The garage was silent save for a melodic, metallic “tick” of the engine as it cooled from the journey. I glanced at the heads up display to read the trip odometer: 4,658.2 miles. That was when it sunk in deep. A month of adventuring, exploring, and introspection were complete. I was finally home.
I was surprised at how emotional this felt. Saying goodbye to the freedom of pointing towards a direction and saying “I wonder what’s over there” was more difficult than I had anticipated. So many new friends, new places, new memories, all captured by hand in a small, spiral notebook neatly organized by date and destination. I flipped back through my written notes, sketched drawings, and small mementos with a smile, thinking back to how it all began.
About 10 years ago, I had the absolute pleasure of hanging out with my good buddy and former Datanauts co-host, Ethan Banks, as we spent days sweating through the trees and rocks in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. It remains one of the best experiences in my life.
We wanted to reunite for something similar and cross a few more Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) huts off my list. This presented me with an awesome opportunity to take a road trip instead of flying.
The road trip idea appealed to me because I’m self-employed and my own boss, so there’s no one demanding that I fill out a time card, submit a PTO request, or be back within any sort of timeframe. My garden is pretty much on auto pilot for the remainder of Summer, requiring only minor bits of attention from my lovely wife while I was out. I also wanted to try out a bunch of road trip equipment – coolers, containers, snacks, organizers, hotel booking apps, etc. – and see which ones I liked best for future road trips.
And thus I designed a road trip to take me from Texas to New Hampshire to North Carolina and back home to Texas! Or, more specifically, TX ➡️ AR ➡️ TN ➡️ KY ➡️ OH ➡️ PA ➡️ NY ➡️ VT ➡️ NH ➡️ MA ➡️ CT ➡️ PA ➡️ DE ➡️ MD ➡️ VA ➡️ NC ➡️ GA ➡️ AL ➡️ MS ➡️ LA ➡️ TX.
My main bag was a Maelstrom Collapsible Soft Cooler Bag that zips up and has some handy pockets on the side along with a shoulder strap. This is my primary bulk storage cooler that lives in the back of the car and ideally only gets opened 1 or 2 times per day to stay frosty. I used a set of 4 Large Leakproof Ice Bags to cool off the contents.
After about 6 days of this setup, I got tired of having to cycle through ice from hotel ice machines and grocery store ice chests. It was a big pain in the ass.
I upgraded to a 53 Quart Dual Zone Freezer Compressor Cooler that I had shipped to where I was staying from Amazon and started using the Maelstrom bag just for empty bottle storage in between doing dishes. Night and day difference, I LOVE the electric cooler.
The cooler connects to a standard 12V power adapter (formerly known as a cigarette lighter) or standard wall socket outlet. My Subaru Outback has a 12V power plug in the back, making it easy to keep the freezer powered during transit. There’s also a Bluetooth phone app for the freezer so you can check on your temperatures or even adjust them without having to pull over and pop open the trunk. In a world of stupid phone apps, this one actually felt useful.
Inside this, I placed 12 Sursip 18oz Glass Reusable Drinking Bottles filled with home made tea and cold brew coffee (6 of each) to avoid needing to stop each day for beverages. Coffee places, especially Starbucks, are horribly overpriced. I filled 108oz worth of coffee bottles for less than $5 and planned to restock at grocery stores along my route. I chose glass because I generally prefer to avoid using plastics to store my food and drink items. To help protect the glass, I used Silicone Glass Water Bottle Sleeves.
I prefer to bring my own water that is filtered and not from a plastic bottle. For this, I chose a trio of 1 Gallon Insulated Stainless Steel Water Jugs. They have a big screw top that is easy to secure, along with a screw on spout cap for filling a water bottle or drinking directly from the jug. The bottoms have a rubber grip so they don’t slide around. There’s also a shoulder strap that connects to a carrying bag with zip-up pockets.
My daily cooler was an Arctic Zone Titan Zipperless Soft Cooler. I filled this up each morning with a coffee bottle, a tea bottle, and some home made snacks of granola, almonds, and raisins. It could fit these three items with room for an ice pack that I already owned. The soft cooler and 1 of the water jugs rode shotgun on my passenger seat for easy access. :)
Lastly, I picked up a Large Trunk Organizer With Built-in Leakproof Cooler Bag and place it into the back seats. It was handy for the various bits and pieces that I wanted to be able to grab by reaching behind me. Things like extra hats, bulk snack jars, my extra water jugs, a bunch of books to read, a pair of sandals, and so forth. Way nicer than having things slide around on the seats, and I could tuck my windshield sun visor behind the organizer when driving.
We all need a place to sleep each night!
For me, each day I had three options:
These are my personal choices. You do you, boo.
In Europe, many of my friends take a large chunk of time for “holidays” (we know this as vacation in the US) during the Summer. I’ve rarely taken a week off, much less 2 or more weeks. I was curious – what is it like to take off an entire month and go have fun?
