Hey friends! You may have noticed a slight shift in how the posts have been looking lately, and that’s because we’ve been on a 2-week road trip to the southern United States. It’s been amazing, but it’s also been hella busy. There’s been lessons learned, highs and lows, burn out, debates about which place to stay or how far to go, or what to eat or buy in the grocery store…it’s a whole thing. A whole thing however that I want to share with you! My hopes by doing so is to encourage you to get out there and road trip on your own, with a loved one, or even with a family if you’d like. So here’s the first part of this series, (maybe we’ll call it the Southern Series, eh?) 🧐 Although a little complex at times, I’d do it all over again in a heartbeat. Let’s get into it!

P.S.!! Don’t forget to follow along on Facebook or Instagram! I post daily updates there each night sharing piece by piece what each day entailed. You’ll find more details about everything we did in the day, along with videos and more pictures. Thanks for your support along the way! Now let’s dig in! ✨

Planning Our Southern States Road Trip Route

We had planned this trip for a few months. Nothing was quite set in stone, not even the actual route, so we just landed on “we’ll just start driving south and figure it out from there.” We had attempted planning different routes for weeks, months even, just to not be 100% sure on which way we actually wanted to go, (at first we’d planned to go all the way to Florida (we’re in Pgh, PA for context), and then head west through Big Bend (Texas), out a little further and then back up.

THANK FREAKING GOODNESS WE DIDN’T DO THAT. 😅

Although it sounded like a fantastic idea to start, we eventually realized that we’d have to drive between 8-9 hours per day to realistically get through all the states that we had planned. (That doesn’t include stopping for refreshments, food, fuel, and bathroom breaks). It also didn’t account for places we’d like to stop and explore, or hike.

So after much discussion, we determined that heading directly south would be the best bet….until like, the night before. LOL.

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We were going to go straight to Florida first, so that we had ample time there, since we knew that state itself would deserve the most time. But alas, it became the plan to go through West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee, where we stopped outside of Nashville in a super cute airbnb. (Check the social pages for what it looked like!) 😌

But of course, as you know I’m a five star over-thinker, which means when the next morning came, we had already changed our minds. 😂

 

 

Packing, Pivoting, and a Not-So-Early Start

We usually leave the day after Christmas to go on trips, but instead we used that day to prep, pack, and load the vehicle for the day after, so that we could just get up and hit the road early.

…rightttt.

After further debating on if heading straight to Florida would be the best route, we knew we didn’t want to miss out on stops like Vicksburg, TN and New Orleans, LA. (The main reason for wanting to go straight to FL was because of the weather. It was going to cool down which meant we’d escape the cold front and be in warmer weather, faster.

So instead of beginning our drive in the dark around 5-6am, we didn’t get on the road until about 9:15am after stopping for a pastry and coffee nearby home since we were hungry by that point because it’d been so long. 🙃

Tips for the Road: Meals, Snacks & Memories: Eating Healthy While Traveling

Let me also mention that we fully planned to rent a full size SUV from Enterprise, right up until the point of being in the parking lot. It was at that time that we realized the back of the SUV didn’t look like what we thought it would, (we were planning to use it to car-camp), so it was basically null and void at that point. We also liked the idea of having our things in the back, unlike the truck where they’d be exposed.

After this decision to save a whopping $1,500, we figured we were on the right track to engage in our longest, budget-friendly road trip.

 

 

We managed to pack everything we thought we’d need for our Southern Road Trip into:

• 2 large totes (sleeping bags/tent/camp chairs/camp pillows/pillowcases & sheets & cooking food and cookware)
• 3 small totes (road snacks, self-care items, electronics, shoes, a med-kit and a few small games)
• 3 normal sized backpacks (coats, clothing, last minute items)
• 2 duffel bags (clothing separated into cube zipper bags)
• 1 cooler (cold items or regular food storage)

This allowed us to not only save more on the trip in snacks, drinks and food, but clear out the things in our home that would have sat during this time and gone to waste. Yay us!

 

Ending Day One of Our Southern States Road Trip

We had a few pit stops along the way this day, particularly at the rest stop in Belmont, Ohio, and again before the Tennessee border to stretch, use the bathroom and refuel with anything from the cooler. We crossed into the time zone change as well around this point, which always seems fun for some reason? 🤷‍♀️

During the drive, I used my passenger seat time to search for the best stays, work on the laptop, and find cool places along the way. At this point we were also realized that we made a good decision to use our truck instead of renting the SUV, because we know how it runs, it’s comfortable, has all the plugs we need for chargers, and also wifi so that I could work while the hubs drove.

Once we knew for sure that Nashville was where we’d end up for the night, we booked an airbnb that looked great and had a good location, (as well as good reviews…be wary of the ones without any!). It had an awesome shower, a clean space, and did the job for what we needed that night.

The airbnb also had a mini fridge, which was awesome since that meant we wouldn’t have to buy ice for the cooler. Feeling pooped out from our 9 ish hour drive, we opted for DoorDashing local Mediterranean food, which included some bomb chocolate chip cookies, and got to sleep around 9:30.

Knowing that we passed some things along the way that would technically be in “long-weekend” drive time of home, we figured we’ll stop back in the area someday to explore Nashville itself, along with some nearby caverns and even a safari! 🦓

I’d like to keep it real on this trip and share our budget with you, so that you can apply the same (or similar) ideas to a future trip for yourself! As always, let me know in the comments if you have any feedback, advice, comments or questions about our trip in the comment section or on socials. I’d love to hear if we missed anything epic, or if you have tips and tricks for us and other readers moving forward! ☺️🫶

Southern States Road Trip Expenses for Day 1:

• Fuel: $80.00
• Airbnb: $204.83
• Gas station goodies: $9.32
• Breakfast: $31.49
• DoorDash: $52.60
  • Total: $378.24

Thanks for sharing this road trip journey with me! ☺️
Excited to catch you on the next post for Day 2! Woop woop! 🙌 🚙

 

 

Thanks for Riding Along With Us

Thanks so much for following along on starting a Southern roadtrip! I’m excited to share the rest of this journey with you, including the highs, the hiccups, and everything we learn along the way. If you have any tips, must-see stops, or budget-friendly travel advice, I’d love to hear it. You can also follow along with our trip updates, photos, and behind-the-scenes moments on Facebook at Habitual Balance.