Road Trip Work
 

Hey guys. Forgive me if this has been covered, but I can't find it.

I've been fantasizing about my Ultimate Road Trip again which has turned into me just drifting around the country aimlessly in a van, only less creepy than it sounds. I'll be trying to Couchsurf in all 50 states as well as try to see all the fancy roadside attractions.

My question is what suggestions would you guys have for making a bit of money to stretch the pocketbook a bit farther? Payment in lodging won't help as much since when I don't have a Couchsurfing host I'll be sleeping in the small house I make for myself in the back of the van (I'm like a hermit crab). Though I do plan to work in hostels and WWOOF it up. My normal field of work is in IT, but just help desk, nothing I could really do from the road like programming or web design. So far I have:

-Hostels (They do pay a bit along with the room, right?)
-Busking with my harmonica
-Washing dishes (Read the story of Dishwasher Pete in the book Dishwasher! Wonderful travel book)
-Cook (I'm also an experienced line cook)
-I've thought about making my own street vendor stand to sell some kind of foodstuff, possibly freshly made quesadillas (my speciality) if possible.

I'll also try to defray some of the cost of gas by doing craigslist rideshares and giving rides to other travelers I meet in hostels.

Any more ideas?

Sorry, totally missed this, although personally I have no experience in the States (just yet!) But I do think your ideas are pretty cool.

As for hostels paying, im not so sure. Ive only found hostels will give you a bed for free, and maybe a free t shirt, but not actually paying money.

Ive heard some great things about Coushsurfing, so thats a definite.

Im sure you will be able to find odd jobs/casual work wherever you go. Sorry that im not alot of help, im sure other tpunks will come along with some ideas.

p.s When are you starting this? I would love some info as you go along, as I will be in america for 2 months starting april.

When I was living in Seattle I lived next to a guy that did a work trade. Basicly travelers would come and do work (lawn mowing, cleaning, etc) and then he would pay them in cash or gas for their car. Thats something to looks at.

Im not sure how you would find something like that. There might be a registry somewhere on then net for everyone that does that.

Unfortunately I won't be doing this for a while, at least a year (I'm currently calling it 2010: A Vagrant Odyssey). I have some debt I need to buckle down and pay off, then save up for the van.

I've been out of the loop for a while, has Amtrekker been mentioned much around here? Wonderfully inspiring and fun site. I really want to try to do something similar to track myself and make a bit of money to go stay the course (he makes a small amount off ads and donations).

And I just came up with a (possibly) great idea to make money: go to coffee shops or where ever people might be using their laptops and offer free tech support with a tip jar. Anything I don't know off the top of my head, well, that's what Google is there for. Maybe milk the Geek Squad image with a shirt and tie. Could be some decent cash in it.

you could check the odd jobs section of craigslist...for example, my mom just posted on there a while ago for someone to do our lawn for $40 so there are opportunities out there