Drivelapse USA – 2 Months, 12,225 miles Across the US and back
Travel Dates: August 8, 2011- September 30, 2011
Trip Time: 1 Month, 22 Days
Distance: 12,225 mi/19,674 km
States Visited: 33
Vehicle: 2009 Honda Civic Si
Avg. MPG: 30.89 MPG, $.0128/mi
Total Gallons: 394.41 Gal
Total Fuel Cost: $1,564.68, $28.45/Day
Total Approx. Trip Cost: $3,500
Top Played Songs: Eddie Veddier – Far Behind, Jason Aldean – Fly Over States
TRIP SUMMARY:
Even though I had taken some fairly large road trips before 2011, this is the one I had dreamt about my whole life. In August of 2011 I quit my job of three years, ended the lease on my apartment and set off on the road by myself. My goal was to see as many states, friends and family members as I could. All while making the first USA Cross-Country Drivelapse video.
The first leg of the USA road trip consisted of visiting some of the most popular beaches on the east coast including Virginia Beach, Myrtle Beach, Tybee Island and Jacksonville Beach. From Jacksonville, I headed west on I-10 into Louisiana. My first night of camping consisted of 89% humidity, so I was sweating bullets in my tent on top of my sleeping bag. Meanwhile, a bothersome raccoon stopped by repeatedly to loudly ransack the closed-lid trash nearby (he was successful). After Lousianna, I drove into Texas and my future city of Austin (The Music Capital Of The World). From there I headed into north Texas stopping at the second deepest canyon in the United States (Palo Duro Canyon). Before heading westbound I visited Cadillac Ranch and did some spray painting on the the upturned cadillacs dug into the ground there.
Continuing my USA road trip west on historic Route 66 (I-40) I traveled through New Mexico, Arizona and up to Las Vegas with some friends. After a night in Vegas, we continued through the Mojave desert and just short of Baker, California one of my tires went flat. Unfortunately there were no replacements in my size in the small town of Baker so we had to empty my trunk, full of 2 months worth of supplies to get out the spare and drive down to Barstow. Even though it was 6PM on a Saturday we called ahead and one shop had my size tire and stayed open late for us (Thanks E & A Tires).
Making it from coast to coast in under a week on my USA road trip, it was a shock diving into the Pacific ocean to briskly cold temperatures as opposed to the almost too-warm temperatures of the east coast the week before. Speaking of beaches, my favorite one of the trip was Venice Beach. There was something for everyone there: street performers, beach goers, artists, skateboarders and even snowboarders were having a trick contest on artificial snow the day I was there. After a couple days in LA and a tune-up and oil change (Thanks Affordable Care of Hollywood) it was time to head north.
Heading up the California coast is easily one of the best drives in the country. The views are spectacular and drive is fun to make with many twists and turns. Upon reaching San Francisco, I made sure to drive over the Golden Gate Bridge (even though it was too foggy to see) and down Lombard St. After San Francisco, I caught an Indycar race at Sonoma and then procedeed towards Oregon.
Not long after arriving in Oregon, the state quickly became one of my favorite states on the trip. The lush forrests, great outdoor culture and scenic views were just a few of the many attractions to this state. I met up with my brother for this leg of the trip and we went and saw some amazing natural landmarks including Crater Lake and Mount Hood. If you like good beer, Oregon is a goldmine with cities such as Bend, Hood River and Portland boasting many different breweries (my favorite that we visited was Double Mountain Brewery). I spent more days in Portland than any other city on the trip. Portland has amazing restaurants, bars, lots of food trucks and a very unique culture and atmosphere.
Heading north into Washington held many points of interest from American culture during my USA road trip. We stopped at the house where they filmed “The Goonies” in Astoria, Oregon. We stopped in Aberdeen, Washington where Kurt Cobain grew up, saw his neighborhood and a park dedicated to him located on the muddy banks of the Wishkah. We also stopped for food in the town of Forks, Washington which has been made famous by the Twilight series even though none of the movies are actually filmed there. After rounding the Olympia National Forest we took a ferry into Seattle across the bay. We spent a couple days in Seattle exploring downtown, the fish market, checking out the space needle, museums and learning about the history of Seattle through Underground Tours.
