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:
Thank you very much Arie!
[…] no site do Brian têm umas fotos e um material extra da viagem. Cola […]
[…] is one of the most amazing photo projects I have ever seen: A 5-minute video of a series of time-lapse photos taken on a 12,225-mile trip around the United […]
Hi Brian,
I just contacted you via youtube about this. My friends know that I have a dream about a tour like this so they informed me about your video. Anyway, great adventure, I’m so jellaous. All the best from Bosnia, if you ever decide to tour Europe, lunch is waiting 4 u…;)
Hi Bojan, Thanks for contacting me. I hope you get to take your own adventure someday, it’s an amazing experience. I’ll definitely take you up on lunch when I tour Europe!
Hi Brian,
First of all, amazing video! I’m doing a similar trip in April – July and it’s great to see so many of the places.
Secondly, is this a continuous time lapse or have you edited out the more boring bits? 5 minutes seems quite short for such a long distance!
Cheers,
Ben
Hi Ben, Thanks! Yea there was definitely A LOT that was removed, I was thinking about making it continuous in the beginning, but even at 2000% increase some areas were still too boring or the roads were too curvy to speed it and make it look right. Have fun on your trip!
[…] cool. I’m a sucker for time lapse film projects. This one is from freelance photographer Brian DeFrees. He took a two month road trip across America, starting in his hometown of Syracuse, NY, with his […]
loved your video! i’m going on a road trip to seattle in the spring and wanted to do something like this. i was wondering what tripod you used to hang your camera from. did you make it yourself or is it available in stores somewhere? thanks, and great job on the video!
Hi Reghan, Thanks! This is the mount I used for my camera:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/610980-REG/Delkin_Devices_DDMOUNT_SUCTION_Fat_Gecko_Dual_Suction_Camera.html
Good luck on your trip!
[…] jetzt immer noch nicht genug hat: auf der Website gibts noch mehr Fotos, mit iphone Apps gemacht. […]
[…] DeFrees drove 12K miles between August and October of this year and compiled all the images into a 5-minute timelapse video of the drive. I really, really wish I had done something like this for my sister’s and my trip from Baton […]
Nice job! I hope to make such an outstanding journey someday as well 🙂
Thanks, good luck on your future journey!
Hi Brian thank for this awesome video. I would like to know what kind of software did you use for your video? Last year I went to Prince Edward Island from Montréal and the distance was approximately 3150 km and I filmed all my journey but I don’t know what can I use for my videos 🙁
[…] “ Brian DeFrees passou dois meses entre agosto e outubro deste ano dirigindo em seu carro pelo Estados Unidos em uma viagem 12,225 quilômetros de extensão. Ele capturou uma foto a cada 5 segundos usando um intervalometer com sua Canon 60D. O resultado é este épico. […]
Hi Sleeman, thanks for watching. I used Quicktime 7 to convert all my photos from image sequences into videos. Then once they were videos I used Final Cut Pro X to edit both timelapse videos. If you have a mac, FCPX is a pretty good tool for this type of editing, or if you’re on a budget iMovie would work too.
[…] Brian DeFrees ist 2 Monate lang mit seinem Auto durch die USA gereist und hat dabei alle 5 Sek. ein Foto mit seiner Canon 60D gemacht. Heraus gekommen ist dieses fabelhafte TimeLpase Video. […]
[…] Journey: Across the U.S. in five minutes By admin on Dec 02, 2011 in Video Brian DeFrees invested two months between August and October this year driving a large loop across the United […]
[…] Brian DeFrees drove around the United States, then compressed his journey into a five-minute video. This gives me the urge to pack the kids into the car, pour coffee for Lucy and I, and go. […]
[…] Gigantisch mega tolles Video von Brian DeFrees: […]
[…] http://briandefrees.com/featured/usa-drivelapsetimelapse-project/ […]
These are so awesome! I am totally inspired by your time lapse videos & photos. I’ve always carried a point & shoot on me and had a love of shooting pics, but I am new to the DSLR world and am going to be learning how to use it on my upcoming travels.
Thanks Mikki! I actually use my iPhone the most these days, once I get some nice lenses I’ll probably start using my DSLR’s more.
WOW is all i can say. How many days was your trip? We did a 40 day 13,000 mile cross county road trip this past summer with our 4 kids. Never thought to do anything like this..My wife is yelling that this was a great idea and we should have done something like this.LOL. Truly amazing pictures and videos.. We have a shorter 3 week road trip this summer so maybe just maybe we will try something like this..
Hi Joe, Thanks! The trip was about 55 days long. You should listen to your wife because she is always right…right? 🙂 Definitely give it a shot and see how it comes out, I could do the same trip again and come up with a totally different video based on weather, traffic and other factors, you never know what you will see!
[…] Artist: http://briandefrees.com/featured/usa-drivelapsetimelapse-project/ […]
Did you only use one camera the entire trip? I am hoping to do something like this in the coming summer months and only have a t2i. I am afraid that all the pictures may wear the camera out. What were your favorite places off of the road? I am trying to do more of the places and some of driving for the video. Great job and thanks for sharing!
-Paul
Thanks for watching Paul. I did only use one camera, the Canon 60D. I was worried about the same thing but didn’t want to bring my 7D along incase if something happened, luckily the 60D held up just fine and still works perfectly. Some of my favorite places off the road were Portland Oregon, I stayed there the longest out of any place on my trip. Another was Moab Utah, there two great national parks right outside the town. Anywhere on Highway in California is also a beautiful sight.
Nice, Very nice!!!! How did you shutter survive??????
