The Packing Essentials: How I Prepared for My Cross Country Trip

After dreaming of and planning my cross country trip for almost two years, it finally came time to start preparing and packing the essentials. In case you missed it, be sure to read my first post, Planning for My 7,000 Mile Cross Country Trip. There I shared how I planned and selected the locations and today I wanted to walk you through all of the preparations I made to get ready to hit the road.

On the Road Essentials

Car Essentials

Since my own car is pretty old with it’s own share of problems, I decided it was best to rent a car for peace of mind. I rented a SUV through Costco which saved me a couple hundred dollars although the reservation was through a local Avis. I picked the rental car up the day before I was leaving so that I had plenty of time to pack it with my car essentials and also to make sure everything else would fit. Spoiler alert, I had to leave some things behind, which was probably a good thing.

Here are the car essentials I packed, some of which I already had:

• Roadside Emergency Kit
• First Aid Kit
• Tire Inflator
• Portable Jump Starter Kit
• Tire Pressure Gauge
• Emergency Survival Kit
• Ice Scraper
• Jack and Spare Tire (made sure they were in the car)
• Crowbar
• Cleaning Supplies-Microfiber towels, Clorox wipes, Trash Bin with extra bags. I found it incredibly helpful to have the car clean since I was pretty much living out of it for four weeks.

Roadtrip Must Haves

While technically most of these items stayed in the car, I kept them in a different category since many of them were used throughout the trip in different capacities.

• Atlas-Laugh if you must I’m old school and knew some locations would be out of range so packed it just in case.
• Phone charging cables-While the car charged wirelessly, it still was helpful to have as a back up.
• Water Bottle-I brought a few to make sure Sampson had plenty of water too.
• Small Tools: Flashlight, Multitool, Headlight, Duct tape (you’d be surprised how handy this came in)
• Portable Charger/Power Bank-Technically I got this for hiking but kept it in the car most of the time as a back up.
• Hygiene Items: Hand sanitizer, napkins, baby wipes
• Small notebook and plenty of pens
• Umbrella
• Safety: Taser, Knife, and my Firearm stowed away for safe keeping
• Insurance card and a copy of the rental agreement in the glove compartment
• Tripod for my phone (that I never used but probably should have while driving)

A few other items included on this checklist were written directions for each week that I kept in my phone’s notes, downloaded podcasts and books, and cash and change especially for garages and parking meters.

My ‘You’re Getting Old’ Car Routine:
As embarrassing as this may be to share, I found myself going through a checklist every time I got in and out of the car: Keys to the car (new to me not to have them in the ignition), sunglasses, reading glasses, phone with (driver’s license and credit card inside my Toru case), America the Beautiful Parks Pass, wallet, gun, laptop, and Sampson. I figured as long as I had those items, anything else could be replaced.

The Travel Gear

I spent half of my time in and out of hotels and for the longer stays, in houses and cabins. So, I wanted to make sure that I packed in a smart and efficient way.

Hotels Stays: Packing Light

For the most part, I only wanted to make one trip from the car into the hotel since I was traveling alone. I also had Sampson in tow so I this is where the smart packing came into play.

• Must Have Travel Backpack – I packed several days worth of outfits, my cosmetics bag, and laptop so that I could easily check in and out of hotel rooms with no fuss.
• Travel Cosmetics Bag (L) – Great smaller cosmetics bag that fit well in the backpack.
• Compression Packing Tubes – Perfect for the organized traveler.
• Classic Leather Tote – I got this for my birthday and absolute love it! It was also incredibly handy for my trip because I could throw in snacks, drinks, and one of the smaller dog food containers along with everything else that needed to be easily accessible for hotel stays. (Oversized in Honey)
• Cross Body Bucket Bag – This was a last minute purchase I made that I used often. I would pack it with the smaller essentials from my car checklist and could take it separately, or drop into my leather tote.
• Extra Blanket – Since Sampson was with me, I brought an extra blanket to protect the hotel’s bedding. And remember that roll of duct tape? It was helpful to grab any dog hair before we left that might have slipped through.

House & Cabin Stays: Home Away From Home

The rest of my clothes, shoes, cosmetics, and accessories were split into two bags. One was a large travel pack and the other a large tote bag. Once I was staying somewhere for several nights I would unpack or reorganize as needed. The same goes for all of the items in the containers.

