Toonces is your cat?
http://www.dorks.com/videos/Toonces-the-Driving-Cat-Part-1.html
I don’t know if I had a specific thread about our traveling, but may have had a thread or two about selling our place. Short story: we sold our house in Alaska and left in the motor home on May 24th. We’ve been on the road ever since and are now making our way back to the PNW to look for a new home.
If you’re worried about directions in cities, I’d let your husband take the lead and just follow him. That way, you can let him worry about whether you’re going the right direction, leaving you free to worry about simply merging and stuff.
As the follower, you can also do stuff to make it easier for him. If he needs to get over, he just turns on his turn signal. You then signal, get over, and leave him a space to merge into in front of you - that sort of thing.
You’ll be fine.
It’d be tough to do nowadays, as Route 66 went the way of all good things and exists (officially) no more.
When are you going exactly? If you fly me out from LA, I’ll drive your car back…
We’re leaving tomorrow night. Can you get here that fast?
I’m going to chat a bit on my view/method of driving long distances. Some of it has been covered by others, but what the heck. I note that it’s about 2400 miles you’ll be covering, which works out to about 500 miles per day, on average. That’s definitely a significant drive and some long days on the road.
REST: Driving is work on a certain level, no matter how much you may enjoy it. If you don’t enjoy it or aren’t confident it’s even more work. Making sure you have adequate rest is important. Bad Things can happen to tired drivers. When I’m traveling I stop every 90 minutes to 2 hours for at least 15 minutes. I get out of the car to move around. I pee whether or not it’s a pressing need. I recommend sleeping in hotels and not the car and not be too caught up at starting at a particular time. Better an extra hour of sleep than hitting the road with less than adequate rest.
FOOD AND DRINK: Drink early, drink often. You’re stopping every 90-120 minutes, right? At least as much plain water as whatever else you’re drinking (I’ll alternate tea with plain water, with an occasional bottle of juice followed by more water. Dehydration makes you tired and inattentive, don’t get dehydrated. Eat healthy. The occasional candy bar is OK, but it shouldn’t be a meal. Stop and eat food. Don’t eat a lot, but don’t let yourself get overly hungry, either. In addition to stopping to eat at restaurants I often carry a cooler with things like fruit and my favorite raw vegees as getting those two items on the road can be difficult at times, and also gives you an out if you get hungry and your stop only has vending machine crap. A cooler also lets you keep some cool water on hand so if you stop you aren’t forced to pay for sugar-laden sodas.
NAVIGATION: I learned how to do this before we had GPS, so I’m still partial to paper maps, but the important thing is to have a map whether paper or electronic. GPS is fine but if you’re not used to using it, it can be distracting while actually driving. Map out your route beforehand, with planned stops and some alternates (I recommend alternates around cities, as you may be delayed in traffic, and certain natural obstacles like mountains - but you live in West Virginia so I don’t have to explain how poor weather can cause delays in those areas). For complicated interchanges look at not only where you want to get off, but your alternatives if you miss a turn off. If you do miss a turn off DON’T PANIC - keep going to the next exit (yes, it might be awhile) then calmly use that exist to get off, then get back on going back the other way and try again. Better to lose 40 minutes that way than some of the alternatives. Asking for directions still works wonders.
Prior to “complications” - complex interchanges, etc. - I utilize the planned stop before to review the map and route prior to getting back on the road. If I do mess up and wind up having to pull off at an exit I didn’t plan to I stop, look at the map, and if feasible ask a local for directions. Staff at truck stops, gas stations, and rest stops are used to people asking for this sort of help. Some are not too bright, but I find most are very helpful and some of these people extremely so.
COMMUNICATIONS: Have some way to talk to each other. Cellphones are great in many ways, but roaming charges can add up fast and you will find coverage “holes” in that sort of cross country drive. While Family Radio Service and walkie-talkies may advertise a 5 mile range that’s strictly for line-of-sight (meaning if you’re in the mountains and one of you goes around the side of a cliff on the road they won’t work, and in cities buildings can block the transmission) and our experience is that as a practical matter 1-2 miles is doing good. We tend to favor CB radio, you can get handheld models at most truck stops, but then my husband and I are very comfortable with the CB radio format (it has conventions and etiquette of its own, just as any other communication medium). Listening to the truckers can also help you avoid traffic jams, and if you get into trouble you can call for help over the radio (a nice back up if you break down in a cellphone hole).
Whatever method you choose, it needs power. Bring extra batteries. Get a car adapter - you know, the things that plug into the cigarette lighter on the car dashboard. For our CB’s we got antennas that sit on top of the car roof to extend our range, they’re very helpful.
ENTERTAINMENT: I like to listen to CD’s. I change the CD at every stop. Other like books on tape. There’s the radio. Just, whatever you choose, don’t let it distract you from the job of driving.
DELAYS, EMERGENCIES, SAFETY: Delays happen. So does the unexpected. Better a day late than some of the potential alternatives. Although you are planning several days for this trip it is a very long trip and you don’t have that much wriggle room in your schedule. Nonetheless, you could get caught in a traffic jam (doesn’t even have to be near a city - once had a six hour traffic mess and detour in rural Kentucky due to a hazardous material spill). There could be bad weather. Car trouble (even a well maintained car could, for example, have a flat tire due to debris in the road). I carry a credit card for emergencies, and some cash because you won’t always be near an ATM when this stuff happens. This is also another reason for having a cooler with some snack and water in the car - it’s easier to deal with these aggravations if you aren’t hungry/thirsty on top of them. Don’t keep pushing when exhausted even if you haven’t made the day’s mileage - stop, stay in a hotel, and get an early start the next day.
