Cross Country Road Trip
 

A few friends and I are planning to take a cross-country round-trip road trip at the end of June (after we graduate from high school). There will be three or four of us, all of whom drive. We're starting basically in NYC (but don't need to stay and see it or anything, we live next door). We want to go to the west coast and back without being super rushed in about 15 days or so. Is this possible? We're definitely willing to camp most nights, maybe sleep in the car if we have to. Here's a rough itinerary/list of places we might want to go; we know all of them won't fit, but we'd appreciate suggestions on how to fit a lot of them in.

-NYC -> Chicago - not stopping in between
-stay overnight in Chicago (this is a must)
-Chicago -> eventually end up at Mt. Rushmore (maybe stop somewhere in Minnesota in between?)
-Mt. Rushmore -> through Wyoming (Yellowstone if possible) -> San Francisco
Somewhere in the next two we'd like to fit in Yosemite and Death Valley. Yosemite's more important if we have to choose, but we would like to just drive through some of Death Valley.
-San Francisco -> Vegas (we don't have to spend a lot of time in Vegas, it's just to go)
-Vegas -> Grand Canyon/Four Corners (Grand Canyon a must)
-GC/4C -> Texas, probably Austin (we're not attached to Austin if another city's better, we'd just like to go to one Texas city)
-Texas -> New Orleans (another must)
From here it gets a little iffier. We'd like to get to Florida a little, even if it's just to drive through (one of us has never been). It could probably be missed if necessary, though. After that...
-Florida? -> Charleston
After Charleston we plan on just heading straight home to New York; we've seen most of the East Coast and figure we'll probably want to get home by then anyway.

Is this at all possible in 2 weeksish? We may be willing to extend it by a few days depending on work schedules, etc. What's missable from our list? Did we leave any must-sees out? Thanks for your help!

Consider dropping south out of Wyoming to Denver and driving I-70 west to Grand Junction. Excellent mountain scenery. You pass through Vail and drive alongside the Colorado River. Possible to catch a little snow in June. Moab has Arches and several parks in short distance. If you can stay a night in this area and see a bit, it's a great destination. Head south through Monument Valley on your way to Grand Canyon. Consider catching Las Vegas after GC, then either San Francisco followed by Yosemite or vice versa.

Make sure you at least drive by the Crazy Horse Monument when you're in South Dakota--it's not far and you can see it from the road. Also drive thru the local state park there for the animal loop--you don't ever have to leave the car. Yellowstone is absolutely incredible--make time for it if you can. In Wyoming on the way west to Yellowstone (and if you all are interested), I recommend checking out the museum in Cody for a little bit of everything--natural history, cowboy history, Indian artifacts, art, etc all in a modern museum--you can spend a little time there or a lot and still enjoy it. Jackson Hole and the Grand Tetons are south of Yellowstone--a great drive if you have time. Drive over the Hoover Dam betw Vegas and GC. Visit the western canyon to check out the walkway over the canyon. If you can route yourself thru Sedona, it's a great drive and the Pink Jeep tours are lots of fun. Sounds like a great trip wherever you go! I'm jealous!! Have fun!

Thanks so much stumpworks and Jo. We'll definitely consider everything you said when we're deciding where to go.

Anybody have any input on how long the trip would take? I forgot to mention it before, but I also don't think we can handle marathon drives, nor do we want to drive ourselves crazy racing around. None of us has much experience driving for very long stretches, although we'll certainly have more before June. Thanks!

I would add on a few days to your trip if you can so you'll have time to enjoy yourselves and not have to rush.

Yosemite is more on your way to San Francisco, and is absolutely beautiful. Death Valley will be really, really hot.

Vegas, for you all, will be pretty limited. You're not old enough to drink legally - unless you took a long time getting through high school :-D - and you won't be allowed in the casinos except to walk through.

Four Corners is basically a tourist trap, but it's fun for a few minutes. You could go there if you decide to head up to Moab or east to Mesa Verde National Park (ancient cliff dwellings).

Lee Ann

Have you checked Google Maps or any other source to find out how long the drives are between these cities? The West is BIG, and your comment about "marathon drives" concerns me, because some of these places are 14, 17 hours apart.

I thought about it a little bit, and here's one potential itinerary (keep in mind I haven't been to a lot of these places - it's just a rough draft). To get almost everything on your list in, I think you need more time, but seeing it written out might help you figure out what to cut. I also think some of these stops deserve more than one day (Chicago and San Francisco, for starters).

