You think you can do what I do?

As far as my associates know, I've spent the last three weeks traveling cross-country on the Oregon Trail, in search of a new life in the off-world colonies. And not, as might also be supposed, living in my car and working out of a studio somewhere in West Virginia, Photoshopping myself into various national monuments and writing inane blog posts about beer and cheap motels.

Without confirming or denying these allegations on either side, if this sort of adventure appeals to you, here's a brief guide to your options in how to get from point A to point B when those points are over 3000 miles apart.

1. Decide the nature of your trip. This will by necessity be the product of your circumstances, to some extent. For instance, if you have a full-time 'job,' three weeks of vacation may not be feasible. If your employment is flexible, you may choose as I did to work 'from the road.' If you have sufficient liquid capital saved, you may choose to forgo employment and treat your 'slow travel adventure' as a vacation.

Be advised that the most economical way to relocate yourself and your belongings is undoubtedly to liquidate as many of your possessions as feasible and fly. You will soon realize that to purchase a physical object is not only to buy the object, but also to pay to get it to your home, to pay for the space to store it (as a fraction of your lease or mortgage), to pay to maintain, insure, and protect it, and to pay to relocate it if you move.

If you are not concerned with economy, or if you are attached to possessions, you can drive. A car can hold much more densely packed smaller objects than you would think, and it is only items of extreme dimensional weight (mattresses, large/assembled furniture, etc.) which pose an issue. I cannot recommend non-weatherproof roof storage unless you can exert control over the weather or are prepared to frequently install and remove it.

Your cost of living will increase on the road by a factor of maybe threefold, which is important to bear in mind. Unless you increase your income threefold and still to make progress, you will lose money doing this. Undeterred? Read on.