Pink Fox: its Raining...IN MY HOUSE! :/

[glenolam]

On a plus note it's supposed to warm up again!!!

We're aaaaallllmost there....I can just see spring.....

 

[JRmom]

LOL! I'm looking out my window at spring - hopefully it will start making it's way up to you.

 

[Henrietta23]

LOL! I'm looking out my window at spring - hopefully it will start making it's way up to you.

I have a friend headed your way tomorrow. Have her pack it in her suitcase to bring back when she comes home please? My robins say it's coming!

 

[Denim Deb]

I thought we had spring, but it's supposed to snow again tonight.

 

[pinkfox]

i agree, tell spring to hit the noz and make its way north quicker...im pretty sure it wont get a speeding ticket

im hoping for a warm up again...the "good" news is the next storm is supposed to be rain!

on another note...
im now trying to decide if my spring trip south is going to be a fly in and rent a car situation or a drive down situation...

im planning on heading to TN, probbaly mid April time, i was thinking about aiming for march, but i think i want to give it a little extra time to thaw out up here and warm through a little bit...

the plan is to head towards knoxville as the general destination, but i was also planning on making some time to take a day in nashville and head through cookeville ect...generally in looking for a place to live i need to be within 2 hrs of an airport...

i was also thinking about comming back through NC because theres some interest from the parents for moving to NC too...

so ive got a few options with the trip...
1: pack up my car and drive on down, stopping at whatever cheap motels i manage to find along the way.
pro: i can stop when needed...
con: cost of gas and motels

2: pack my tent, sleeping bag and camp gear into the car and drive down...
pro: no cost for motels
con: still have the cost of gas and need to find safe easy acess camping.
in terms of this option ive looked at some campgrounds for tent camping and its $15+ a night from what i can find...
my tent is a hammok tent (hennesy) so all i realy need is a place to park my car and a couple of trees, but i dont know how legal it is to park your car overnight in the likes of state parks and camp for free...i dont want to add to my trip cost by comming home with parking tickets or getting arrested for camping illegally...

3: pack my camping backpack, buy a cheap plane ticket and head on down via air, hire a car...
pro: cheaper on gas to get there and can stop anywhere along the way
con: cost to rent a car and flight, and again, the questions about parking up and camping for free "backpack" style.
with this version id simply drive round tn and nc and then get a cheap flight out of one of the nc airports since you can typically drop a rental car anywhere...

4: do above but stay in various motels...
pro: no worry about camping or carrying a backpack...
con: cost of motels...

5: go the route of expedia, book a flight and car or flight car and hotel package and jus tcheck out TN this time around...

i have lots of camping experience, ive tent camped for years, though this would be my first year REALY hammock camping (ive spent a few nights backyard hammock camping and would NEVER use a normal tent again lol), i will be a 26yr old woman traveling alone (id much prefer to have a larger dog with me at least but that would mean getting a big dog (not happening) and having to restrict my days activities because of the dog...so...
but in general im not too worried about the camping itself...a can of pepper spray a big stick and a good cellphone should be enough...right?

but ive never "backpack" style (for free) camped in the US...
in the uk theres lots of public land and you park on the lots and walk and set your tent up anywhere...no parking fees, no camping fees...no fuss no muss and no tickets for being in a "park" after sundown...
i dont know how that works here. i would be looking for places easy to get too off main roads too.

my car is a chrysler sebring v6, shes not GREAT on gas, but shes not terrible either, im getting about 24-28 p/gal right now...
but shes certainly not built for going off road, wouldnt do well on dirt trails/gravel roads.
i realy wouldnt want to pay for a camp sight when my campsight is literally the space a small 1 man hammock takes up lol.
while use of a shower here and there is a nice bonus of established campgrounds, im not a prissy missy and dont need to shower EVERY day.

so any thoughts suggestions and opinions on this little trip would be greatly apreciated.
ive NEVER been on a road trip before...and the fact im even considering this trip given im mildly agoraphobic is a huge thing for me.

but from everything im seeing TN could be perfect for me and i dont like the idea of moving completly blind.

this is just a fact finding trip...if things "click" ill be returning in late fall (october time) to start looking at a few houses and hopefully finding my dream place.
if tn doesnt click i have all spring and summer to make more "road trips" to find my "special place"

and if i do end up driving down i plan on making some stops in virginia too, though i think buying in virginia might be too expensive for my poor self.
if i drive the plan is to head through Pa, down through va towards nashville, then from there to the tricities area, down to knoxville, then from there into northcarolina heading in the general vicinity of the raleigh durham area then towards the coast and come home up along the coast...
it would likely be a 2 week trip

if i fly in ill probably fly into nashville and either spend a week checking out eastern tn and fly back out of either nashville or knoxville...or fly into nashville and spend closer to 12 days heading through and eventually ending up flying out of raleigh nc...

ugh...so much to think about.
HELP! my heads going to explode!

i do know that by the time i pay for gas its going to cost about the same for gas there and back and camping as it would for cheap return flights a rental car and "hotel" package...but in that senario i still have to account for gas while in tn for the rental car and if i got a full package id be restricted to having to return to the same hotel every night...
and if i were to just get a fliht and rental package by the time i pay for even cheap motels if i dont get a hotel as part of the package, im looking at about the same cost.

if i can get FREE camping though the cost of this entire trip no matter what method i choose goes down quite a bit!
but from what im reading theres no such thing as "FREE" camping anymore...

as of right now during my trip i want to have a little money set aside for a trip or 2 to local zoos, a trip to the aquarium of the smokies and a day at dollywood...because lets face it, zoos fishies and roller coasters are all awesomeness and this will be my first "vacation" in 10 yrs...
my last vacation was almost 11 years ago and kind of got tainted because my dog, who id had since i was 4, passed away ...
so i do plan to spend at least some tim doing typical touristy type things

 

[glenolam]

I'd say fly and rent

If I drove to TN with my own car and enough 'stuff' to last a while I'd never leave.

Just sayin!

 

[pinkfox]

lol, that would be the plan, but ive got 2 dogs a cat and 3 parrots to come back for and my mum and sister will only look after them for me for so long before killing them all lol.

in other news, if anyone would like to donate $130,000 to the cause...
i found an amazing house on 10 acres... with 5 additional outbuildings and some fencing...

anyone?! anyone?!
*looks around hopefully*

 

[Denim Deb]

Will you take a rubber check?

 

[lorihadams]

Where in Va are you looking cause I know of some good properties in the area where I am....outskirts of Richmond. My parents are from Martinsville and I know there are some reasonable properties there. If you are willing to go to some of the poorer counties then you can find some good deals.

If you want I can give you the name of my realtor and she could send you some listings around here....she's really good!

 

[pinkfox]

thanks ill definatly shoot her an email and see if she can find anything that would fit

im hoenstly not sure where im going to end up lol.
i figure thats part of the adventure