Solo Road Trips

[David A. Goldfarb]

At the beginning of this year we relocated from New York City to Honolulu, which involved shipping the car from California, so given the choice of paying an extra $1000 to ship it by ground from New York to LA or to take a solo road trip (my wife and son had gone ahead in August, so she could start a new job, and he could start school at the beginning of the year), visiting friends and family and making photographs along the way, and having the peace of mind to know the car wouldn't be delayed by a ground shipper en route, I decided to make the road trip and wished I'd done a few more of them earlier.

Leaving on New Year's Eve after finishing with the movers and wrapping up a few last details in my office in the Empire State building, I headed for the NJ Turnpike, down to Washington, DC., through Virginia, stopping to visit friends in Durham, then across I-40 picking up old Route 66 in OK City, up to my mom's place in Vegas from Flagstaff, then to my sister's in LA for a few days. I gave myself three weeks from New York to my flight from LAX, dropped off the car at the dock in Long Beach and took a cab to the airport.

It was great to be able to set my own schedule and visit the locations I wanted to when the light was good. I processed film in a Nikor daylight sheet-film tank in motel bathrooms along the way. Our household goods didn't arrive for another three months after I got to Honolulu, so the darkroom is finally set up, and I'm working through a backlog of film processing since arriving earlier this year and proofing the negs from that trip and beyond.

I highly recommend processing film on the road, even if it means simplifying your process somewhat (I did that by processing everything in Acufine instead of ABC Pyro). It gives you immediate feedback to be sure you're equipment is working properly and that you aren't making some repeated error, while you can still revisit the last location, and besides, what else are you going to do on your own in the middle of nowhere at night? (Don't answer that!)

I documented the trip a bit at: http://www.apug.org/forums/forum37/1...ng-i-40-a.html

[Heroique]

Camping is probably out of the question this time of year…

BTW, any chance you can wait until April or May?

You'd be reducing so many risks, opening up so many opportunities.

If it has to be now (Nov.-Dec.-Jan.), maybe a trip to the Gulf Coast, and down into Florida?

[Darin Boville]

Did a solo trip from California to Ohio this summer. Loved it. Took two weeks, one-way. I departed from my usual national parks routine (mostly) and hit every art museum I could, spending a full day at each museum and taking tie to look and think. Didn't realize the art museums in the middle of the country were so good. Big eye-opener for me and a great trip. Might do it again next summer.

--Darin

[Darin Boville]

BTW, any chance you can wait until April or May?

You'd be reducing so many risks, opening up so many opportunities.

If it has to be now (Nov.-Dec.-Jan.), maybe a trip to the Gulf Coast, and down into Florida?

Oh my, yes. Take a southern route. Snow and ice are no fun, specially if you didn't grow up in it.

--Darin

[David A. Goldfarb]

Definitely, I'd recommend the southern route. I was driving a day ahead of the polar vortex this January from New York through Tennessee or thereabouts. Also, in the low season, there aren't so many tourists and there's plenty of opportunity to explore sites in the southwest.

[Jac@stafford.net]

Didn't realize the art museums in the middd of the country were so good.

If you have not discovered the following gem in our Minnesota countryside...

https://www.mmam.org

[Jmarmck]

Yeah, winter. Well I am torn there. I figured that I might document some of those more famous areas in a season that most do not see. But average high temps of 40 is not too bad but not exactly my idea of fun. I was looking at a hotel in Mexican Hat The San Juan Inn. Their winter rates are good and it is fairly centrally located to a lot of places. But I am having trouble getting past winter.

I may wait till April and the desert flowers. That may give me more time to plan. Take Kirk's ideas. Explore during the day and shoot when the light is good.

In the meantime there is Cumberland barrier island about four hours east of here. The gulf is just a couple hours south but it is all pretty built up. Florida just does not float my boat.

[Darin Boville]

Yeah, winter. Well I am torn there. I figured that I might document some of those more famous areas in a season that most do not see. But average high temps of 40 is not too bad but not exactly my idea of fun. I was looking at a hotel in Mexican Hat The San Juan Inn. Their winter rates are good and it is fairly centrally located to a lot of places. But I am having trouble getting past winter.

I may wait till April and the desert flowers. That may give me more time to plan. Take Kirk's ideas. Explore during the day and shoot when the light is good.

In the meantime there is Cumberland barrier island about four hours east of here. The gulf is just a couple hours south but it is all pretty built up. Florida just does not float my boat.

Don't do winter, not on your first cross country trip, unless you are a snowbird. Also, don't forget that the shorter days will limit you in may respects. But do go--the Southern route in great, too...

--Darin

[Leszek Vogt]

Just went through Mexican Hat and Monmouth Lakes. The latter is too much resort-orientation for my taste. Marty, you could get snow (maybe not Buffalo type) in Monument Valley. But, that (visually) could be a plus. I had over 250 places to choose from....and I knew this would be absurd....so I limited myself to 31 (still with flexibility). Yes, I was so flexible that I was unable to stay at Joshua Tree (because of the recent holiday - all campgrounds were full)....and I missed No. G. Canyon, even though it was still open in early Nov = too many miles to back track.

My recent SW trip had too many high points....so everything blurred into one giant h. point. It became an open-ended 11,757 mile exploration, that took 70 days. How do you spell glorious ?

Prep your vehicle as best as you can and enjoy the trip.

Les

[jp]

I do solo short-trips regularly. My wife is not interested in motorsports or photo workshops. I haven't done weeklong+ adventures much; maybe in a few years when the kids are older. If you've never done solo trips, do a short one for just a couple of days!

The various suggestions are good for supplies. I'd suggest a bit of cash as well as plastic; as someone plastic money gets locked for fraud when traveling about. I grew up in the woods basically, so I don't mind roughing it if needed. Maybe watch city slickers for entertainment.