Hop in the car and go?

[early morning]

Have fun, frugal-one - that sounds like a great idea!! I've always loved driving around semi-aimlessly. We do a lot of day trips this way. Pick a cardinal direction, and then wander from that. We generally are home same day - planning around Dr. apt's, volunteer commitments, kitty care, etc. can be stressful. But driving, I like! We pack a lot of this in when we travel, too. We love New England, and spend a lot of time on back roads there. As I get older, I'm more appreciative of a place already booked to crash in, but we've not been caught out so far, and have had some great hotel "finds" along the way. Two of my favs (The Black Swan in Lee, and The Quechee Inn at Marshland Farm near the Vermont /NH border are on our repeat list, and both were stumbled on late in the day. I do appreciate a cell phone and google for last minute bookings, when we have a signal! And in New England, at least, it's never all that far to a large city where (nice but boring) hotels are numerous. Maine- that's a little harder, lol.

[iris lilies]

as for rosa’s concern about not having hotel reservations, I dont plan ahead and so far I haven’t been caught up without a place to stay.

the last trip I took was two weeks ago to Kansas City and I had no hotel reservation.

so my methodology for these brief out-of-town trips of garden club and plant Society events is this: I use Google maps to get to the site of the seminar/meeting/training session.

Once I’ve figured out where I need to be, I sit in the parking lot in my car and ask Google Maps to show me the nearest hotels. Usually I stay at mid range hotels, but this last time the Econo Lodge was closest, so I thought I would check it out. It was immaculate! I mean, the lobby actually sparkled with cleanliness! And when I got to the room, the furniture was very simple and the padded chair was a little worn, but the bed was new. It was a high-quality bed that rivaled anything the Hilton chain has. I lucked out in getting a decent room for $109. Usually I pay well over $150, and by the time all the taxes and rollup are included, it’s over $200.

[happystuff]

I love this idea, frugal-one! I like the idea of shaking up my old travel routines and this sounds like fun. Enjoy the rest of your trip!

[catherine]

Like iris, I also am comfortable winging it.. it's part of the adventure. This may sound contrary to what I said about having a destination and a timeframe, but I'm used to being in positions where I'm not sure exactly where I'll be staying the night. I do what iris does, but I usually filter the findings by my hotel rewards memberships.

When my daughter and I took a half-cross-country trip from Houston to NJ, we just took what we got most of the time. The only time I am quick to book a hotel is if I'm going to a conference because the blocked rooms tend to go very quickly and I like not having to leave one hotel to go to another.

[littlebittybobby]

I couldn't have said it better. It sounds like a really neat idea, but without hotel reservations somewhere, I personally would feel anxious and homeless.

LBB: Why are you so enthusiastic about amassing cars and car parts if you disapprove of actually driving them?

okay----TYVM for axxing mee that quesssion. The reason is, my cars are classic masterpieces. I want to minimize wear-n-tear on them. Also, traffic is Murder. I just received aq nice, new, right-side fender for my classic 79 K10. I had a left-side fender in the attic of my warehouse, buried under some other parts, and I retrieved it and washed the accumulated dust from it with the pressure-washer. Today, I will wash the two inner fenders i've got stored in the bed of the K10. Then, pull the old fenders, which are beyond repair. The fenders cost more than the purrchase price of the K10, so that shows i got it really cheap. I acquired it from a rancher near Ash Grove; the engine had problems, though it turns out it had been rebuilt at one time. But, I can salvage it for parts. Meantime, I have a complete engine that I pulled from the wreckin' yard two years ago on a hot afternoon and pieced together. It's no yeccho-tech nightmare, either. I am preserving this old farm truck for posterity. Yup. How do you like that?

[littlebittybobby]

as for rosa’s concern about not having hotel reservations, I dont plan ahead and so far I haven’t been caught up without a place to stay.

the last trip I took was two weeks ago to Kansas City and I had no hotel reservation.

so my methodology for these brief out-of-town trips of garden club and plant Society events is this: I use Google maps to get to the site of the seminar/meeting/training session.

