lifestyle _ travel I For outlanders, a well-kept rental car, sufficient insurance coverage, a working mobile phone and a good map, as well as credit cards and some dollar bills to secure cash-flow are enough. In local supermarkets, one can get a regular supply of water, fresh fruit and chopped veggies. In some states, one might be lucky to find on-theroad selling stations of local produce. With most rentals nowadays, you get access to hundreds of digital radio stations that complete the road track with the perfect sound track. Jamie Jenson, author of Road Trip USA, offers a road trip blog and podcast at www.roadtripusa.com. Motels are available easily down the road; with the Days Inn as well as Jamestown being on the (more) pleasant side. However, their early nutrition consists mostly of a crime called Con- _Going green Nature parks in the States truly signify the gorgeousness of this country, and function as an oasis from civilization—no gigantomanic malls and no fast food restaurants disturb the scenic nature. A small entrance fee is valid for a couple days up to a week. Hotels or camping facilities offer a place to stay for the night. Being thrown into nature, one is to respect the speed limit in order not to hurt an animal. A 35-mile-speed limit in Skyline Drive explores Shenandoah National Park. Down the Appalachian Trail, the fog-covered mountains name the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and amaze visitors in the most popular park in the United States. Alligators, pythons and vultures come close in the Florida Everglades Park, and protection from mosquitoes is mandatory! tinental Breakfast. The Waffle House, for example, offers a more decent way to start the day and is open-all-night to savour fresh waffles with maple syrup, eggs’n’bacon and grits in enormous portion sizes. For a decent dinner, one should always ask for the best local diner on the way, and fast food branches offer a quick snack to go. The concept of Park and Ride is not compulsory in most cities. Most downtown areas are quite car-friendly, with most sights offering free parking or at rates for a couple of dollars per hour. Park and Ride is only mandatory in city molochs like New York. _Going Ivy American elite Ivy League Universities— Cornell, Pennsylvania University and Princeton —are always worth the trip, since their campuses blend in with the nature and offer an impressive architecture. University bookstores are tea’n’coffee havens to indulge in the oeuvres of university lecturers, for instance novelists Vladimir Nabokov in Cornell, Philip Roth at PennU, and Jeffrey Eugenides at Princeton. roots I 4 _ 2009 43