A Girl and her Bug and the Open Road

They all thought I was nuts! A single woman driving across the country by herself in her little VW Bug. But I saw it as the adventure of a lifetime! I'm no dummy, I took precautions: visible NRA stickers on my windows; planning all my driving during daylight hours so I wouldn't arrive anywhere after dark; a dangerous pair of fencing pliers under my seat; and a prayer for safety on the road before I left each day.

I hadn't planned on taking a solo road trip - I always hoped I'd have someone to take a cross-country road trip with one day, but it never panned out. The opportunity came after I quit my stressful job, had nothing but time and a pile of overtime money, and my friend in Texas needed a dog-sitter for a week. I volunteered and got on Google Maps and planned a leisurely four days to get there from New Jersey.

I had never driven more than four hours by myself, so I found places on the map along the route to stop and break up the monotony. I planned a northerly route so I could see things like the Saint Louis Arch, the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve in Kansas (which was grassless since it was post spring burn), and Dodge City Kansas (because I'm a historical western buff). And I bought my first real camera for the trip: a Nikon D3200 because I googled "the best camera that's easy to use" and it comes with easy auto settings plus an onscreen tutorial (that I'll get to someday). But even using auto settings and the editing tools on my MacBook Pro, I learned that I have a pretty good eye and took some great pictures on my adventure.

Now, a great thing about traveling solo in your car (and women will love this!) is your whole car becomes your suitcase! Knowing I was going to be stopping at a different hotel most nights on my trip, instead of having to lug a heavy suitcase with all my clothes, opening it each each day to get fresh clothes out and repacking it, I bought a bunch of cheap plastic black garment bags and put one day's outfit in each and laid them across my backseat. When I'd leave each day I'd put the used one in the trunk. I even checked the weather of each stop along the way so I'd pack the right outfit for the temperatures. I found spring could be more like winter or summer in different parts of the country.

When using Google Maps to plan how far you want to drive in a day, I learned to always add at least 2 hours to the time it gives you. The maps estimate straight driving time and don't account for gas & food stops, picture stops, or having a women's bladder! It's always great when your bladder is full and your tank is empty at the same time to save a stop! And I found there is nothing scarier than driving down backroads in the middle of nowhere Oklahoma with a full bladder, an almost empty tank, and not a sign of a town (or even a bush!) in sight!

And speaking of backroads - take them! I learned that in the middle of the country there are a lot of backroads that parallel the freeways and many have speed limits of 65 or more! They are scenic, relaxing drives and you only have to slow down when you reach one of the few small towns along the route. Just make sure you make a pitstop before you get on them! And if you're a photographer, some of my favorite photos are of cool things I found by accident along some backroad.

When planning your trip, really look closely at the map. There are all the famous landmarks and National Parks we know of, but don't overlook the lesser-known places you'll pass - like in those underrated fly-over states. For example, did you know Oklahoma isn't all flat? Well, this Jersey girl sure didn't. But I discovered a cool place called Gloss Mountain State Park that has orange mountains with sparkles in them! And there's the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge with the nearby Mount Scott where you can drive up and get a birds-eye view of the whole area. A great resource I discovered to help me plan places to see on my next road trip is the photography pages I belong to on Facebook. Photographers find some of the most picturesque places off the beaten path, and I made a notebook to jot down the places in each state I want to see based on their photos. They know where all the cool old ghost towns are; the jaw-dropping waterfalls; the quirky towns; the barns with snowcapped mountain backdrops; and the towns where donkeys roam freely down the streets.

After spending two weeks in Texas dog-sitting and visiting with friends, I decided to head farther west. I traveled through the Davis and Guadalupe Mountains of west Texas (did you know Texas had mountains, too?); north to see the White Sands in New Mexico; then southwest to the boom town that was too tough to die: Tombstone, Arizona. I got to walk down the same dusty streets where Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday had bravely tread. I had a burger and a beer in Big Nose Kate's Saloon. And seeing China Mary's grave in Boot Hill reminded me the powerful character I read about in books was indeed a real woman.

