Solo Road Tripping (but with friends!)
Oct 22, 2024Yes, you can be a solo road tripper without being completely solo, and I highly recommend it. During the final leg of my recent five-week solo road trip, I spent five glorious days in Breckenridge and Frisco, Colorado with seven of my closest college friends. If you’re immediately doubting my credibility as a solo road tripper because I was with seven other people, give me a chance to not only to defend myself, but also to share why this is such a magical way to solo road trip.
If you want to skip right to the evidence, check out my short video HERE on Frisco, Colorado, Friends and Fun. It’s oh so beautiful!
Spoiler: The video is one part quintessential western townscape and one part pontoon boat on a gorgeous lake with majestic mountain views and 80s music 😄.
You’re the Boss
Solo road tripping means you get to make all the decisions - every last one of them, for good or for bad. There is an incredible amount of freedom and peace in that statement. You make the rules. And by the way, rule number 1 – there are no rules.
On Your Own
If you want to take the “going solo” concept completely literally and navigate on your own 100% of the time, go for it. I know plenty of solo road trippers who pack up their vehicles and head to the hinterlands - no service, no people – just out there on their own enjoying the peace and tranquility that nature and solitude offers those who seek it.
One of the things I love the most about traveling solo is the quiet wonder that seeps into my soul when there is not another person to break that silence. There’s something almost magical that happens when you shut down all the external noise. When you power off the phone, turn off the podcasts and music, and head out on your own.
I’ve read that people who are blind have incredible intuition and their other senses become intensely heightened to help compensate. They can hear and smell things the average person cannot, for example.
I fear we often are the opposite. We are blessed with the ability to experience life using all the senses God bestowed on us, but we frequently live as though we are blind, or deaf, or just tuned out. We don’t take time to really see what’s in front of us. We don’t enjoy simple, quiet beauty. We don’t “slow our roll” to drink in every bit of the scene before us.
Solo road tripping provides you with the canvas to change that. When you go out on your own completely, all your sense become intensified. You begin to notice things you’d normally drive right by if you were on the phone or dialed into the news. You find yourself focusing out instead of in. You begin to see anew. You experience the wonder all around you. It’s a beautiful thing.
Solo, but with Friends
But you know what else I love? The soul-filling joy of experiencing the glory of God’s creation with people I know and who know me well. Of hiking with those same people, laughing and catching up, oohing and aahing together over the wonders around each bend. Of evenings filled with tear-stained cheeks brought forth from laughing deep in my gut for minutes on end as stories (now quite old) are retold with increasing creativity as the years go by. Of sitting in my pj’s in the early hours with a blanket and a cup of chai, surrounded by the comforting soft morning voices of people who have seen me in my pajamas since I was 18.
These are the things that fill my cup until it runs over. These are the people I’m willing to travel 2,000 miles to spend time with.
A solo road trip can be both of those things; and for me, they need to be.
Purposeful Planning
In my #1 Bestselling book There’s Wonder Around the Bend, I share the concept of purposeful planning. This includes whole chapters on the obvious practicalities of traveling alone –
- how to budget
- where to stay
- how to plan for food
- insight on navigation
- how to travel with your dog
But one other intentional part of my personal road trip planning always includes at least one “friendly” destination. Better said, I make sure I factor in time with people who know me well.
Traveling solo has proven to be one of the greatest joys of the middle of my life. It is also one of the most unexpected. Even less expected was that I would write a book on the subject and start a business designed to equip and inspire others who wish to seek freedom and wonder on a solo road trip. Yet here we are.
I’ve learned more than I could ever fit in a book, and with every mile I drive, God reveals the tiniest bit more of both my story and His. It’s proving to be quite the love story. And through it all there are inevitably good things and hard things, but really all are beautiful. One of those has been learning through these years how to create a trip that includes enough planning to ensure I don’t go off the rails but leaves plenty of opportunity to wander freely.
A Balancing Act
It's a difficult balance. Solo road tripping means being on alert all the time, dependent on yourself and your preparation, eyes open, ready for whatever comes. Almost all of the time it’s filled with good stuff. But it’s exhausting, and you have to take breaks if you’re on the road for any length of time. For me that means making meaningful stops roughly every 10 days max.
I’ve discovered that stopping where I can spend time with a friend who knows me well is vital to my mental well-being, and provides necessary opportunity to refresh, replenish, and basically get my act together again!
The Perfect Pauses
On this most recent trip, I built in two such destinations. The first, a return visit to my friend Erin’s family cabin in the Bighorns high above Sheridan, Wyoming. Just the two of us (and of course Lexi the Golden), with plenty of time to rest and recover from days on the road. We hiked, cooked some great meals, spent time in downtown Sheridan, and I had the great privilege of doing two book signings while I was there. I did laundry, restocked my food, and planned out the next leg of my trip. When I got back on the road, I felt refreshed, well rested, and eager to go. It was the perfect pause.
Check out my recent vlog, TePee Ranch in the Bighorns
For more on the beauty of the Bighorns and Erin's TePee cabin community (and the horses!), check out the post, Old Friends in New Places, from my former blog, Just Being Bing.
On to Colorado
A few weeks later, I arrived in Breckenridge, Colorado for an entirely different break, as my college friends flew in from across the east coast to enjoy five days with our friend Jane, owner of @janeslodges.com, who so graciously provided one of her spectacular rental lodges for us to enjoy together.
A beautiful location, the best of friends, great weather, plenty of food and drink, and enough hard laughter to hold me over until the next time we meet.
These stops are soul-fillers. Mental recovery and rest is absolutely as important as the physical kind. It’s fuel for a tired body and mind. And more fun than I can possibly share in words!
Solo, But With Support
Creating a “solo support system” has proven to be a vital part of seeking wonder, freedom, and peace on the road. I solo road trip for all the joys of freely exploring on my own, master of all my decisions. I deliberately build in time to rest with people who know me well for the emotional and mental joy that rejuvenates me so I can head back out on the road, restored again and ready to once again seek wonder around the bend.
Daily vlogs of my five week road trip, the Summer of Wonder, can be found on my YouTube Channel, WonderBing Travel. Be sure to like and subscribe. It helps my little business, and you won’t miss any future travels!
Want to know more about how you can get started on your first solo road trip? Here are two great options!
- Grab “Going Solo”, my FREE roadmap to begin creating your own transformational journey. Get it HERE.
- Get a copy of There’s Wonder Around the Bend: An Inspiring Guide to Solo Road Tripping Available HERE on Kindle, in paperback and hard cover.
For more information about Bing, check out her author page HERE.
