What was your first long road trip on your own like? | Squat the Planet

What was your first long road trip on your own like?

wanderbug

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I've been on the road for a while, my first long road trip on my own. I took the train up to Maine from Austin, TX. I didn't hop it, only used Amtrak. I haven't learned how to hop trains, at least not yet. And then I hitchhiked and bused it as far down as Hartford, CT until someone that I ran into told me to go back up north up to Northampton in western MA. So I took Route 5 back up, caught a couple of rides there, and it turned out to be a great experience that lasted close to two weeks. Now I want to get out. Most of the time I couchsurfed and was allowed to squat on a couple of college campuses. And to make things interesting, I have kept up with all that I have been through from a blog that I started before I hit the road, called acrackinthewall1010.

From what I can gather so far, it was hard for me to be get out of all the major cities that I been in. Providence was a bitch to get out of on foot. I know that it is illegal to walk along the interstates, but the routes and I think the US highways are ok to walk along. As for hitchhiking, I turned down a couple of rides, but there were others that I had a good feeling about, and I got to learn about those that took me further down the road. I only got one more night under my belt in western mass. I like the place, but home has always been south.
 

Tude

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Cool post, could actually be in stories. Great Introduction!!! Welcome, and good travels too!
 
C

cory

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First time traveling long distance alone was from Portland, Oregon to Colorado Springs. Didn't have a notion of hopping on trains, just hitched. Camped out in Hood National Forest for a while, and jumped back on the highway when I started moving. I spent about a week in the the forest fishing and reading. Got a few 20 kick downs on the way from christians who liked the fact I was carrying a guitar. It was wet, but I didn't have any bad experiences. Beautiful woods.

I met a bartendress outside Hood River and crashed at her place. Once I hit the Columbia, I got a ride from a physicist that was going to a spot to windsurf. He told me about hitchhiking in Europe, and meeting his wife while raiding a tangerine farm in Italy. His first daughter was born in Austria. Several good, and a couple strange rides to the Idaho border, which I walked on foot.

Went into a gas station after dark and got a ride to a bluegrass festival and went to Boise in the morning. Then a lift to Salt Lake from two pretty sisters. Lots of walking in Utah. I prefer to just start walking on the road if there isn't a state law against it.

In the mountains on the Utah Colorado border, got picked up by a trio in a van -- a pilot, a nurse, and an engineer --zigzagging to Alaska.

Got a ride from Golden, CO to the Springs from a friend, lived in a trailer, and left when winter came. It was a quick trip, but I met a lot of people, and the love of traveling hasn't left yet
 
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R

Roosterruler

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My first long solo trip started in Haines, Alaska.

It started with the Alaska Marine Highway (the ferry) which is considered a road...
Four days of that later I ended up in Cascadia where I skittered around for a bit. A bit of Bowen Island, BC, a bit of Seattle, a bit of Portland, a bit of the San Juans, a bit of those places in between.

After a bit of that, I caught the train (like you, Amtrak) out to Chicago. Then to Washington D.C., VA, a week in MA, NH, ME, NY (upstate), ON, back to NY (mainly Brooklyn).

And that's where the road trip got interrupted by a flight to Moscow, Russia.

But from there, I kept taking buses, trains, and catching rides up to the polar circle and down through 15 countries until I reached Glasgow, Scotland flew to Iceland, hung out there, flew to Seattle, hung out there, and then caught the ferry to where I am now in Alaska.

Sounds like you had a rad time. Eager to read about your travels/life.
 

wanderbug

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Yesterday, I booked it from Springfield to Enfield. It was a bitch walking along route 5 south outside the downtown area. But now I'm couchsurfing for a couple of nights after camping outside a church. I just want to know if there's any travelers in Richmond, VA. I figured since, I'm headed south, there would be more folks down there.
 

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