sure your cell # does not go dead.
9. STAY OFF LONG DESOLATE ROADS....LIKE IN THE DESERT, SO YOU DO NOT FEEL LIKE YOU ARE ENTERING A STEPHEN KING MOVIE.
10. Have plenty of water....
11. Do not have luggage etc staked so high that other travelers can see that you look like you are traveling...as opposed to normal driver.....
12. Lastly, I am going to go to AAA as I am a member and ask them for best route from Los Angeles to northeast......mainly I am concerned with the best route to take from L.A. to Chicago....avoiding long desert roads.....want to travel the roads with many people on them.......nicely patrolled by police etc.
How to avoid being targeted??????????????
I am woman (middle aged) traveling alone. Traveling from west coast to east coast. I have done this before, coast to coast.....but I was not ALONE!! My car is an older car.....
Thank you for any input or first hand experience.....
If you are driving on tires other than brand-spanking new ones, especially if your trunk is filled with heavy objects, stop at a nationally recognized place mid-way through your trip and have your tires looked at. On one trip driving from Pennsylvania to Arizona I had tire trouble in New Mexico. I had the tires checked before I left, but apparently the load I was carrying was too much. Lucky for me it was day time and a week day, so I was able to get two new tires of the proper size without too much time lost.
Once on a relatively short trip, I blew out a tire on a Friday night in a rain storm on a rural road in Pennsylvania. AAA took nearly two hours to get there. I wasn't going to drive on my replacement tire into NYC (my destination) so I had to drive backwards nearly 50 miles to get to get a new tire since Walmart was the only thing open at night that had one. While I was sitting there waiting for AAA I actually called the local police and told them what was up with me just because I was so creeped out. Contrary to being mad that I bugged them, they thanked me for letting them know and sent a patrol car to drive by and check on me. (I don't recommend that if you're in a major city, but personally I wouldn't have been as scared in a major city.)
Finally, when you stop for overnights, don't leave any items visible in your car. If there is a safe in your hotel room, make sure you engage it, even if you have no reason to be using it. Robbery teams sometimes pay hotel employees to tell them which room are NOT using their safes because they assume this make valuables more easy to steal. This tip was given to me by the Miami-Dade police when a robbery team hit the very expensive resort I was in for a business conference and I asked, "Why did they pick MY room?"
LOL, that's what I was wondering. I've driven back and forth across the US twice as a woman by herself, once in my 20s and once in my early 50s. With cell phones and computerized hotel reservation systems, I don't see what the problems would be other than car trouble, which, as someone already suggested, should be addressed before leaving. But then, I've driven across vast parts of Africa with no phone and no "hotel" reservations (hotel in quotes due to lack of electricity and indoor plumbing in some of them), so driving across the US on interstates seems like a cakewalk compared to that.
I'll give you a little hint on getting gas. Sure it's good to get gas at the stations right next to the interstate, but, if the off ramp is close to a town, not just some rural exit, you can sometimes find gas about 10 cents a gallon cheaper. I lived just off I-24 in W. Ky and have driven interstates from here to Myrtle Beach, SC and have found that to be true at many places. Somebody said buy several cell phones for the trip. Just buy that little cord to plug into your cigarette lighter and keep your phone on charge all the time you're driving.
Another thing is if you need to get out and stretch your legs from time to time, and of course you will, find some place for tourists. No need to travel across country and not see anything.
You know those hotel coupon books you see at truck stops and state welcome stations? You might as well cut them up, put them on a cardboard tube, and hang it in the bathroom. Wife and I tried using them from time to time and most of the hotels never heard of the discount and wouldn't give it to us.
And the main thing? Have a safe trip!
I have cut those motel coupons and used them a LOT.
I have NEVER been refused and everytime I used it they CHEERFULLY accepted it.
I am not questioning your experience. Just stating my experience is a "180" from yours.
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