Heading west solo for the month of July. Looking for any advice you collectively have to offer!
Background: I’m a 19 y/o male on the tail end of a gap year. I’ll be embarking on my first very long distance road trip in around a week. I’m a photographer, fly fisherman, hiker, and astrophotographer, and the west is an absolutely blissful setting for each of these hobbies.
I’m taking a 2011 Acura MDX. It‘s at 148k right now, and has been checked and fully serviced. It gets 16 mpg, and my parents have agreed to pay for my gas while I cover essentially all other voluntary expenses.
I’ve road tripped out a distance of around 800 miles before, but I’ve never gone cross-country. I expect the first and longest leg of the drive to take me no more than five days/four nights. My goal is to maintain a maximal degree of social distance throughout the entirety of my trip, and I plan to camp extensively to carry this out. I’ll be toting sanitizer and a mask at all times, and will be conscientious to minimize stops and incidental exposure. I’ve been self-quarantining in anticipation of the trip.
Ball and stick approximation of the trip:
CT➡️Helena; 4 nights (7/1-7/5)
📍AirBNB in Helena; 5 nights (7/5-7/10)
Camp my way from Helena➡️Boise; 5 nights (7/10-7/15)
📍AirBNB in Boise; 3 nights (7/15-7/18)
Camp my way from Boise➡️Colorado Springs; 4 nights (7/18-7/22)
📍Colorado Springs — meet family for a wedding; 4 nights in a nice hotel (7/22-7/26)
Friend flies into Denver on 7/26, and we camp our way from CO➡️CT; 5 nights (7/26-7/31)
More thorough description:
I’ll start in Connecticut, and work my way west to Helena, Montana. I’m planning on sleeping in hotels/motels, walmart/24hr parking lots, or in my tent depending on my location. I’m going to try to camp as much as possible, but I’m flexible and expect this leg in particular not to follow my expectations.
In Helena, I have an AirBNB apartment reserved from 7/5-7/10. This will be home base for day trips all around the western portion of the state. I have some friends in the area for work, and will be hiking and day tripping on my own when their schedules have them tied up.
From Helena, I will be heading to Boise for an AirBNB reservation from 7/15-7/18. I plan to snake my way through central Idaho camping in state/nat’l parks and on USFS and BLM land, using online resources to determine specific locations as the time comes closer. I’m building this uncertainty in to let the trip make its own course.
After my stay in Boise, I will be heading to Colorado Springs for a wedding 7/22-7/26. I plan to camp my way from Boise to CO Springs. My family will be flying out, and have booked in addition to their own a hotel room for me for the duration of the wedding.
After the wedding, a close friend of mine who needs to move into an apartment in Brooklyn (or meet her roommates there) at the start of August. She will fly into Denver with her two suitcases, and we will drive and camp/motel/hotel/wherever our way back east starting on the 26th, aiming to be back in CT sometime on 7/31 or 8/1.
I’d really appreciate route suggestions, safety tips, and whatever general, specific, and miscellaneous advice you collectively have to offer a young traveler gearing up for a big journey.
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