Try a Coin Flip Trip!

What's that, you say? Well, let me tell you!

It's about the most fun trip we've had in a while! We drove down roads we'd never been on, saw towns and landscape we hadn't seen and even found a place to eat that we'd never eaten at before. It was a great day and my son, who's a typical teenager when it comes to hanging out with mom, even enjoyed it!

Just what is a Coin Flip Trip?

It's honestly just about the way it sounds. You flip a coin to decide which way you go at intersections. There are some tricks to make the trip worthwhile, so you don't get stuck driving in circles around your neighborhood.

Get a GPS App

First, you want a GPS app that will track your trip. I found a great one that tracks the trip from start to finish, the mileage, the time moving and even the elevation as it changes. In Iowa, we have a lot of bluffs (big hills) and it's nice to know how far up or down we go.

The app I chose is Track My Trip and, while it's only available on Android, I was pleasantly surprised with the ease of use and multiple functions in it. There's the option to track in imperial or metric units for road trips and even nautical units for seafaring folk. You have an option to connect it to your Google Drive to save trip data and export in many formats via email, chat or directly to Facebook.

If you have an Apple device, I'd try out Track My Tour. It appears to be comparable to the app I used for our Coin Flip Trip! Though I can't offer you details about it, it does have high reviews from users.

Coin Flip App

I always have coins in the center console of my truck and car, but I know some people don't and need a different way to flip a coin. I also wanted to test out an app for this, so I downloaded CoinFlip (Android and Apple apps available).

I haven't played around with it much more than just flipping the penny it starts with, but you can change the coin, decide how to make it flip, how it flips (up or down) and whether it makes sound or vibrates. I didn't need anything more than it to flip and give us heads or tails.

Dice Roll App

This is the key to getting out of town or your neighborhood. Roll the dice and that's how many intersections you pass before turning. I mean, who wants to just end up going left around the block. We want to have some fun with this trip, so the dice roll helps

The app I chose for this is simply called Dice, also on Android and Apple. There are, of course, options to pay for better dice or more dice. We used the d20 in the free part and were good with that. We could have probably used a d6 instead, but it made for a fun day and us wishing for paved roads a few times. More on that to come.

How we did our Coin Flip Trip

We started out with a plan. I have a nice truck and I knew we would end up on gravel a lot, in our area, if I didn't lay out some ground rules.

First, no gravel roads. They just didn't count. I don't mind traveling gravel at times and we did it a lot when I was younger, but my truck just got redone at the body shop and I wasn't wanting to subject it to dings from the gravel.

Second, no dead end roads. They're just plain no fun.

Third, we decided that we would make a decision by voting if we couldn't continue on to the number of streets we rolled, due to terrain or roads ending before we reached that number.

So, we set out by first flipping a coin on which way we'd go on the interstate through town. My son chose what each side stood for each time we flipped. Heads was North, so we headed north. They I rolled the die. 7 for seven exits and off we went.

And that's how our day continued. We went down roads we'd never been on before, saw towns we hadn't seen and found a campground that we'll definitely be going back to in the future.

Here's our trip map:

And the data the app shares when sent via email (along with the above map and elevation/speed table):

Created: 3/28/21 9:06 AM
Departure: 3/28/21 9:06 AM
Arrival: 3/28/21 2:56 PM
Duration: 05:49:29
Moving: 05:49:26
Distance: 231.08 mi
Max. Speed: 77.93 mph
Avg. Speed: 39.68 mph
Minimum Elevation: 608.91 ft
Maximum Elevation: 1,133.41 ft
Elevation Gain: 6,961.9 ft
Elevation Loss: -6,926.4 ft

We saw the Tin Man and a monster truck on stilts (lol) on our trip today:

I think the best find was the Skip-A-Way Resort and Campground in Clermont, Iowa. We never would have been out that way, had we not decided on this type of trip today. We will definitely be back. I failed miserably on pictures on this trip, but here's one from before Covid of the lodge.

The Quarry Lodge is their restaurant and we ate lunch there. Geno got a ONE POUND burger and COULDN'T finish it! I was flabbergasted because this man hasn't had a burger he couldn't finish until today!

I had the BLT, Damien had a bacon cheeseburger and we got an appetizer sampler called The Tackle Box! It had chicken bites, cheese balls, onion rings, breaded mushrooms and broccoli cheese bites on it. It was great and very affordable. The business wasn't busy, off season still, and we were happy about that.

Now, it's your turn! Use this Coin Flip Trip printable to keep track of everything from the sights you see, where you eat, what you want to see again, your trip rules and who goes!

Where will you go?

We will definitely be doing another Coin Flip Trip soon! This time, I think we'll hope for the West side of the state or maybe going South a bit.

Where will you end up on your own Coin Flip Trip? What rules will you make for yours?

Share your trips with me! I love to see new sights and adventures!