Planning for a 9 month road trip leads to many logistical questions - one of which is where to spend those 250+ nights? Brett and I have a several ideas on how to answer that question. The easiest solution is camping. We have all of the necessary gear: tent, sleeping bags, sleeping pads, etc.

However, I doubted my ability and willingness to spend two-thirds of a year sleeping on the ground. So, we investigated car-top campers (think VW bus). We saw this picture of one on a Subaru and decided that it wouldn’t look super odd. There are many options of car-top tents out there but my favorite is AutoHome’s Columbus. It has a comfy mattress according to reviews, the bedding can stay in place at all times, it is quick to open and crawl inside of to sleep, plus it is waterproof and has screens for airflow. We were nearly on the verge of ordering one in late February when we decided to wait. There are no dealers close to us - the closest being in Montana - so we decided that if by the time we arrived in Montana, I couldn’t handle sleeping on the ground anymore, then at that point, we would get one.

However since then, we have discovered the joys of our Subaru’s amazing spaciousness. Out of the blue one day, I laid the back seats down and laid inside - I fit! I was able to comfortably lay down inside the back of our station wagon. This new information, of course, led to a conversation about car camping. We would literally be camping in our car. With the back seat down, Brett and I can both comfortably sleep (so we think) in the rear end of the car.

So we have decided to have a mix of tent camping and car camping for our 250+ nights. At this point we do not have plans for a single hotel or motel along the way. We may have a few nights with friends or family, but the majority will be spent either in our cute little backpacking tent or in the back end of our Subaru, who we affectionately refer to as Sofi.