While traveling alone gives you the opportunity to stretch yourself, discover yourself, and lots of time to think and evaluate your life (and have complete control of the car radio!), you have to take time to socialize. I've struggled with shyness my whole life, so I had to put in the effort to have conversations with strangers I met along the way, like the truck driver sitting in the car wash office waiting for the desk clerk to show up. (I hit up a lot of car washes on the road to get my Bug de-bugged!) He told me what to do if I ever found myself in a sandstorm: pull off the road and park, take your foot off the brakes and lights off so no one thinks your on the road and tries to follow you. Then he paid for my car wash!

I was hoping for some social interaction when I was in Tombstone and I found some at the Tombstone Monument Ranch where I stayed. Owned by a nice woman from Pennsylvania and set up like and old western town, it had theme rooms (she put me in the brothel!) and horseback riding, and the owner told me there would be a band in the saloon that night. The band consisted of two guys singing and playing guitar, one with a Phil Robertson beard, and I sat by myself at the bar singing along with them. On a break the bearded one (who was originally from upstate NY) thanked me for singing along and I told him I had my tambourine in the car and he told me to go get it. So I ended up playing along with them and getting the whole place into it and the owner thanked me for making it a great night!

The next leg of my trip was a little too fast-paced. While I was in Texas my cousin from Wyoming asked me to come see her while I was out west, so I planned to get there 10 days after leaving the Texas Hill Country so I'd arrive on a weekend when she was off of work. I should have added an extra week before getting there for all of the places to see in between. So note to self, and anyone else planning a road trip, take it as slow as you can! There are far more amazing places to see than you realize and many of them I learned about after I got home and found myself saying over and over, "I was so close to there! I could have seen that!"

From Tombstone I headed north and enjoyed my first sight of saguaro cactus in the southern Arizona mountains, some taller than a house. I wanted to see Sedona, but after all that wide open space I was enjoying, the sudden traffic and crowds of people made me feel claustrophobic, so I just took some scenic photos from the side of the road and continued on. I stopped for the night in Flagstaff with its tall pines and snow-capped mountains, then headed north toward the Grand Canyon.

I stopped at the Little Colorado River Gorge on the way to the canyon, and saw a sign that stopped me in my tracks: WATCH OUT FOR REPTILES - RATTLESNAKES, LIZZARDS, SPIDERS, CENTIPEDES, SCORPIONS, ETC. And that led to my second prayer I said daily: please keep me safe and please let me never run into any of those creepy things!

Remember what I said about adding two hours to the driving time Google Maps gives you? When driving through Utah, add four! The amazing scenery in southern Utah, between the National Parks and Highway 12 Scenic Byway, will have you wanting to stop around every bend! I booked a room in St. George, where I planned to start the Utah leg of my journey with sunrise pictures in Zion National Park, but I arrived later than I meant to (so I guess adding 4 hours to your driving time goes ditto for Arizona). I stopped at a convenience store for something to eat and got a couple of day-old corn dogs to go. I never had a corn dog and since this was a trip full of firsts I thought, what the heck. I ate half of one and a granola bar for dinner and went to bed. I tried to always get to sleep soon after dark so I could get on the road at first light, but it didn't always work out that way.

An important side note: Do not rely on GPS to guide your trip as you go. I had printed out directions before I left and a full-size road atlas in the car. If you want to alter your route on the way, you need that big map to see the wide areas the little map on your phone can't give you. And it also has places of interest highlighted on the big map - some you won't want to miss.

Since my schedule was all thrown off in Utah, it got dark when I left Capitol Reef National Park and I still had to get to my booked room in Moab. I drove north on Route 24 in complete blackness. It was a little unnerving. Had I known at the time I was driving through a place called Goblin Valley I may have been a little more freaked out! It was a straight road and when I finally saw another set of headlights coming toward me it seemed like it took half an hour for that car to finally pass me!

When I left Moab the next morning I was so behind schedule I had to skip Arches National Park. I'll have to get back there to see that and Canyonlands. Moab should have been a minimum 3 day stop. But what was big on my bucket list was Monument Valley so I headed there and stopped to take pictures at that iconic scene as the road heads toward the park (where Forest Gump stopped running). The wind was so strong there my car door almost smashed me against the car. Then as I drove toward the park, the wind began to pick up all the sand and Monument Valley disappeared before my very eyes!

