> > Anyone else have this experience in their early twenties?
>
> I so very much want to have this experience, but I have never had the means.

Hogwash, 'course you do.

For our anniversary weekend (July 4), Leen and I figured we'd take the truck and plow into upstate New York (via back roads in Vermont we didn't know, rather than the familiar Massachusetts highways) and mostly play by ear what we did. Staying in motels would get expensive fast, but we didn't do that. We bought a truck tent (a tent you set up in the bed of our Dodge Ram -- 8 1/2 feet long, plus another couple of feet because the tailgate stays down when the tent is set up over it. And we drove. We had no idea what campgrounds we would stay in. We only bought a New York state map the third of the four days. The cost of the tent was barely over one night in a decent hotel, and the cost of a spot in a campground is cheap, so the tent already paid for itself. The truck tent is *nice*, because it keeps you off the ground -- makes it easier to stay dry and level -- and fast to set up. But obviously if you don't have a truck, it won't do you any good. Any old tent will work. Camping at campgrounds isn't "real" camping.

What'd we end up doing? Toured Saratoga National Historical Park, where the turning point battle in the American Revolution was fought; went to a rodeo; roamed around a natural stone bridge and caves; bought a couple of unopened geodes and had them cut by a diamond saw (dramatic tagline of the guy that does that: "After 22 million years in a Mexican quarry, you folks are the first to see inside..."); climbed a wobbly fire tower on top of a (small) mountain; and just generally explored.

For food, we brought a big old cooler loaded with more food than we'd have eaten in two weeks. We ate from it when we felt like it, stopped at restaurants when we didn't.

In general, I don't do very well without a game plan, and I admit that the third evening was a little harrowing because we were concerned about finding a camp site in time, but I dealt with not having a plan because we did not have any goals to fulfill other than to find a place to sleep at night. It was wonderfully liberating not to be burdened with either. The fact that we wound up doing so many downright fascinating things doubled the blessing.

My advice to anybody that wants to do stuff like this: just do it. Take a day or two off next to a weekend, load up the car with food, blankets, and every comfort or amenity imaginable, and just drive.