/lit/ - Literature

>>5302000
>Did you wash your clothes or yourself?

Yeah, with some effort it's not too hard. Pack shampoo and bars of soap and wash yourself when you get a chance (lakes and streams count as chances). Pack deodorant and toothbrush/toothpaste and use them every day. You will inevitably be dirty for a few days at a time, especially being outside and moving around so much, but if you try and keep yourself clean you'll never be truly filthy.

>>5302000
>Did you bring a computer or phone?

No computer, unless you count smartphones. Half of us had non-smartphones and the other half had smartphones, and we were depending on the smartphones much of the time for navigation. For that they are incredibly useful, and that's almost the only thing we used them for. But, crossing the country most of the time you're in rural areas, and especially out west that means no reception and no data, so we couldn't even use the navigation for long stretches.

>Where do you start? Did you just pack a bag and head to the nearest on ramp?

Hitchhiking is hard in the US. It takes a very long time for anybody to stop, so it's not a dependable way to get around. We learned this the hard way and ended up doing 40-50 mile days with heavy packs. Try it at some point, but be prepared to walk. I know people who've had more success than me, but I'm still kind of mad about just how bleak that method was.

Find cheap transportation somewhere far in whatever direction you're going. Best option is buses. They suck but they're cheap. If you can afford it, an Amtrak pass is a great option unless you're really set on totally bumming it. A 45 day Amtrak pass is like $900, which was way too much for me, but it gives you access to the entire country, you can choose where you want to go on a whim, and it's comfortable.

>How/where did you sleep when you didn't have a place to stay?

First of all, if you have friends/family anywhere in the direction you're headed, ask them if you can stay with them for some time. If not, put some money aside for motels. Try to rough it as much as possible to save money, but there will be a point where you just want a fucking bed and toilet.

When you're roughing it, you will be breaking the law most of the time. Most cities have "no-camping" laws that don't let you sleep anywhere on public property, and almost all the land in rural areas is privately owned/a park that charges you for camping there. There are exceptions. Some state parks have free camping for a few days. And it's always preferable to illegally sleep in a National or State Park over sleeping on private property, because it's far more believable that you didn't know you had to pay to camp in a park than it is you didn't know you weren't allowed to sleep on somebody's land.

We brought the cheapest 4 person tent we could find. During a bad rainstorm it leaked and our shit got soaked, that was unfortunate, but tents are expensive and if we had the chance again we'd probably buy the same one.