Thanks!! Canon’s are built like Tanks 🙂
Brian, thanx for your inspiring work. It maked me buy a new camera and try it my self 😀
http://youtu.be/aYZDz1pZisE
Thanks Stevie! Glad I inspired you, that time-lapse looks great!!
Hi Brian! All of this is so inspiring. My friends and I are considering doing a similar circuit trip, and I just wondered if you camped the whole way around or if you stayed at any hotels/motels/hostels/friends places etc.?
Hi Reanne, awesome to hear you are considering a similar trip. to answer your question, all of the above! I camped the majority of the time because it was cheapest and sometimes completely free. Staying with friends and family was my second most frequented accommodations, and part of the reason for the trip, it was fun seeing people you haven’t seen in years. Hostels were the third most frequented accommodation since they the cheapest option when you are staying in a city for the night. The only time I stayed in Hotels was when I met up with groups of friends along the way and we all split a room. There’s also your backup option of sleeping in your car, which luckily I only had to do twice on my trip!
Very cool video Brian. You missed two great states though. You should of went through Florida, because it’s so amazing down there. And you should of went on I-94 through my state of Michigan. I noticed you took the I80/90 Toll Road, which is just south of my house. Plus, I couldn’t imagine being gone for that many days from home. Again, great video.
Thanks John. Yea Unfortunately I only visited Jacksonville on this trip but I have been to Orlando and Daytona multiple times, would love to go to Key West and Miami someday. Definitely want to go back to Michigan as well since I just passed through the bottom of it, I heard Ann Arbor is a cool place. It was a fairly long trip, but it went by too fast! I’m going to allot 3 months the next time I do it.
Terrific stuff! Really enjoyed it. What app did you use for your stills and what filter for the vibrant colors?
Thanks Phil! The 2 apps I used the most too achieve those colors are “Camera +” and “Pro HDR”. I think they are both only $1-$2 and definitely worth it!
I can’t stop watching this video. It has got me thinking about making a trip of my own. I live in Michigan and there are so many things and places to see right here in this state. Might make a road trip around Michigan this spring.
I was wondering what mounts you used to mount your camera to the windshield. I shoot with the 7D and 30D, both with the battery packs on them. Worried with the extra weight that I might not be able to find something that can hold them.
Hi Ryan, cool to hear you might be making a trip of your own! I was only briefly in Michigan on my trip and would like to go back and explore it some more. I used the Delkin Fat Gecko Mount: http://www.amazon.com/Delkin-Devices-DDMOUNT-SUCTION-Knuckle-Suction/dp/B0023ZK2TY. I have used it several times with a battery mount as well and for the most part was successful if the temperature didn’t fluctuate too much.
Brian – as they say here in Australia – you’re a bloody legend mate! Looks like an EPIC trip. Thanks for taking us on this journey through the time lapse. I’ve been looking for a way to mount my EOS 50D in my car and now you’ve given me a solution! thank you! I’ve also started a Sydney time-lapse project (very early days)… check it out at http://aprojectcalled24.com and let me know what you think. I’m going to publish this link there as well. Cheers!
Hi Brian,
I didn’t read all of the previous comments so I don’t know if you’ve covered this already. I’m wondering how big your sd card was to fit each day’s photos? Or did you stop and switch out a new one when it got full, or upload to your laptop and start over? I only have an 8gb so I don’t think that will work too well..Our trip is going to be about 1900 miles over five days.I also don’t want to use my dslr because I want it available to take other photos along the way..dilemma. I wonder if there is anyplace that rents cameras..
Nitin – Thanks so much for the comment! Checked out your project and LOVE the concept, looks like you are off to a great start. Sydney is pretty high on my list of cities to visit, I’ve heard great things! Looking forward to seeing what you come up with (I subscribed). Good Luck!
Hi Laurana, haha yea that’s a lot of comments to browse through. To answer your question, I had several 16GB main cards and 8GB/4GB backup cards. For the beginning of the journey I just swapped out cards and waited to backup until I got to my destination. But with frequent days of camping I started to run out of cards and began backing up in my car with my laptop and external hard drives since it takes awhile. I know what you mean about saving your DSLR for photos… I actually ended up using my iPhone for all my photos since I needed my DSLR for the project. I would definitely grab a couple more SD cards if you can and if you need a camera this site has decent rates: http://www.borrowlenses.com/
[…] More details and a map of the cross country America Roadtrip Timelapse Drivelapse Project can be found here: briandefrees.com/featured/usa-drivelapsetimelapse-project […]
hi Brian!
Great job!
I enjoyed the drive lapse video very much!. It’s fantastic! I intend to do a similar work next month when visiting the Rocky National ParK. Would you please show me how to set up the camera (i have an Canon XSI) and especially can you tell me what do you use for for D60 power source? The battery won’t last longer for 400 exposures… So, what is your solution? Thank you! Luke.
Hi Luke, thank you very much! Check the photos and the links for the equipment I used in the post above. They should help you make your own setup. As far as a power support I would either get a battery grip or a car adapter like this one: http://www.amazon.com/Lithium-Ion-Battery-Charger-Adapter-Digital/dp/B0023VWZ5C
Thanks, Brian!. Keep up with your good work…
Have a nice weekend!
Hey Brian! I know it’s been a while since anyone commented on this but me and some friends have a few questions.
First of all, how much were those campsites, on average?
Also, do you think it would be manageable for four people to go on a 7,000 mile loop for $4,000? Me and my friends are planning a senior trip for 2014 and starting early. We don’t want to sleep in a car but we also lack money for hotels (plus the 21 age limit doesn’t help much) so we need to do this as cheap as possible. If you have any suggestions, we’re all ears!
Michael.