Once I’ve figured out where I need to be, I sit in the parking lot in my car and ask Google Maps to show me the nearest hotels. Usually I stay at mid range hotels, but this last time the Econo Lodge was closest, so I thought I would check it out. It was immaculate! I mean, the lobby actually sparkled with cleanliness! And when I got to the room, the furniture was very simple and the padded chair was a little worn, but the bed was new. It was a high-quality bed that rivaled anything the Hilton chain has. I lucked out in getting a decent room for $109. Usually I pay well over $150, and by the time all the taxes and rollup are included, it’s over $200.

okay----yeah but Eddie(Faux)---two hundred is a LOTTA moo-lah!!! Why not just find a parkin' lot near the event, and sleep in your car? That'd save a LOTTA dough, that could go toward IMPORTANT stuff. But yeah---way i look at it. Yup.

[iris lilies]

okay----yeah but Eddie(Faux)---two hundred is a LOTTA moo-lah!!! Why not just find a parkin' lot near the event, and sleep in your car? That'd save a LOTTA dough, that could go toward IMPORTANT stuff. But yeah---way i look at it. Yup.

Wally, I have no desire to sleep in my car and I don’t need to do that anyway.

[Alan]

Over the past several years this is how we've approached our winter meander/ramble, which we'll begin again next month. Before leaving home we'll determine two things, our first stop and a later desired destination which will act as a turnaround point. We usually never travel more than about 250-300 miles in a day and if possible, each stop will consist of one to two weeks of exploring that area. While hanging out wherever that may be, we'll decide where the next stop will be.

For this year's trip the only thing we've planned so far is an overnight stop in the Nashville area on our first day out, followed by a 10 day stop at Greers Ferry Lake in Arkansas. Not sure where the next stop will be but since we traditionally spend Christmas on a beach we'll probably be somewhere around Padre Island near the end of December and then move on to the Dallas/Ft Worth area around the 1st of January where we'll pick up our grandson and take him somewhere for a week or so and then who knows where we'll be between then and our return home around the 1st of March.

Luckily we take our home-away-from-home with us so all we really need for one of our occasional travel day overnights is a.parking spot at a truck stop or Walmart/Sams lot or even a Cracker Barrel. Our one to two week stops are always at State or National Parks or Corps of Engineers campsites where we can always find something new to do or see each day.

Last year we logged just over 6000 miles of driving and eating out (provided for LBB's benefit) and I suppose this year's ramble will be about the same.

[frugal-one]

Over the past several years this is how we've approached our winter meander/ramble, which we'll begin again next month. Before leaving home we'll determine two things, our first stop and a later desired destination which will act as a turnaround point. We usually never travel more than about 250-300 miles in a day and if possible, each stop will consist of one to two weeks of exploring that area. While hanging out wherever that may be, we'll decide where the next stop will be.

For this year's trip the only thing we've planned so far is an overnight stop in the Nashville area on our first day out, followed by a 10 day stop at Greers Ferry Lake in Arkansas. Not sure where the next stop will be but since we traditionally spend Christmas on a beach we'll probably be somewhere around Padre Island near the end of December and then move on to the Dallas/Ft Worth area around the 1st of January where we'll pick up our grandson and take him somewhere for a week or so and then who knows where we'll be between then and our return home around the 1st of March.

Luckily we take our home-away-from-home with us so all we really need for one of our occasional travel day overnights is a.parking spot at a truck stop or Walmart/Sams lot or even a Cracker Barrel. Our one to two week stops are always at State or National Parks or Corps of Engineers campsites where we can always find something new to do or see each day.

Last year we logged just over 6000 miles of driving and eating out (provided for LBB's benefit) and I suppose this year's ramble will be about the same.

Will this be at the height of fall color? Or why this specific area? … perhaps specifically because Corp of Engineers campsite?

[Alan]

Will this be at the height of fall color? Or why this specific area? … perhaps specifically because Corp of Engineers campsite?

Several reasons actually. 1) We'll start off heading in the general direction of Texas in order to eventually pick up our grandson, Greers Ferry falls neatly into our preferred habit of not driving more than about 300 miles per day meaning that after an overnight stop in Tennessee we can cruise in on the second afternoon of our wander about. 2) One of my cousins manages the campground we'll be staying at and I haven't seen her in over 10 years. 3) An old friend and one time relative by marriage lives about an hours drive from there and as we haven't seen each other in person in almost 50 years, we're going to spend a day catching up.