Two Green Girls on the Road

The Long Haul Back to Atlanta

Use the handy map here to follow Mary Logan's path and view her favorite snapshots.

In my mind, a green trip is one in which you keep your impact as low as possible, support local economies and businesses, enjoy natural wonders, and learn about the people and the culture of your destination. On our cross-country road trip, Trish and I learned the most by taking a green pulse of the country from our meetings with green companies, city representatives, local businesses, gardens and more. We didn't have a hybrid--we drove a gas-guzzling Volvo--so we took other measures to stay green, like avoiding hotels and non-local food and keeping our budget under $25 a day. See more in our list below of things we'll take away from our trip, which includes our triumphant successes and our dismal mistakes.

1. The Volvo doesn't hypermile; rather it seems to hypomile with these techniques. Cruise control at 55 mph on properly inflated tires is the best way to get the most out of a conventional car, but we couldn't stand Mack trucks whizzing by us in the left lane, so we set it at 75 and vowed to find a way to take a hybrid next time.
2. Support Plug-in Partners--a national hybrid plug-in program sparked by initiatives in Austin, Texas, that we learned about from a city rep--and think about how green we'd be if we could get them to sponsor us for a trip next year.
3. Once you arrive in a destination, ditch the car. Take a bike, a walk or ride the bus--but try not to sit on it all afternoon to get to Santa Monica Beach like we did.
4. Offset. We went to Climate Trust and used their Carbon Counter to offset the two tons of carbon we just sent into the atmosphere. Trust me, the $24.32 was worth reducing our impact on the earth and our feelings of guilt.
5. Aside from a little gas-wasting and smog-producing, we were pretty earnest about staying green. We used reusable water bottles, coffee mugs and dinnerware. Bandannas served as napkins and cereal boxes as cutting boards. We also reused every single piece of clothing--sometimes twice.
6. Biofuels are taking over the world (we hope), from Willie Nelson's Texas to hip L.A. So is wind energy--check out those roadside turbines!
7. Our meals were not luxurious but were less wasteful than eating out. It's not just about the budget; it's about food and waste--fast food is convenient but neither delicious nor green. We didn't eat a single fast meal (unless you count that Dairy Queen Blizzard we had for dinner--twice), but tried to eat locally everywhere we went. In nearly every city, we picked up fresh, local fruits and vegetables, and along the way we made several stops at natural food markets for bread and crackers. Car-eating kept our drives efficient, if our shirt-fronts dirty.
8. When they build an Earthship home that looks a little more like a house and less like a dinosaur, I will buy one. It is OK if it is in Taos, New Mexico.
9. Though we proudly avoided takeout and bottled drinks, we might have had a Coca-Cola or two. Wal-Marts make for good disposal and recycling sites, as do San Franciscos and Berkeleys. Know where you can compost ahead of time--say, a friend's house or a community garden--before accumulating too many banana peels.
10. Staying under $25 a day for lodging, food and entertainment is a piece of cake, if you don't want to see a concert, shop for vintage clothes, ride horses all day, or have a birthday.
11. Do not get takeout from the Acapulco Mexican restaurant in Kerrville, Texas, unless you want enough polystyrene to pack a TV with. Do get their tacos.
12. The "Googley" mindset at Google emphasizes free thinking and creativity, and they devised wise green programs like the shuttle system from San Francisco to the headquarters in Mountain View, California. Patagonia's laidback, organically green corporate policies in Ventura had us so tickled we thought suggesting a no-shoes-needed policy at our places of business might put us on that same organic level.
13. Children in the San Francisco Bay area could likely out-know us in a food-source quiz, thanks to initiatives like Alice Waters's creation of the Edible Schoolyard in Berkeley and Mission Pie in San Francisco.
14. Stop and ask: What do you locals do around here? They always have good ideas--sometimes involving swimming holes or pizza shops with locally sourced ingredients--and they usually support local businesses or natural wonders only found there. Make many friends so you can crash with them on your next trip.
15. Colorado's water supply is threatened; therefore, drink local beer when possible.

Miles traveled: 6,062.4. Good gracious! About two-thirds the mileage Trish has driven in her car in two years.
Money spent on gas: About $1,000. Less than my monthly rent but more than booking a flight to Hawaii next week.
Cheapest gas: $3.45, Kentucky
Most ridiculously unaffordable gas: $4.59, California
Greenest moment: Stretching out in the Berkeley sun munching on green beans just plucked from the Edible Schoolyard
Least green moment: Every second spent in the Volvo, except when coasting downhill
Mood: We're preparing to pitch to the editors: the Pacific Northwest in a plug-in hybrid

© The Green Guide, 2008

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