• Cotapaxi Allpa 35L Travel Pack – The rest of my clothes went here and were swapped out as needed.
• Hanging Toiletry Bag – I used this for the rest of my toiletries especially the larger bottles.
• Dog Travel Bag – This was great just for Sampson’s stuff.
• Soft Pack Cooler-I kept this in the front seat with me with drinks and most of the time, the day’s lunch. On a few occasions, I took it into hotel rooms with me when I didn’t want to eat out.
• Large Cooler (45)-My brother-in-law let me borrow his large cooler that I used to pack each week’s groceries in. Truthfully, next time I’ll just take one medium sized cooler (35) rather than one small and one large. I didn’t need it half as much as I anticipated.
• Rubber Containers-In order to keep the car organized, I packed like items in containers. This also allowed me to stack them on top of each other and easily grab to take inside the houses for longer stays. I kept one for food, one for Airbnb accessories, and another small one with Sampson’s dog food.

Since I wanted to make myself at home in the houses and cabins I stayed in, I brought a few extra items just in case they weren’t provide. Some of these items were ziplock bags, food containers, extra blankets (for Sampson), and my own laundry detergent. For the most part, each place I stayed was very accommodating and had everything I needed.

What To Wear

Wardrobe Essentials

This will vary based on where you’re going and how long you’re traveling, but I found that I brought way too many clothes. I wanted to have variety but I easily could have made it with 10 interchangeable outfits for the four weeks I was traveling.

My trip needed to cover both hot and cold days so it ranged from shorts and tank tops to hiking pants and warm jackets. I was also looking for comfort and had several trails and hikes planned so leaned towards outdoorsy clothing. Here were a few of my favorites that I highly recommend.

I also brought a few nice outfits that I never wore so if you planning on going out, I would recommend adding. As for shoes, I had my hiking boots, two pairs of sneakers, and one pair of water sandals. To finish off this checklist, I added toiletries and outdoor gear considering where I was traveling.

Outdoor Gear

Since I was visiting 9 National Parks and planned to do a little hiking, I made sure to pack several items specifically for my outdoor adventures:

• Bear Spray-Almost everywhere in Montana and Wyoming that I stayed recommended having bear spray. Luckily I never needed it but I did tuck it away in my backpack especially for any of the trails.
• Hiking Backpack-I already had a backpack but here’s a similar sized one if you’re looking.
• Sun Shade Hat-This was great for my rafting trip plus ladies, it has a hole for your ponytail.
• Whistle/bells-I had mixed reports on whether or not to attach a bell to your backpack when out on trails. Some said to do it; a video from a Park Ranger said not to. I carried one with me and used the other for Sampson anytime we were outside and I needed to keep track of him.
• Water Bottle
• Sunscreen
• Bug Spray
• Baseball Hats
• Headlamp
• Small First Aid Kit
• Fire Starter
• Binoculars
• Beach Towel

The Meal Factor

So let me first say that food isn’t a huge priority for me in general. I eat when I get hungry but can easily skip a meal at home and I seldom dine out, especially since it’s expensive. I also am not the healthiest person around and love soft drinks. And for most of the trip, it was just me to consider. So keep all of this in mind when I share how I prepared for meals.

On the Road

For the most part, I packed my meals and ate in my car or at picnic areas on the road. I also had Sampson with me so this was the most convenient way to handle meals. For the first long stretch to get to Montana, I purchased groceries before I left that covered breakfast and lunch for the first week. Dinners were either a quick stop at a drive-through or just snacks from my stash. I’m especially fond of Chomps beef sticks and ate those pretty often and prepared some pasta salad before I left and packaged into little food containers. Drinks were in my coolers and I quickly fell into a routine of icing both coolers at the gas station when I filled up before I headed out each morning.

House and Cabin Stays

I knew before I left where the grocery stores were located in relation to the places I was staying. So, I planned to stop at the grocery store on the way to the locations I was staying so that I didn’t have to head back out once settled. This was due in part to having Sampson with me but also the grocery stores typically were not close to the places I stayed. The original plan was to cook dinner each night but I quickly abandoned this. While I did cook some meals, it wasn’t nearly as many as I anticipated so I defaulted back to sandwiches or snacks. Again, I’m not your role model for healthy eating.

National Parks & Excursions

I think eating a picnic lunch at a National Park is about the most pure and American thing there is. And so that’s what I typically did. One day while at Glacier National Park I sat on a log along the shore of the McDonald Lake and it was the most peaceful setting you could imagine. If I didn’t pack a lunch before I headed out each day I would just make a sandwich while I was out since one of the coolers was always with me.

Restaurants

I think in total I dined at four restaurants over the four weeks. Three with Sampson, outdoors at dog friendly restaurants, and once by myself after my rafting trip. I’m not a huge fan of eating at restaurants alone and I’m sure if I was with company that number might be higher. However, just keep in mind that restaurants around any type of tourist destinations are pretty pricey. Since food isn’t high on my priority list, I chose to save money by not eating out much.

So that’s a wrap on my packing list and how I prepared for my Cross Country Trip. If there’s anything else that comes to mind comment below and I’ll do my best to answer.