Cross country move from TX to NY. I need AR, KY & PA PRD'ers

[Gia the Punk Rock Chef]

So on April 1st, I will begin our move to Canadian border NY. I felt that there are so many PRD'ers, that someone would have some info for our travel.

To keep my sanity, I am only driving in 8 hour-ish increments. I drive a BIG HUGE truck and am pulling a 5'x8' trailer for the move. I'll leave early April first and head to LITTLE ROCK, AR first. From there the next morning to LOUISVILLE, KY then on to my friend's place in Charleroi, PA (45-ish minutes outside of Pittsburgh). From Pittsburgh we are driving up to meet the husband's grandmother in Buffalo, NY for lunch and then continuing on in to ALEXANDRIA BAY, NY in the Thousand Islands.

We had planned on sleeping in my truck since most places won't allow our cat and dog and finances in general. Yeah, I know a lot of you will caution us, but I carry weapons and have a husband that stays up all night that will watch the truck, we pretty much always do this anyhow. Can anyone tell us where the safer sides of town (in conjunction with our road trip), maybe an affordable place to crash out at or places for some cheap and easy good eats?

[freakbychoice]

I can't offer a place to stay, as I'm at school til May, but Charleroi, I think, is an ok area. If it's where I'm thinking, it's pretty much in the country, so you should be safe as long as you're smart about it. I'm not too familiar with the area, but Rostraver is a little further north, and I've gone there for shows at an ice rink, and we drove through all these back roads and whatnot. It's hella rainy here right now, so hopefully you'll have better weather for the drive.
There's probably a motel 8 or whatever around there that would be cheap.

[rainaraven]

check out koa campsites. i see there are some near little rock and louisville. the closests ones to pitt are little far, if you want to cut your trip to buffalo shorter the koa in mercer is about an hour & a half north but about 20 minutes or so off rt 79. but buffalo has some too. they are pretty safe from the two times i have heard. i think it was like 25 bucks a few years ago for a weeks' stay on a tent site and as far as i remember they are very pet friendly. http://koa.com/find-a-koa/#%7B%22map%22 ... A%22%7D%7D
of course if you dont want to spend any money most truck stops are still pretty safe near cities and towns anyway. if you do end up near mercer, pa let me know when. i work midnights so if you are there early enough i could swing down that way. if you arent vegan or vegetarian we have a great place for awesome chili dogs, i can pick some up and have dinner with you.
if you have a cap on your truck and the room to do it you can always just toss your mattress in the bed of it. and of course the best part is you will have your bed very accessible to be the first thing set up in your new home and pretty much made. just toss two spring-back sheets on the top & back over all of your bedding and you should be able to move it fairly easily.
AAA.com you can get a trip tik, they also have a phone ap.
http://ww2.aaa.com/scripts/WebObjects.d ... 1145110671
you should be able to map out where you can walk your pets too.
well good luck.

[Gia the Punk Rock Chef]

Thanks! I forgot about KOA.

My girlfriend pretty much has us taken care of in Charleroi/Pittsburgh and once we are in NY we are pretty much set. really the biggest things are the safest spots for lodging in Little Rock, AR and Louisville, KY and then from there any dining destinations we should try out before we get the Alexandria Bay, NY.

So far our only dining plans are:

Pittsburgh- The Original Primanti Bros.
Buffalo, NY- The Anchor bar (Home of the original Buffalo Wings)

Thanks for all of your help ladies, I will follow up.

[freakbychoice]

I don't know how much time you'll have in Pittsburgh, but Tom's Diner is also great!

[Gia the Punk Rock Chef]

I don't know how much time you'll have in Pittsburgh, but Tom's Diner is also great!

We are staying a couple days in the 'burgh. I can't drive all that and be expected to not want an assault rifle. j/k. We are taking a few days to relax and rejuvenate, besides, even though we will be walking the dog, I want to give the dog and cat a chance to stretch out and adjust as well. Thanks for the restaurant reference, I will definitely check that place out. I love pittsburgh. sigh.

[hell_kitten]

I live in Lexington, Ky and I'm not too super familiar with Louisville, but I am pretty sure Bean lives there so maybe you can ask her for some tips, but I don't know how often she's around.

[Gia the Punk Rock Chef]

Thanks for the suggestions ladies. I actually ended up remembering that I had a whole lot of rewards points I needed to cash in, so I used them to get us in to semi-swank hotels. It didn't cost me a dime! yay. So we'll be staying at Hilton hotels in Little Rock, AR, as well as Louisville, KY and then crashing at my girl's house in Pittsburgh before driving straight into our new residence.

Any travel tips for the area or places to visit or eat at?

[hell_kitten]

Thanks for the suggestions ladies. I actually ended up remembering that I had a whole lot of rewards points I needed to cash in, so I used them to get us in to semi-swank hotels. It didn't cost me a dime! yay. So we'll be staying at Hilton hotels in Little Rock, AR, as well as Louisville, KY and then crashing at my girl's house in Pittsburgh before driving straight into our new residence.

Any travel tips for the area or places to visit or eat at?

In Lousiville, there's Lynn's Paradise Cafe, it's tasty and it's decorated awesomely. Here's a link to their site-
http://www.lynnsparadisecafe.com/index.html
Also, check out urbanspoon for the different cities you'll be in, it's one of my favorite sites.
Edit- Also in Louisville is the Brown Hotel, it's where the Hot Brown was invented, if you haven't heard of a Hot Brown, it's kind of a Kentucky thing, made with turkey and bacon and toast and cheese sauce with a big Slice of tomato. It's pretty awesome. . . Here's a link the the Brown Hotel site as well, they have a couple of different restaurants and their menus are listed on the site-
http://www.brownhotel.com/