I sleep behind the wheel in a 1980s army oversize mummy bag with the zipper down the middle, with a sheet or blankets inside of it depending on the situation.
The middle zipper makes it easy to stay warm and read or play music and think, I sleep at the wheel and when refreshed I turn the key and go, after getting in 2 hours of driving I stop and make coffee and cook some breakfast.
I’m a hard-charging driver and prefer to drive at night, so while I drive during the day, I also drive as long as I can at night which leads to little sleep, there is never a time when I feel like spending money to grab a few hours in a motel, and besides, I like to sleep in interesting places, like snowy mountain passes or at Mt. Rushmore if I am in that region, which I will go out of my way to find.
When I’m out and about the country, I’m looking for adventure, and getting lost in the wind is a goal, but even going from A to B in a hurried Interstate Highway cross-country drive I still just pull onto a side road to sleep.
For me, the car is a form of camping and I really enjoy the independence of being self-contained and alone with no one knowing where I am, or what I’m doing, seeing new areas, seeing only strangers, using laundrymats when needed.
I think it is the closest I can get to my years of drifting around by hitchhiking when casual work was easy to find and going to a bar just about guaranteed a girl and a place to shower for a few days and free beers from the pool table or arm-wrestling.
The pre-immigration America was a very interesting place and easy to move around in, if you want a sense of the pre-immigration America, read “A Walk Across America” by Peter Jenkins.
I read Jenkins’ book almost forty years ago. He started his trek with his dog, Cooper Half Malamute. who, unfortunately, came to an untimely end.
I used to be an avid hiker and backpacker, and I still enjoy walking and doing some trekking. But the years have caught up to me.
Many years ago I did a “bucket list” trip with some old home friends. We backpacked the Shenandoah section of the Appalachian Trail. It was worth all the blisters and cramps and soreness.