Hello

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After living a regular life in Boston I decided to take a road trip out West. Here are my observations while in Massachusetts and upstate New York:

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1. GasBuddy is fantastic at finding the cheapest gas station. Although tbh you’re really not saving that much. When gas was $3.15/gallon in Massachusetts it cost maybe like $4 more to fill up my tank than when gas was $2.62/gallon in Ohio. Point is while you should obviously pick the cheapest option, the cost savings with a couple pennies per gallon won’t save you a boatload of money.
2. Set aside like $100 for tolls. Seriously, upstate New York has so many tolls, and they’re expensive too. I remember one toll was $11.40, and there were multiple tolls ranging from $3 to $8. The problem arises when you have to pay a new toll after getting on and off the highway to visit any city in upstate New York, including Albany, Syracuse, Utica, and Buffalo.
3. Wet wipes are one of the most useful things you can buy. There are two kinds: one for your body and one for cleaning the inside of your car.

Driving in upstate New York was pretty bad as the drivers were dicks. New Yorkers feel like it’s the end of the world if you add .01 seconds to their commute, and they‘re not afraid to be dicks about it. After visiting every city in upstate New York, I drove through Pennsylvania to Cleveland where I spent about a week. Ohio is cheap, gas is $2.62/gallon and you can get your own condo downtown for $585/mo. A stay at a hotel downtown is like $150/night. Cleveland is a beautiful city as well. To me though I could not stay because it felt empty. It was as if someone built this magnificent city complete with large bike lanes and parks, and are still waiting for people to populate it.

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Leaving the Northeast I didn’t realize that 99% of the country is cornfield. Really, cornfield in all directions, cornfield further than the eye can see. This is different than in upstate New York and New England where it’s all forest.

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Then I spent about 2 weeks in Chicago where I loved it. Chicago is a high quality of life with lots of action, great beaches, a cool climate, and plenty of things to do. It feels like people enjoy themselves an impressive amount in such a large city, and rent is pretty cheap. I met someone paying $740/mo with a roommate in Evanston. Though the 10.25 sales tax is incredible, especially when you’re used to paying 6% sales tax in Boston. It’s ironic how the sales tax in New England is so much smaller than the rest of the country and the nickname is “taxachusetts”. New Hampshire has no sales tax.

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After Chicago I stayed a little in Omaha. It was interesting how people spend their entire lives in that small city. More observations that may be useful to your road trip:

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1. Never had a problem staying overnight at Walmart
2. Moving around with a dog has been fine
3. Set aside at least $1,000 for accidentals and unpredictable costs like your car breaking down or getting locked out of your car or even just car mechanics.

One month in, and I’ve had an interesting time of things. Currently I’m in Colorado seeing what’s up in this state, though it’s neat that they fly their state flag everywhere.

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A lot of people here have a “pimp my ride” mentality where they feel that in order to live out of your car you have to turn your car into this mini house. I have literally done nothing to my car save for removing the front passenger seat. I have some dog beds that me and my dog sleep on, but other than that you’d have no idea that it’s liveable. My clothes are kept in my trunk, and most of my days are spent outside. Yes it’s less comfortable than sleeping in a full bed, but when you know you’re safe at night inside a locked car with your dog, you will have no problem getting the rest you need.