Boondock in every state for one week?

[offroad]

Just throwing this out there as a trip planning idea.  What if? Someone decided to visit all the capitals, or maybe all the top cities; in each of the continental USA states. 

Is it possible to boondock in every state, and get a good picture of what the state is like?  Not sure if this would require a huge network of Driveway Surfer locations, or a lot of Stealth camping with a van.  Yes, obviously the fuel costs would be significant. 

Is there good boondocking available in every state?  Can you get there given the weather, and camp for a week?  Is there good locations, within reasonable commuting distance to the pretty city or other tourist location/

Maybe go walk the capital, or use public transportation, or just go to the best walkable city for that state.

Know many like the rural areas to visit (that are gorgeous), but I kind of like to get into the cultural aspect of each state in some way.

Any stories from persons who have done this?

 

[akrvbob]

I lived in Asheville, NC for 1 1/2 years and I decided to spend one night in every Eastern state while I was there. I did pretty good with finding dispersed camping but many times I just stayed in a Walmart for convience. I went to places along the way that interested me. Oddly, I skipped Delaware because it was trapped behind a bunch of too-busy other states and it wasn't worth the traffic to me.

I don't think you could do it if you wanted to spend 7 days in every state, but if you were flexible with that then it would be pretty easy, for example, 2 weeks in California and 2 days in Delaware and RI.

Some of them are going to have to be in the cold though and Alaksa and Hawaii are going to have to be by airplane.
Bob

 

[TMG51]

...Alaksa and Hawaii...

...continental USA...

OP has you covered.

Okay, now that I've been a wiseass - I would think this would be best done using some degree of stealth and parking in towns. I'm in the northeast and I don't believe dispersed camping in a vehicle is as easy to do around here as it is in the west. I always seem to be able to park behind an industrial building, or a park n' ride, etc without trouble though.

 

[rvwandering]

It's very hard to do it but if you're willing to do a bit of planning and use a variety of resources it is possible. Technically you won't be boondocking but  dry camping in parking lots or driveways.

 We've visited almost every large city in the US. We try to avoid campgrounds with outrageous fees as much as possible so we stay in parking lots at casinos, Walmarts, Cracker Barrels, Home Depots and Lowes.

 For a small yearly fee you can join clubs or organizations which will open up more dry camping possibilities. We joined Harvest Hosts  and have used it enough to make it worthwhile.  We also joined the Moose but we haven't used it very much. I think an Elks membership might be better because they have more lodges. Not all of them allow dry camping and some have a fee.

 Another organization is Boondocker Welcome which I've considered joining but haven't because we usually don't plan far enough ahead. It looks like a great deal though if you want to visit cities.
https://www.boondockerswelcome.com/http://harvesthosts.com/
http://harvesthosts.com/
If you want to do this in a short time period, spending a week in each state, you'll have to plan your route to avoid bad weather, maybe start in the Carolinas in early winter, go south to Florida, west along the coast, north to Washington, then east to finish in New England in the fall. You'd have to do a lot of zigzagging to hit all of the states as you head east.

 We have a little class C and although we do fine visiting cities - we actually drive in, park and walk to see what we want - I think that it would be easier with a van. A few cities have stumped us - for New York we stayed in a campground in New Jersey and took the ferry, parking in Boston is so bad that we visited once and haven't attempted it again, San Francisco got skipped although we did visit it years ago in our VW Vanagon.

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

i posted a computer calculated route to visit them all including a major landmark in each. You can follow that route and search out campgrounds with freecampsites.net and maybe allstays Walmart listing. I'm using at to plan my route South this winter, for at least a rough guideline. ill find the link later when I'm on my computer.

 

[akrvbob]

DazerGaiden, that sounds really good, do you have a link to the route?
Bob

 

[StarEcho]

Don't know if this is DGs link or not, but I just came across this while looking for something else...

http://rvthereyetdirectory.com/the-ultimate-usa-road-trip/

 

[akrvbob]

That's a very good map, but it misses many of the most beautiful and interesting parts of the country.

It would make an excellent framework as a base map and then take short trips to see the great places it misses. The map is from here:
http://rvthereyetdirectory.com/the-ultimate-usa-road-trip/
Bob

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

thats the one. It definitely is just a rough base, especially if you want to camp for free.