I had coffee and some of the best ever pizza slices with an engineering team in Arkansas! Fork and knife for scale. Pro tip – don’t mess with an Arkansas State Trooper, they are the ultimate badasses.
I visited a bunch of rest stops that contained historical markers across Tennessee, although I think this is the state I enjoyed driving through the least! I ended up taking a rest break and reading about Fort Johnson.
Hello, Kentucky! Is it even a road trip without a stop at Buc-ee’s? I’d argue not 😁 I enjoyed driving along The Bluegrass Parkway (Kentucky Route 9002) and seeing signs for all the distilleries.
I held open the door for elderly folks taking a break at a service station in New York (State), and chatted them up a bit about their Illinois license plates – turns out we used to live only a few towns away from each other! New York state really wants you to download their app.
Lastly, I marveled at the massive amount of advertisements for marijuana dispensaries as I drove through Vermont; they are everywhere! (I don’t partake). Sorry, no photos, I was on some really windy back roads and didn’t end up stopping to take a picture.
A little over 2000 miles and 5 days later, I was at my destination. Could I have made the trip in less time? Sure. But that sounds painful and no fun compared to a more leisurely drive with stops to see friends and scenery. I would often stop for no other reason than to stretch my legs, walk around a city for half an hour, and even read a chapter or two of a book.
The mountains were beautiful and I greatly enjoyed several days of hiking over rocks, eating tasty local foods, and having rich conversation about life, the universe, and everything with friends. If you have not yet visited New Hampshire, I highly recommend it! It’s a state that thrives on tourism, filled with the most beautiful and scenic natural spaces this great country has to offer. Although my Texan ass was cold most of the time because it gets down to like 11C at night (bring pants!). 🤣
I grew up along the beaches of North Carolina and spent time in the Outer Banks (OBX) as a kid. It felt like a good idea to go visit them again as an adult!
This was right around the time that Hurricane Erin was doing a salsa dance off the Atlantic. Fortunately, it blew East and never really did much to North Carolina, which was awesome because it meant the weather would be gorgeous (as it usually is after a hurricane hits).
I made a stop in Delaware to live the scene from Wayne’s World. “Or, imagine being magically whisked away to… Delaware.”
Although, truth be told, the rest stop was gorgeous with a fountain featuring a riot of marigolds and other flowers blooming that smelled amazing.
Crossing the Chesapeake Bay was a $21 adventure that I’m glad I saw. There’s like 10 miles of bridge and tunnels to experience so I drove slow and soaked it up.
I spent a long weekend in the city of Manteo, located on Roanoke Island. It’s a beautiful place with several historic sites and away from the more touristy parts of the OBX. I made sure to capture a few sunrises with the photo below being my favorite. The Atlantic waters are so much warmer and calmer than anything you’ll find out west in the Pacific.
Manteo is a bit of sleepy town in the mornings, although I did manage to find a Saturday market with a bunch of locals selling hand made goods. It was fun to go around chatting them all up to ask about how long they had been making their goods (hammocks, candles, wood crafts, flags, etc.). The “Carolina Drawl” is like hearing the sweetness of honey and is more, I guess, “vowely” than what you hear down in Texas.
I ate at lots of local places and try hard to be healthy in my food choices, but I had to pour one out for my old favorite, Bojangles! We don’t have them here in Texas for the most part (there’s a few by Dallas but I tried them and they taste gross). Nothing tastes better for breakfast, in my opinion, than a Cajun fillet biscuit with some seasoned fries. I feel like this meal contains 90% of your daily salt requirements! ;)
Upon departing Manteo, I stopped in Cherokee for a night to explore US Route 19 on my way back to Texas. Here, I discovered Soco Falls and the vista overlook you see below. This goes to show that sometimes you just need to ignore the GPS and go find things that look interesting along the route itself. Use your eyeballs!
Descending the river, what are we going to find?
Why hello there, waterfall!
It’s great to be back home and spend some time writing this post. I’m glad that I took down notes and drew sketches from each day of my travels. I’ve re-read the entries a few times, and shared them with my spouse, to help reinforce the lessons I learned from the trip and hold on to the magic of discovery.
After being off my computer for so long – I didn’t bring anything digital with me beyond my cell phone – I’ve noticed a significant reduction in my desire to get back on the computer. Aside from writing this, I’ve been energized into finding more experiences near to home. To “be a tourist in your own city” as they say. I appreciate what I have here, both in terms of natural places to visit and my life as a whole. The trip has given me a much more humble and grateful perspective on life, which was my hope all along.
If life gives you the opportunity to take a road trip, even if it’s alone like mine was, I’d suggest taking it. Get out there and go see stuff. Do it on the cheap. Take roads you’ve not taken before to lesser known destinations. Talk to people and ask them about what they do. It’s remarkably fulfilling and fun!
✌️ & 💙
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