Traveling the backroads of America

I would recommend doing some preliminary searches with gasbuddy.com to find diesel stations along your route. Off the interstates most stations do not sell diesel so we make stops where we can get diesel fuel and plan our route accordingly.

The 'Benchmark' series of road atlases for individual western states are an excellent resource. (Amazon, etc.) The give very clear details of secondary roads and what is on them, including public campgrounds. We have one for each western state and use them all the time because we absolutely love driving these kinds of roads. Have fun!

X3 on Blue Highways. I believe it was the Univ. of Missouri (the school William Least Heat Moon worked at before going on his trek) it retracing his route and looking for the same people to talk to again. Wonderful book, great read, and a great idea for a trip.

wanderingbob wrote:
My wife and I always travel the 'road less traveled '. We leave early and try to take in all the small towns and especially all the small museums . lots of neat stuff out there if you slow down enough to see it . We traveled twice from Florida to Alaska and traveled less than 200 miles on interstates , of course we had five months each year to do it .
Some very nice and cheap campgrounds in weird places . Last nite we stayed in a fish camp in St. Marks, Florida , on the water for twenty bucks . Go for it ! It is the journey , not the destination !

I bought my brother-in-law a t-shirt that says "I took the road less traveled and now I am lost". It was an inside joke and he and I both got a kick out of it. Enjoy your travels.

My wife and I always travel the 'road less traveled '. We leave early and try to take in all the small towns and especially all the small museums . lots of neat stuff out there if you slow down enough to see it . We traveled twice from Florida to Alaska and traveled less than 200 miles on interstates , of course we had five months each year to do it .
Some very nice and cheap campgrounds in weird places . Last nite we stayed in a fish camp in St. Marks, Florida , on the water for twenty bucks . Go for it ! It is the journey , not the destination !

Great thread and timely for me because I'm taking Grandson back roads in a few weeks. I clicked on one of the recommended books on Amazon and it also showed quite a few others in the section on what other people bought. Kindle versions are less than $5. Clicky

clinthia wrote:
The DW and I are planning to take the camper east from Montana this fall. No real plans and we would like to checkout the backroads. Are there any books that anyone would recommend?
Thanks, Clint

The one that got me started cross country camping and RVing 47 years ago was "Travels with Charlie" by John Steinbeck. He traveled US-20 all the way across the country in his truck camper. Also do a search for books by Bill Geist and Charles Kuralt.

Some years ago the Mother in law gave us a book from the Readers Digest Americas most scenic highways and we have used it quite a bit. We have a favorite thing we do called Left, Right, or straight. The co pilot says which direction to turn. The only down side to this with an RV is once in a while you will come to a small bridge with a 4 ton limit. Then you have a problem. You better be good a backing up. Isn't life good ?

Read Blue Highways. Not a RV'ing book, but a very good read about traveling back roads. On many maps, the big highways were red and the secondary and tertiary roads were varying widths of blue.

Ditto on that -- Great book. Give it a shot, Clint.

Fellow RV'er Nick Russell's book (also in Kindle format) "Highway History And Back Road Mystery is a great read for finding those offbeat spots and treasures as you wander the back roads. There's also a Highway History And Back Road Mystery II that's equally fascinating.