First and most important, I plan on doing laundry because I will be able to, and as a clean freak traveling with dirty clothes bothers me.
I have slept in my van in the past, as a potter doing shows. No where to shower, no bathroom, risk of being arrested for vagrancy, or for just sleeping in a creepy white van does not appeal on this trip. The money spent to spend a night or two there is more than made up for in that I don't spend anything on gas at home. As I said, there are cheaper hotels than the one I chose.
The purpose of this thread is to share a thing I do fairly often. The particulars and the destination changes, but for many car free living in the heart o the US without busses, car rental, or trains is not effortless. There are so many people who would find this goofy that I usually don't tell people how I got where I am. This is an easy trip. Sometimes traveling to a nearby city that my friends can make it to in a few hours involves camping overnight. There are several others here I think who do this. Car free is not a religion to me, but it does make me feel empowered beyond the constraints of how we are expected to travel.