Cheapest Hotel

The most expensive part of travel is usually the over night accommodations. We'd all like to stay at the 5 star resorts, but the budget won't allow it. To travel less expensively, you stay at Super 8 or Motel 6. Is money really tight? Then you'll be rolling into the KOA's.

But what if you've decided to see the whole country in 2 months for $150?

The first night of our hitchhiking adventure, Chuck and I slept under a juniper tree outside of Flagstaff, AZ. It was far enough away from the road to not be seen by traffic, and since we had no tent, the tree offered a little protection from the elements. We wanted to travel as light as possible and being 21 we figured we were tough enough to make do with just sleeping bags. By the next night we had only made it as far as Winslow, AZ and splurged on a box of granola bars before camping under a picnic table at a rest stop. Trust me, an April night in Arizona is not warm and we awoke feeling a little cranky about our adventure thus far.

But as our 3rd day warmed up our fortunes improved and we hit the jackpot when a quiet cowboy in a silver truck took us all the way to Oklahoma City. He was tired but couldn't stop for sleep so he picked us up to help him drive. It was dawn when Cowboy let us out and that's when we discovered the accommodations that we used for the rest of our time on the road. We were at a major interchange with several overpasses and men were emerging from the concrete. We couldn't see where they were coming from...it looked like they were just sinking through the road above. They were walking and sliding down to the road below. When the last of them left we climbed up and found this...


...about three feet of warm, safe, privacy. An they were located every few miles all over the country. No reservations required. Sure, there were drawbacks. Concrete is hard. Freeways are noisy. Trucks were rolling just inches over my face. But we loved the fact that they were everywhere and we would be completely hidden while up there. Even if drivers looked for us we couldn't be seen.

We questioned the safety of our shelter just once in Nashville when I was awakened by Chucks scream. I opened my eyes in time to watch him rolling down to the road below as he fought to stop his descent with a single arm coming out of the breathing hole of his mummy sleeping bag. I probably should have been more concerned but I was laughing so hard I couldn't even find my own bags zipper so I could go down and help him. He was bruised and scraped and sore for days but the memory of it still makes both of us laugh.

So there you go. If you are on an extreme budget, I've just tipped you off to the cheapest hotel I know of. 26 years have passed and I still look under the over passes nearly everyday to see who knows the secret.