So that's another place I should have booked more time at. And speaking of time, when traveling around in the Southwest in spring (and fall for that matter), the time gets very confusing. I left Texas in one time zone, crossed into New Mexico which was in another time zone, then into Arizona which doesn't do Daylight Savings Time so that really messed me up! And then I was wondering why the maids were chuckling after they knocked on my door near Canyon de Chelly and I told them I still had another hour. Turns out the Navajo Nation does observe Daylight Savings Time!

I journeyed on from there into northern New Mexico where the time zone didn't change, but the season did! I went from spring back to winter in the Rocky Mountains beyond Santa Fe and up into Colorado. I got a little snow before leaving New Mexico and it followed me through the Highway of Legends in southern Colorado. It was dark by the time I reached Cheyenne, Wyoming, and in the morning with the snow and fog I couldn't see past ten feet in front of me. Needless to say, I was in Cheyenne but I never saw Cheyenne.

I-80, the route I was going to take to see my cousin in Green River, was closed because of the snow, so I had to loop north to get to a route out of the snow and around the closed section (another time that big atlas came in handy). Before I could get out of the snow, I had to drive on the highway for a few miles where I could only see 10 feet in front of me. There were lit up signs on the road saying "Turn off cruise control". That's good to know. In winter it could cause your tires to spin on snow or ice and you could lose control. Another sign I saw often driving on highways in the wide open areas was "Strong cross winds". Holy moly! I found out my Bug is not aerodynamic when winds are coming at me sideways!

After spending a fun weekend with my cousin and her daughter, I wished I could have headed north to Montana and northwest to Washington state to visit two other cousins and see the west coast, but since I-80 was once again closed because of snow I decided crosssing the Rockies in the spring was a little too risky. I'll plan my full cross-country trip for a little later in the season.

Another reason I headed home at this time was I started thinking that my dog must be wondering if I'll ever come back. All the stray dogs I saw in Arizona made me want to bring another one home. Instead, I just bought the one I saw outside the gas station a sandwich.

Reflecting on all the things I did right on that trip, and all the things I did terribly wrong, my next cross country road trip will be the stuff of legends! For one thing, I'll have more room in my vehicle. I recently adopted another dog who hated the back seat of my Bug so I bought him a Jeep Renegade. And next time I'll add more hours to the estimated driving time and take more time in the really scenic areas. I have my list of great places not to miss thanks to my photography friends.

One thing I did right was the Expedia app on my phone. If you're traveling off-peak and want to just wing it for where you're going to stop for the night (like if you plan to drive till you get tired), that app was great! I'd get to an area I'd want to stop, turn it on and it would show me all the available rooms nearby and the prices.

And AAA was a godsend! I took a two-week trip to Colorado when the weather was warmer, and I got a flat in the middle of nothing but cattle ranches. The sun was starting to set and the operator asked if I wanted them to send a trooper to keep me company till the tow truck got there. I said yes and she got back on the line and said there was one trooper for a hundred mile radius of where I was! Luckily they both arrived within a half hour and I was on my way. I did pull over in one dark spot just to open my sunroof and look at the stars! Incredible!

Taking road trips in the spring and fall instead of the peak summer season allows you to be more flexible. You don't have to book all your hotel rooms ahead of time (except for maybe high tourist areas) so if you want to stay somewhere longer or drive a shorter distance in a day than you planned, rooms are easy to come by (except off I-95 heading to Florida on the east coast - I learned that the hard way!). And if you're a woman traveling alone you'll feel much safer arriving at your hotel before dark.

My last valuable nuggets I'll leave you with for your road trip are: bring home more pictures and less souvenirs; every state (including "flyovers") has interesting places to stop and see, so find them; have your mechanic check over your car fully before you go; chat with strangers (like the farmer I met in Fort Worth who regaled me with tales of the wild boar invasion); embrace the different cultures you come across and try out new foods (even if it's just corn dogs or deep fried Oreos); if bad weather crops up let it change your plans but not your mood; and last, but not least, take that adventure you always wanted to take - even if you have to go it alone - and have the time of your life!