USA Roadtrip, Summer 2016

oB1

I realize there are lots of threads on US road trips, but i wanted to start a fresh one and get some direct opinions.

I am planning a 3.5 week trip to the US in July of this year. We want to do a road trip. I have been to the US many times over the last 4 years, but this time i want to go and visit a lot of different places and see the wonders therein.

any overall recommendations ?

at a high level, we are thinking, fly to LAX, CA - spend a few days there and begin the trip up to Nevada (Vegas), maybe dip in to Utah and then back down through Arizona --> New Mexico --> Texas --> Louisiana --> Alabama --> Georgia and down in to Florida. We want to spent a good bit of time in Florida, eventually making it down to the Florida Keys for a few days.

any one done a similar trip before?

its hard to know what states to visit, as ideally id like to see them all, but we only have 3 weeks or so...

Any car hire & hotel / motel recommendations ?

thanks!

InTheTrees

MY first visit to the states when I was a kid with my parents we drove from SF to LA then to Las vegas, then up into Utah then through the rockies to Denver.

From Denver going east its not as interesting so we flew from Denver to the east coast.

InTheTrees

MY first visit to the states when I was a kid with my parents we drove from SF to LA then to Las vegas, then up into Utah then through the rockies to Denver.

From Denver going east its not as interesting so we flew from Denver to the east coast.

ArnoldJRimmer

That's a lot of driving you're planning. Looks like a really cool trip though

I did a road trip a couple of years ago that started in San Fran, took in Northern California, Vegas and Arizona. I'd highly recommend you drive through Yosemite, even stay there for a night if you can. Or alternatively, just take in Death Valley. Just make sure you have a sh!tload of water in the car.

In Utah, to be honest, I didn't think Monument Valley was worth the massive detour it takes to get there. The Grand Canyon is obviously a must, and Flagstaff is quite a nice town to stay in the old part of the town anyway

Haven't been to Texas, but have heard that Austin is great, and Dallas is to be avoided at all costs. New Orleans is a wonderful city and I haven't been to the other states you mentioned

Good luck!

RobertKK

Here is an alternative, a desert/mountain/national park/western tour, I plan on doing some of this next year.

Start in San Francisco, and here is a rough route - see Yosemite NP, head south along the coast to LA, maybe overnight in between.
From LA head to Death Valley NP, and take all the precautions necessary on route to Las Vegas.
From Las Vegas go to Arizona via the Hoover Dam which you can tour and make your way to Phoenix/Scottsdale, that general area.
From there head to Sedona and maybe take a tour with the pink Jeep tours to see off track scenery.
From Sedona head towards Flagstaff and maybe take in Meteor crater on route on your way to the Grand Canyon NP.
From the Grand Canyon head to Page on Lake Powell, see Antelope Canyon, maybe take a cruise on the lake next to Glen Canyon da, go see Monument valley.
From your base in Page you could then leave for Zion NP in Utah, do a bit of touring then and onto Bryce NP for an overnight stay.
Head north along scenic highway 12 to Capitol Reef NP, and overnight in Moab. Moab is the adventure capital of Utah, you can go for a jet boat ride on the Colorado river if you want.
From Moab you can visit Arches NP where there are over 2,000 rock arches, the most in the world.
Heading north towards Salt Lake City you can visit or pass by Canyonlands NP and maybe stop by at Dead Horse state park which overlooks Canyonlands.
From SLC you could go north to the Grand Tetons, and visit Jackson, a western town, can have a ride in those old horse drawn wagons to an evening dinner with music provided, take a river float on the Snake river and watch out for bears, elks, moose and other wildlife.
From there a short trip north to Yellowstone NP and enjoy all the volcanic features from geysers to bubbling mud pots to the prismatic spring and other volcanic features, take an evening or very early morning safari in the Lamar valley to see the bears, wolves, bison, moose, elk and what other wildlife is on offer. See the Waterfalls.
From there head east to Cody, the home town of Buffalo Bill, I think they have nightly rodeos there.
You would want to check the route to see if a stop is needed in between, but then you could head towards Rapid City in South Dakota, from there you can visit Mount Rushmore, the Crazy Horse Memorial, Badlands NP, Devils Tower that features in Close encounters of the third kind.

You could end it there and take a flight to Florida to do the Florida bit of the journey that you want to do, or you could continue on from Rapid City by heading east to Sioux falls.
Then from Sioux Fall to Chicago, and from Chicago fly to Florida.

I will be doing some of that next year as I will heading over for the solar eclipse that crosses the Grand Tetons.
You could shorten or lengthen the suggestion I provided if you find it is something you would like, it is a western/mountain/scenic/sights/with some wildlife thrown in type of suggestion I provided.