 

[SoulRaven]

It goes through some real undesirable spots in the Northeast. For instance going from Newport RI to Hartford CT unless you were in the insurance business and traveling the entire length of the New jersey Turnpike and not stopping at the Howard Stern rest area/travel plaza.

 

[compassrose]

Is it possible to boondock in every state, and get a good picture of what the state is like?

There are far too many states, like NC, where the eastern coastal area is nothing like the piedmont area (central) or like the western mountain area. I grew up in that area and was very shocked the first time I was east of Asheville. VERY different. I think you need to stretch out your time frame for some states. And I firmly believe that you cannot do western NC properly in a single week.

 

[Patrick46]

I guess I disagree with many of you on this.

I think this is a completely DO-able idea!

7 days in each state?? I don't see why that should be a problem at all.

Sure, some will be a lot more difficult than others...but I still think this would be one heck of an adventure! (and highly educational as well!)

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

Following World War 2, there was a vogue for European vacation tours that tried to cram 10 countries into 14 days (or was it 14 countries in 10 days?)  You'd be rushed from place to place to spend a few minutes near the Eifel Tower, the Roman Coliseum, etc.  and when you got home, you could brag that you had "seen" Europe.  They made a comedy movie about this in the 60s called IF IT'S TUESDAY, THIS MUST BE BELGIUM.

I guess I just don't see the point of something like this.  Is it to color in one of those maps the RVers seem to love in the shortest time possible so you could brag that you've been to all the states?

Far better, IMNPHO, to spend some real time at each stop and really get to know an area before moving on.  But maybe that's just me.

Regards
John

 

[ramblingvanman]

I love that map. It looks like a great blue print for a first adventure. If I start a youtube channel about my travels, am I allowed to link it here on the board?

 

[ramblingvanman]

I guess I disagree with many of you on this.

I think this is a completely DO-able idea!

7 days in each state?? I don't see why that should be a problem at all.

Sure, some will be a lot more difficult than others...but I still think this would be one heck of an adventure! (and highly educational as well!)

In theory, yes but what will you do with the other 6 days in Delaware or Rhode Island? OTOH. 7 days may not be nearly enough for Texas, Wyoming, Montana or especially Alaska.

 

[akrvbob]

I love that map. It looks like a great blue print for a first adventure. If I start a youtube channel about my travels, am I allowed to link it here on the board?

Yes, you are welcome to link to your Youtube channel, your blog, or anything you are working on. We have some authors here and they are welcome to link to their books. We need to support each other in any way we can.

Bob

 

[akrvbob]

It all depends on what you mean by seeing a state, and it will mean different things to each of us. To me, spending a week in a state is just passing through, not really exploring it.

Let me give you an example of what I think of as really exploring a state. I've been in Wyoming for 2 months and in that time I've driven 15 Scenic Byways and Backways and visited numerous museums and historic sites. I still have to explore the Northeast corner and Black Hills of SD. I'm planning one hike into the Wind River Range and still need to drive the Flaming gorge area and Snowy River Scenic Byway on the south border.

The Grand Tetons NP and Yellowstone NP alone require two weeks to even begin to say you've explored them.

A week in Wyoming and saying you've seen it is totally unrealistic to me. And that goes for all the western states.

But, just passing through is what most people want, and so they are happy with it and that's all that counts.

I've got the rest of my life to do this so I want go a little deeper into it.
Bob
Bob

 

[Patrick46]

YES!!! Ding, Ding, Ding!!! ...and we have a winner!! ^^^

I too could easily spend MONTHS in a state, and barely scratch the surface.
I've lived in Oregon for over 26 years, and there and a ton of places that I've yet to see here...and we get out exploring quite a bit!

Rhode Island may not be a very big state...but I'll bet I could easily spend a month there and not see the same thing twice.


Don't you folks get outta your cars anymore???

 

[offroad]

Some are kind of on a quest to develop some kind of view of the USA in as short a time as possible. Sure you will not get the general full picture of each state. Maybe a year in each state. But who has 50 years. A week is an arbitrary limit, but it is an interesting goal that could change the traveler. Thinking the overall goal is to change the traveler. This kind of trip might do that.

 

[ramblingvanman]

I feel the same way Bob. I am in this for the long haul. I already lived in my old van for years. I cannot imagine living in a bricks and sticks house anymore. I would feel too cooped up. Buying this class B was my way of actually committing to my lifestyle. My kids don't like me doing it, and my ex-wife absolutely hates it, that is kind of a plus though.