Eastern U.S. Road Trip

8 weeks after I finished chemo, in the summer of 2018 with only $2,000 in our bank accounts, my now husband and I set out to drive from Florida to Nova Scotia, hitting every state on the Eastern side of the U.S. on the way. We slept for free every night and ate plain pasta shells with red sauce bought at Dollar General. It was amazing.

How did we sleep for free you might ask? It’s typically legal and free to camp 200ft off any trail in a national forest. Here is a great article I found with more in depth information if you are interested: https://www.campingforfoodies.com/camping-in-national-forests/

Every night we either found a camp spot in a national forest or on occasion rested at a truck stop when it got too dark to safely find and set up camp.

Nothing taste better than a meal cooked over a fire. Even if it is just plain pasta with red sauce.

We didn’t follow any set route, instead we just directionally made sure we were always heading North or North East. From Seaside, Florida we went to Georgia north of Atlanta. This had some great camping but the insects were killer. A massive scorpion decided to check out my shin and about killed the entire trip right there.

We were careful to try and take back roads the entire road trip and to stop frequently when we passed through a quirky town.

The Smokey Mountains were a must stop and camp. I love Tennessee and the Smokies always has great camping with their massive green mountains and towering trees. We met a nice gentleman at a campground who was kind enough to share his homemade moonshine with us. Yum!

The Virginia woods felt the creepiest to me and I loved it. Maybe because the old settler stories always seemed to be in Virginia, or maybe I have listened to one too many skin walker/big foot stories out of Virginia.

Washington DC was one of my favorite stops. Finding a place to camp was difficult, but a lot of the activities were free. We got to see the Lincoln Memorial at sunrise, the White House, Declaration of Independence, and even the National Museum of Natural History all completely free.

For 4th of July we had our pick of where we wanted to celebrate, DC, New York or Boston. All seemed appropriately patriotic but in the end we decided to celebrate in Boston.

Every year the Charles river in Boston fills with large boats and kayaks on the 4th of July for a spectacular firework show. We brought a paddle board with us and all we needed to legally join the festivities was an anchor, two life vests, and a couple lights. We made an anchor out of an old gallon milk jug filled with rocks tied to a rope, someone renting kayaks let us borrow two life vests for free, and we had a flashlight in the car. We both piled on the single paddle board and made our way to the middle of the river with a couple of beers for the best firework show I have ever seen. It was epic and I highly recommend it if you ever find yourself in Boston on the 4th.

Vermont had some of the best free camping and hiking we experienced. Beat only by the Adirondacks in Upstate New York. The White Mountain National Forest was the perfect combination of doable yet challenging all while offering some of the best views to date.

Be sure to dress appropriately (I did not) as it can get quite chilly in Vermont even in July.

I really enjoyed the drive through Main. Gas prices suddenly skyrocketed but the state itself was so quaint. We were listening to “IT” by Stephen King for most of our drive, it’s over 60hrs long, when I thought to look up where his house is located. Turns out Stephen King’s house is in Maine and you can visit it! I didn’t see him but his house is exactly what you would imagine. An old New England home with an iron gate in the front etched with spider webs and bats.

From Maine we made our way into Canada. Nova Scotia was beautiful and their potatoes are legendary. We spent a lot of time on Prince Edward Island as well. If you are a fan of Anne of Green Gables then this is a must visit for you. They have a drive around the entire island dedicated to the books. Good tip: PEI only has one bridge on and off the island and it will cost you $50 to get off. We didn’t know that as they only charge you on the way out.

From Canada we began to make our way back. We camped for a couple of nights in the Adirondack in upstate New York. It was breathtakingly beautiful. The picture at the beginning of this post and the picture used as the icon are both from the Adirondack. The hikes here were rocky and a little difficult, but nothing you couldn’t do in a good pair of Chacos! The green lush mountains seem to never end.

Since we were so close we had to stop at Niagara Falls. I will be honest, the falls were an incredible disappointment to me. We saw them from the Canadian side as everyone says it is more beautiful, but I found the entire experience gimicky. The falls are surrounded by casinos, restaurants, and basic tourist attractions. I was expecting it to be surrounded by beautiful nature but all around the falls were nothing but concrete. Taking a boat up to the falls allows you to feel their power and beauty, but seeing them from the top is just sad. I feel like we destroyed a great work of nature. All the pictures you see of the falls are taken from a very specific angle to cut out all the manmade BS. Still worth a quick visit though, just to say you’ve been.

From here we worked our way home. Coming home was much quicker than heading out. We were tired from camping every night and very much wanted a home cooked meal and a bed.

The trip was an unforgettable, wandering, pointless adventure. If you ever find yourself with a good bit of time on your hands (not a lot of money needed) I suggest you wander for no reason. It’s a unique and rare experience.

I loved just meandering around with the love of my life checking out cool spots. The East is different from the West as the mountains aren’t quite as tall but they are green and beautiful. It took us 3 weeks to go from Florida to Nova Scotia and back home to Arkansas.

Reach out if you have any questions about your own road trip. I have so much information about the East as we went through every state. Happy travels!

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Eastern U.S. Road Trip

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