Cross Country Cache Trip

[+S_&_M]

The two of us are going to drive cross country to explore all that is out there. Since we love to Geocache we thought it would be a good idea to cache in every state we visit. We will be going from Rhode Island, down to Atlantic city, then to Tennessee all the way to the west coast. From there we will be making our way to Seattle and finally back across to Rhode Island. Has anyone ever done a trip like this? We would love to hear other cachers expierences. Any tips on places to stay along the way would be appreciated as we want to keep our expenses to a minimum.

 

Thanks,

 

S&M (Scott and MIchelle)

[+briansnat]

Any tips on places to stay along the way would be appreciated as we want to keep our expenses to a minimum.

 

Bring a tent and stay in campgrounds whenever you can. That will save a lot of money. Save the motels for rainy nights and when you would like a little 'luxury'.

[+GPS Guy]

National Forest and BLM campgrounds are inexpensive. Don't expect showers, though. National Parks are always nice to see, but you'll need reservations to camp, if you can get them. There were some nice state sites along the Big Sur coast.

Remember, the National Forest Service motto is: "We want you to have fun."

[+LadeBear68]

I don't remember who but someone made this trip and plotted out caching in every state.

 

http://img242.imageshack.us/my.php?image=c...50states3co.jpg

[+robert]

I don't remember who but someone made this trip and plotted out caching in every state.

 

http://img242.imageshack.us/my.php?image=c...50states3co.jpg

 

That was CraigInCT.

 

[+m_and_w]

We just got back from a caching trip and we had the best time, caching all the way. Went from drove from Pa to TN. Thought N. Carolina had the best caches, everyone has their favorites. We did a few other things along the way, the Aquarium, the Zoo but our main goal was to hit as many caches as we could. We got alot of different ideas for hides and ideas for themes. We plan on organizing our next vacation around caching as well. Every hotel we stayed at had free internet access so we logged our finds every night. Gas prices got lower and then high again by the time we reached Atlanta. We used our Palm to find some great resturants and hit alot of areas that we would never have hit if we were not geocaching. Having print outs (which was sort of a pain and a waste of money but....) did help keep track of things and I plan on doing it again. The few other cachers that we have met along the way pointed out caches to do, if they were memorable enough for them to remember we felt we should try to do them. Reading the different logs sort of gives you an idea of the areas you are going to and maybe areas you want to stay away from if your just visiting. Good luck.

[+marlin01]

Last year I drove the Atlantic seaboard from NY to Florida, then looped back up inland back to NY. I made this trip solely as a geocaching trip, and the key to my success was PLANNING, PLANNING, and MORE PLANNING. Map your entire route out before you leave, get state maps and travel guides from AAA, (and get AAA as well if you do not have it already). Look for state parks in each state that have camping, then check the park for caches on geocaching.com using the online maps. I spent each day traveling and seeing the sights and then camped in the park I had checked out. I got up early in the morning and cached before I left. Make sure you bring hard copy of all of the cache pages, I like to bind them up in a folder in the order that I will reach them. Once you have a route mapped out Check your route by panning the online maps for drive by caches in rest areas. This should give you more than enough caches for your trip. Also, if you plan on visiting National Parks, which I highly recomend, before you leave go to the nearest National Park visitors center and get a National Park Pass, it will get you into most park areas for one upfront price. This will save you lots of cash in the long run. Also get a National Park Passport to keep a log of your travels. Most of all, Have Fun!

[+Arrow One]

I'm already planning a 7 day caching trip for next year. I want to visit several states, and I plan to stay at campgrounds, to keep costs down. Planning on where I'm going to stay, is going to dictate what caches I plan on visiting. (If I plan to stay at the Grand Canyon, I'm going to hunt caches in that area) To search for caches in that area, for example, I have the zip code, and I search for caches on GS.com that way. Of cource I'll do my final search right before I go, but this is the easiest way for me so far. I have a lot of time, and a LOT of planning to do!

[+Peppermill 6-Pack]

On your way up to Seattle, be sure to check out "Room with a View" cache - GC74C3 (subscriber only) on the lower coastline of Washington state. Out of the over 1100 caches we have done (some across the country also - we live in NY) it is my #1 all time favorite place that caching has taken us. Amazing view of the Pacific, a Lighthouse very close by, and a great area to explore that it seems no one realizes is there.