I dropped off my brother at the Seattle airport and started heading back east. I went far north into Idaho, almost reaching Canada before coming back down into Montana and visiting Missoula. Missoula is an excellent small city to spend time in with numerous bars, restaurants and a different festival happening each day I was there. From Missoula I started to head south into Wyoming. On the way into Jackson I drove through Yellowstone National Park and got to see various wildlife including buffalo and moose along with incredible hot springs and geysers.
After seeing the Grand Tetons and spending a couple days in Jackson, I drove west briefly to see more of Idaho before heading south into Utah. I spent one night in Salt Lake City and then ventured east on a beautiful drive over to Park City, home of the Sundance film festival. From Park City, I proceeded into southern Utah and visited Arches National Park in Moab. From Utah, I headed east into Colorado and spent some time mountain biking in and around Aspen, home of the Winter X-Games. After driving a car around the country for over a month and not being used to the high elevation, I couldn’t really keep up with my friend but at least the downhills were fun. After Aspen, I took an amazing drive through the Rockies over the Continental Divide, explored Vail and Breckenridge before visting another friend in Colorado Springs. I got up early the next morning and was the first one to drive to the summit of Pikes Peak. After leaving Pikes Peak I stopped in Fort Collins to see another friend and then began heading north.
I drove back into Wyoming briefly and then into Nebraska for a little bit before returning to South Dakota for the first time since 2009. I drove through some beautiful roads in the Black Hills, stopping in a couple old wild west towns including Keystone, Hill City and my favorite little town in South Dakota Rochford, home of the Moonshine Gulch Saloon. After eating dinner and talking to some other patrons and the wonderful staff, I headed into North Dakota for the night.
The next day I drove one of the longest days of the USA road trip. From North Dakota I traveled all the way through Minnesota, into Wisconsin for a bit before settling down in Iowa on the Mississippi River for the night. I followed the Yellowstone Trail as much as possible. I was previously unaware of it until I visited an automobile museum in Montana that had a display about it. It was the most popular route to cross the country long before Route 66 was developed.
I got up early the next day to meet a friend in Chicago to watch a football game and enjoy some deep dish pizza. I also got my oil changed for the second time and was helped by the friendly folks at HAAS (http://www.haaschicago.com/) with some bumper issues after fighting with rocks in Colorado. After leaving a rainy Chicago I headed to Cleveland and Buffalo to see more friends before completing the USA road trip on Rt. 20 then around the finger lakes to Ithaca and then back to Syracuse.
Featured on:
[…] Brian’s most recent drivelapse video. You can see more of his work, including his Instagram documentary of his trip, at his site […]
I was hoping to go on a road trip sometime next summer, I was wondering, how much did it cost you to do such an extensive trip? Mine will be alot shorter but I would still like to know the approximate cost
Overall, it was just under $4,000. $1,500 of it was gas and the rest was divided up between restaurants, food, drinks, campsite fees etc. If I was on a tighter budget I probably could have managed the same trip for closer to $3000.
yo, for your online vid on youtube, can you u put on the vid what states you are in as it is going through so we know where you are…. or even the city like sf, denver, etc in the corner of the screen…
I was thinking about doing that as part of the video, I might put up a guide in the description or use annotations like you suggested if I can. Thanks for the suggestion.
What an amazing journey, Brian. Thanks for sharing. What’s the song (artist and title) you used for your timelapse video? Can’t find it on Shazam or Soundhound.
Same request as most, just any indication of what city or state you are in at the time would be amazing.
your requests are now granted! turn on annotations and the state abbreviations are in the lower left corner, thanks for watching.
thanks for watching! The band is called “Waking Lights” from NJ and the song is called “The Sounds”
Very entertaining Brian! Great work. I saw several of my much loved previous “homes” ….made me homesick. 🙂 I’d love to do this on a roadtrip. What a great documentation.
Hi Brian,
What an amazing road trip! I was wondering how many photo’s in total your 60D took when it was mounted on the windshield?
Greetings from Belgium :o)
Brian – I am so inspired by your work. Woke of up at 4am and checked the Drudge Report to find your Timelapse Project. 2 hours now looking at all the things I find from your work ….. and i haven’t begun to any more than just crack the surface. I love what you’re doing. Recently retired and so I have been shooting more and more – shocker last week – I have 158 gigabytes of photos and video on my MacbookPro – I realize now I must manage my output better – bought a new external hard drive.
