Stanislav, 40, and his wife have driven 500 miles from Vologda and are breaking their journey at a B&B on the Russian side, giving them more time to load the car with meat, cheese, coffee and jar after jar of trout roe caviar.
You can change planes in Dallas and fly to El Paso, then drive for three hours; or you can fly to Austin – infinitely more fun – and drive for seven, breaking the journey at Lum's gas station and barbecue to eat a pulled pork sandwich that's as charcoal-infused as sucking on a briquette, and to marvel at the monthly rates advertised by dodgy motels that you wouldn't want to spend 10 minutes in.
The €12 ticket is valid for two days, and you can break your journey at any stop en route.
As the name suggests, you can break your journey at plenty of places along the way.
Those who venture upriver on their own will probably break their journey at the main towns.
When the water level is too low there are no fish, so there is no food for the migrating birds that usually break their journey at Poyang.
Quite a few travellers also break the journey at San Pedro Sula, the economic engine room of Honduras and an interesting place to pause for a couple of days.
When returning to his home in the north, the king broke his journey at Abydos to worship Osiris and to arrange for the resumption of work on the great temple founded there by his father, which had been interrupted by the old king's death.
He began the trip on July 28, and broke the journey at his daughter Mary's farm near Elizabethton, where his daughter Martha was also staying.
A few companies rent motorhomes (list at rvlinks.com) and drivers can break long journeys at free petrol station truck stops, which usually have showers, Wi-Fi and restaurants.
Break your journey at least once along the way in Yekaterinburg, Irkutsk (for Lake Baikal) or Ulaanbaatar.