InTheTrees

oB1 wrote: »

any overall recommendations ?

Remember the heat. It can curtail what you do outside even more than rain or snow. And the desert is going to be blazing hot in July. And the South will be even worse. The humidity can be intense.

Just a thought.

RobertKK

InTheTrees wrote: »

Remember the heat. It can curtail what you do outside even more than rain or snow. And the desert is going to be blazing hot in July. And the South will be even worse. The humidity can be intense.

Just a thought.

I was looking at temperatures for mid August last year in Death Valley, they reached 50C on a number of days, which is :eek:

jme2010

First of all, forget that plan. No way in hell your getting that done in 3.5 weeks unless you only stop to sleep. You'll never get to let loose at night because every day you'll be up at the crack of dawn to drive.

I was planning route 66 last year over the same time period and wanted to see lots of museums and old towns etc, but my good friends from New York talked me out of it. Instead I flew from Chicago to Oklahoma and started there. (Half the original distance)

My first draft of my first day went like this O.K city to Albuquerque N.M (7hrs45min 541 Miles) ah no bother I thought. But as I dug deeper I was like 'oh i'd like to see that town, stop here for lunch, go to that museum, oh there's a canyon near Amarillo TX, oh a steak place, defo want to stop there. holy **** that would be 9pm and we're only in the pan handle of Texas.'

I made a ton of differnt drafts planning out on google maps and putting **** into exel with each date marked out carefully.

I would love to keep going and I can tell you as much as you need to know about a U.S road trip. But man is America big, it's huge, impossibly bigger than any scale on google maps will tell you. you want to drive across the whole continental US with Vegas detours and all. Sorry to burst your bubble but somethings gotta give in that plan.

jme2010

Just as pure perspective. I have my road trip this year in my head. We plan to go from New York to the Florida Keys and that's a monster drive and roughly half of what you want to do. Keep this thread updated though, I'd love to know what your final itinerary will be.

jme2010

RobertKK wrote: »

From Las Vegas go to Arizona via the Hoover Dam which you can tour and make your way to Phoenix/Scottsdale

Phoenix is very far south from the Hoover dam, then you want the chap to head back north?

RobertKK wrote: »

head towards Flagstaff and maybe take in Meteor crater on route on your way to the Grand Canyon NP.

Meteor crater is way off this route, no where near on your way to the Grand canyon.

oB1

Thanks all for input/suggestions/comments..

i would agree with what has been said with distance etc. we are in the early planning stages at the moment so all ideas are up in the air..

Kinda still thinking we'd fly in to LAX and end up in Miami by the end of it all and we want to spend the most of our time in Florida..

Rough Plan:

2 days in L.A.
1 day in San Fran
2 night/day in Vegas
1 day in Utah
1 day in NM
2 days in Texas
3 days drive time
rest of the time in Florida.. probably Orlando --> Mia --> Florida Keys

then back to MIA for flight home..

understand that we'd need to allow more time to stop and see things but the main plan would be to see some big things along the way but mainly make it to Florida to relax by the end of it all..

Kite Surf Brasil

I think you should really check out the heat problem. I have been there before and driven down to the Keys, its a really nice drive. This was the end of August. Once you step out of the car with air con you are soaked in sweat in mins. The keys is small and chilled place but not much to do in the day time.

oB1

Kite Surf Brasil wrote: »

I think you should really check out the heat problem. I have been there before and driven down to the Keys, its a really nice drive. This was the end of August. Once you step out of the car with air con you are soaked in sweat in mins. The keys is small and chilled place but not much to do in the day time.

Gotcha. Should have mentioned this in original post, i lived in Central Florida in 2013 so definitely aware of Humidity and the Heat - call me strange but i very much enjoyed the heat/humidity. By the time we hit the keys, all we will want to do is chill id say, so no worries there

jme2010

oB1 wrote: »

2 days in L.A.
1 day in San Fran
2 night/day in Vegas

I know I keep shooting down ideas but I'm trying to help you have a great trip.

Driving L.A to SF will take most of your day. So it would be more like 1 night in SF because the day is over.

All of a sudden it becomes more like this:

Day 1 & 2 in L.A
Day 3 is traveling. Night 3 in SF
Day 4 SF...

You'd prob want to spend an extra night before the trip to Vegas.
SF to Vegas is not an easy drive. You have to come all the way back down through Barstow. So that is a full day travel also.

So in all it's taken 5 days and you're only in Las Vegas the night of day 5.
Nothing wrong with that, but just letting you know the time scale.