Although most of the time you won’t have a problem, be cautious at stops. Look around, listen to your gut. If something feels wrong it probably is. In multi-stall bathrooms be aware of which stalls are occupied, especially if you seem to be the only one there - make sure of it. Assuming your husband and you will be at the same stop, feel free to wave at each when getting out of your cars and boom hello at each other - make it obvious that even though you’re in separate vehicles you are together, as Bad People are far less likely to target you if they know you’re not alone (although I have traveled extensively while alone and not had much in the way of problems, either, and none serious - still, a little extra care does not hurt). Do not leave valuables visible in car at stops.
Don’t let your gas tank fall below half empty - running out of gas isn’t fun, especially if you’re in a massive traffic jam or whatever. I have occasionally had stops in rural areas where I couldn’t get gas (broken pump, whatever) so it was good to have enough gas to get to the next place where I could buy some.
Keep emergency road supplies in the trunk - jumper cables, fix-a-flat, spare tire and tools to change one, gloves, cleaning supplies, first aid supplies, etc. Additional gear/supplies as suited to the climate (blankets for winter travel, water for desert, bug spray for swamps, etc.)
Be prepared, use a little sense, and enjoy your adventure! When you’re done you’ll feel a lot more confident about driving in general, and you will (I hope) look back on it with some fond memories and a feeling of accomplishment.
When you fill your gas tank, reset your trip odometer, if you have one. Every time you fill up after that, read it then reset it again. That way, you get an idea of how many miles you are getting out of your tank of gas and you can figure it out pretty quickly how far you can probably go before having to fill up again.
You can also use that odometer info, along with the number of gallons shown on whatever gas pump you use to fill the tank, to calculate your MPG if you want. Low MPG can be an early indicator that something is wrong with your engine.
Gee, I hope Rilchiam checks in with us to let us know how the trip went. Someone remember to bump this thread around Wednesday, ok?
I’m in a Holiday Inn right now. Going well so far. Not impressed with the HP audio book; guy doesn’t emote much. Slight sunburn on right side of face and neck. More later.
Please tell us you got further than 3 miles from home before checking into the Holiday Inn!
Your sunburn reminds me of a story; guy I knew was driving with a friend in a convertible, with the top down, from Arizona to California (about 7 hours)…in the summer. I guess it seemed like a good idea at the time…need I describe what happened when they got to California and looked in the mirror that evening? Plus other unfortunate side effects…
Umm…right side? Are you in the passenger seat being towed backwards? 
Oh for cryin’ out loud. I meant LEFT side.
When I posted that, we were just outside of St. Louis. Overall, it went well. No accidents, I didn’t get pulled over, no wrong turns. And after the first day, I got sunblock.
First day, we got a late start. Second day, we got just past Oklahoma City. Third day was the hellride, because we HAD to get to Kingman, AZ, where we had a reservation. Nineteen hours on the road. We got up the next day, bust it and kicked it to L.A., dropped off our stuff, and just had time to wash up and get to the bar before trivia started!
Changing CDs was not a problem. Unfortunately, that’s partly because I found out that the CD player gets constipated at times and won’t eject the disk. I don’t think it’s the nature of the disk, either, because one was store-bought and the other I burned myself.
Mr. Rilch is effusive with thanks to whoever suggested walkies. Saved our bacon a couple of times, when there was no cell service, when his phone froze up for some reason, and, right at the end of our journey, when we had to get on the 210 W from the 15 S. That junction comes up so suddenly, and it’s not a familiar route to me. I really would have missed it if he hadn’t been able to raise me on the walkie, and the phone would have taken too long.
We stopped every so often to gas up, get something to drink, eat and stretch our legs. And sometimes to power nap. One thing I regret is that while crossing Oklahoma and the Texas panhandle, we were never in the right place at the right time to get fried pies.
I only had a slight problem with fatigue. Driving across AZ at night, I had to constantly remind myself, “That is not the Sepulveda Pass on your right. That is not the Fort Pitt Tunnel ahead of you. And you are not surrounded by a pine forest. That is empty. sky.” And the first night, I had a freaky sensation, like my hands didn’t belong to me, weren’t attached to my arms, and I couldn’t be sure what they might do. So that’s when I suggested stopping, and we did.
The only difficult cities were St. Louis, which wouldn’t even have been that bad if it hadn’t been raining, and OK City, which we crossed after dark. That was an interesting bit. There was construction on the road, and at one point, I was on a two-lane stretch with concrete barriers on either side. Speed limit was 65 and I was going 70, which I thought was a miracle. Guy behind me wasn’t satisified, though, and was high-beaming me. Not blinking on and off, either, but blasting his lights continuously. And I couldn’t change lanes, because there was no space in the next lane. Finally, one opened up, I scooted over, the guy zoomed forward…and found himself stuck behind the same 18-wheeler that had been impeding my progess. Hee!
So all in all, it went well, and I thank you all for your advice and encouragement!