Growing up in the Finger Lakes (Seneca Lake, Lodi) I became used to incredible panoramas of amazing imagery. I still own a house in Lodi and plan on living there full time eventually but I have a home in New Paltz too. From my Hudson Valley home I find wonderful shots of the GUNKS – Old Huguenot Street – and the Hudson River & Walkway Across the Hudson addicting venues.
The sun is now rising from the East over the Hudson again and I find myself wanting to tell the world about you and what I saw this morning. AND — SMILE – I find myself wanting to drive around and take more pictures on my own. That’s what I love most about retiring – I could just get in my car and drive around all day taking pictures if I wanted…… and more often than not – I do just that.
A footnote – a second obsession I’ve had since retiring is writing to soldiers overseas. i quickly ran out of interesting stories so I began a little newspaper I sent to them which I used to share pictures from the windows of my world. I took a couple weeks off from my writing #1 because my main 3 soldiers writing soldier buddies have been have just been redeployed back home (YEAH) and because I just shot a piece to showcase my Lodi neighbor’s Eagle Scout Project – The Abraham Covert Cemetery. God was good to me during my time filming in the Finger Lakes the last week of October – there was some absolutely gorgeous weather which made the bright orange fall foliage and views of the lakes pop like explosions of color. Here are a few of the photos from that time – http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2288058754568.2116032.1041906343&type=1&l=cc50d4e9ca
I look forward to following your journeys Brian!!! – Sincerely, Mark
[…] More details and a map of my America Roadtrip Timelapse Drivelapse Project can be found here: USA drivelapsetimelapse project […]
Thanks Amanda! Glad I could provide a little nostalgia for you 🙂
Hi Jimmy, Thanks! I’m not sure what the total amount was, but averaging 5 hours of driving time a day it’s probably somewhere around 200,000!
Hi Mark, thanks so much for the compliments and looking through my work! Good to hear from another upstate New Yorker!
If I can do what your doing by the time I retire, that would make me a happy camper! I’m the same way, one of my favorite things to do is just get in the car, try to get lost and take some photos along the way.
Very inspiring about the soldiers overseas by the way, I’m sure they look forward to that newspaper. Great shots on facebook too, beautiful area.
[…] Details at Brian’s website here: BrianDeFreescom […]
This was very enjoyable, Brian. What an inspiring trip, to run a circuit of much of the lower 48 states, instead of just driving straight across and back. Did you drive through Ft. Wayne, Indiana? I though I caught a glimpse of the botanical conservatory there, although I may be mistaken.
Greetings, Great work!! Could you share some of the technical aspects. ISO, shutter speed, aperture, white balance etc. How did you handle the changing appearances? Did you manually change the camera setting? Thanks again for the inspiration.
Andy
Outstanding. I’ve taken similar trips in the same style you describe: avoid the interstates, camp as you go. I could easily recognize some of the lonely highways you took, even 13 years after I took my first XC drive. A huge grin broke out when I saw you turn onto dirt roads. ‘atta boy. That first trip started and ended just 45 minutes south of your start. I know I’m going to watch this a few hundred times. Thanks, you’ve made my week.
[…] внештатный фотограф из штата Нью-Йорк Брайан Дефриз решил осуществить свою давнюю мечту проехать по […]
Thanks Bruce, I’m pretty sure I was north of Ft. Wayne in Michigan at that point in the trip, I was traveling along Rt. 20. Would like to back and visit Ft. Wayne and Indianapolis as well.
Hi Andy, Thanks! At the beginning of the trip I tried keeping the camera on manual as well the AV and TV settings. Unfortunately, the weather changes were too dynamic and it was impossible to drive and change the settings on the camera. I ended up using the automatic setting for the majority of the journey which for the most park worked well. I had to do some correction in post on some scenes to make up for over/under exposure but luckily the majority of it came out okay.
Matt, thanks so much for the kind words! That was the best part of the trip: staying off the interstates and traveling the old routes like Rt. 66 and The old Yellowstone Trail. The best camp spots were always the free ones on state land. There’s so much amazing sites out there that most people miss on the main roads.
Simplemente maravilloso….. muchas por tus videos ….. es como si uno estuviera soñando… Felicitaciones
Brian – Your work on this was interesting, engaging, entertaining and moving. 30 yrs ago I did a similar cross country trip – without the benefit of a digital camera. The images were imprinted in my imagination until you brought it all back to life. Thanks for the uplifting start to my day. Drudge Buzz! Can’t beat that. Your video reminds us all of the incredibly diverse geography, topogography and populace of this great nation. The music you chose was a superb match. Saw your credits to it in an answer to someone earlier. THIS is my idea of High Art. Keep it up. I’ll return to your website often and will be interested to know how and where the paths of life take you. Safe travels!
WOW! Great work. So what part was your favorite? =)
The thought occurred to me… how would it be to see our own lives from birth to death like this?? gives me goose bumps. Love the time lapse expertise you are sharing. =)
Thanks so much Jeff, glad I could bring that scenery back you! I agree, this country is so diverse and there are endless things to see. I appreciate the support!
Claudio, Muchas gracias señor!
Thanks Stacy! Now THAT would be an epic video! Hard to choose one favorite but the northwest was amazing. Visiting the house where they filmed the Goonies in Oregon and then going to Kurt Cobain’s neighborhood and the bridge where he used to write songs were two of the highlights of the trip.
[…] mas detalles del proyecto, pueden entrar aquí: http://briandefrees.com/featured/usa-drivelapsetimelapse-project/ Noticias Relacionadas :¿Crees que sabes usar Photoshop?Uniformes de Best BuyWhat if? Obama a la […]
[…] (All images courtesy of Brian DeFrees at briandefrees.com) […]
This work is absolutely amazing. Even I am planning traveling the entire west coast and Rockies. I will try doing something like this.
Awesome video man, I’m sure it was an amazing trip. I’d love to do something like this as well one day. I was curious, what was the mount you used for the windshield?
Thanks! I used the Delkin Fat Gecko suction cup mount:
http://www.amazon.com/Delkin-Devices-DDMOUNT-SUCTION-Knuckle-Suction/dp/B0023ZK2TY
[…] Freelance photographer Brian DeFrees took a two-month road trip across the United States and wanted to […]
Hey Brian,
Was just wondering how long it took for this road trip? I was thinking of doing something similar. And also, would be great to know hotels/motels/campsites that you stayed at!!
Awesome video…
Hi Paul,
I was on the road for 55 Days. I mostly stayed at campsites and friends and families houses. I can try to compile a list of the campsites I stayed at if you are interested. Thanks for watching!
This is an amazing video and time lapse. I especially liked the New England counties. I did a similar route last year on my Harley Sportster. Rode from VT to Sturgis, SD. Then south to Texarcanna before heading northeast back to VT. Been tracking my progress on the bike with state line photos, http://home.comcast.net/~johnschnupp/states/USA.htm. I have a route planned for a 48 state ride. Doing something like this with a camera clipped to the front fender of a motorcycle would be awesome. Any technical info would be great, especially software you use for editing the stills to video. I got a D60 earlier this year and am starting to explore the many doors that a DSLR opens. Keep up the great work.
Hi Brian, this is amazing and really inspiring. I shared it on http://www.ecstasya.com! All the best!
You use Honda Civic to road trip, how much cost to fill feul..
Brian – Super cool! I took my own cross country trip from GA up to MI then over to WA about 17 years ago – brought back lots of memories. Espescially the scenes in Wyoming, Montana and Washington. Also cool to see vids of you traveling through where I once lived and now live (Seattle, Portland and SF). Wish I had the time now to do what you did – thanks so much for sharing your experience! Made my morning, bro.
Awesome video…
John, thanks for your post. The map is awesome with all the different state welcome signs, thats one of the best parts of a roadtrip! I used Quicktime 7 to convert my stills into video. Would love to see your journey after you complete it.
Hi Peter, thanks for the share!!
Hi Eagad, about $1,500 for the 2 month trip.
Hi Sean, glad I could bring back some memories for you! Sounds like you had a pretty awesome trip. The West is just incredible! Thanks for your comment.
Thanks Cheryl!
Absolutely amazing…glad you went through Missoula (and hiked the M!) and Yellowstone. Hope more of your work will be seen worldwide, you truly deserve the recognition.