Day 1: NYC to Chicago. 12 hours.
Day 2: Chicago.
Day 3: Drive to Minneapolis (just picked this randomly). Overnight.
Day 4: Drive to and see Mount Rushmore.
Day 5: Drive to Yellowstone.
Day 6: Yellowstone.
Day 7: Drive to San Francisco.
Day 8: San Francisco.
Day 9: Drive to Las Vegas via Death Valley.
Day 10: Drive to and see Grand Canyon.
Day 11: Drive to Four Corners then stop somewhere in New Mexico for the night.
Day 12: Finish drive to Austin.
Day 13: Austin.
Day 14: Drive to New Orleans.
Day 15: New Orleans.
Day 16: Drive partway to Charleston, stopping in the Florida Panhandle overnight.
Day 17: Finish drive to Charleston.
Day 18: Charleston.
Day 19: Drive home.

I think you could pretty easily cut out Minneapolis and the Florida Panhandle. (Going anywhere else in Florida would take you a long time. Personally I think the Panhandle beaches are fine for a beach vacation, but nothing so exciting that I'd go out of my way to stay there on this trip. I'd just hit the beach in Charleston instead.) I'd also think about cutting out Las Vegas. The minimum gambling age is 21, and I'd do some research into the clubs' age limits. You could think about visiting LA on the way to the Grand Canyon instead.

Your trip would wear me out, but it's been ten years since I was a high school senior, so what do I know. :) I'd just think long and hard about the people you'll be spending LOTS of time in the car with, and figure out how to address gas and meal money, wear on the car, that sort of thing. And think about building in some stops longer than just one night so that you have a little time for recovering.

Lee Ann- Thanks for the reply. We weren't really planning on doing Vegas-y things, it just seemed like we should at least drive through while we're nearby. If it ends up being out of the way we'll probably skip it. We'll definitely look into Moab and Mesa Verde National Park, though. Thanks again!

You will figure out the itinerary - and probably change it along the way. Your parents are probably all having heart attacks over this trip (as the parent of adult kids just a little older than you) - but sounds like fun.

Some very practical tips. Make sure a couple of you have credit cards - even if they have to be on your parents' accounts for emergencies - like car repairs, jail bond (only kidding about that one I hope). If someone has or can borrow a GPS great - but also pick up a map or 2 because GPS things don't always work correctly in very rural areas or places with new road construction.

Make sure one of you has AAA for emergencies. I know you all have cell phones. Consider getting a toll transponder - while not useful for most of the trip, it will be helpful on the northeast portion. They are free from ezpassny website.

Discuss money ahead of time - who has how much, whether you will ever stop at hotels and who/how to pay. Discuss what you will do if weather makes it impossible to camp or truly uncomfortable to sleep in car. If any of you are under age 18 some hotels may refuse you a room.

Make sure the car runs OK, has all the insurance necessary. Bring proof of insurance - some states don't require it but some states thru which you will be travelling do. Try not to get stopped by cops for speeding or other offenses (including drugs or alcohol)- a group of teenagers in an out-of-state car could be very attractive to some cops - and nothing would ruin your trip more than to have to call Mommy or Daddy to bail you out of jail.

Have a great trip. You have many more years of travel ahead of you - it will be so easy to get sucked into the "we just have to stop there because we are so close" concept, especially in the west where everything is far apart. I have told both of my kids that if I have one regret it is that I did not take more adventures when I was younger.

On your way to Mt Rushmore, drive through Badlands NP. It is right off i 90 and will not add much to your trip. Do go to Yellowstone, there should be lots of baby elk and bison in June.

Buy a National Parks pass at your first park. It will let your car full into all of the parks for free and it looks like you will save money, and it is good for a year. Camp in those National Parks and do try to fit in Zion and Bryce after you leave Vegas. Zion is just 3 hrs up the road and Bryce is a couple past there.

Keep plenty of water and snacks in your car and fill up the gas tank before you get going in the west as it is a loooong way between some places you will be going.

The one thing about driving in the West is that while the distances are great, they are not traffic ridden, and the speed limits are high. Just an FYI.
If you do the drop down to Denver, then you will "sacrifice" Yellowstone. A day in the Tetons/Yellowstone is really not enough (nor 2-3 as a matter of fact), so you might save that for another time. Yosemite is just a treasure of a park, and you will be approaching it from the east and the Tioga Pass. The Sequoias are also on the western edge of Yosemite.
And while you are in the Dakotas, don't overlook the Badlands. Just incredibly interesting.
Have fun and be careful. The American West cannot be rivalled anywhere in the world.

Setting up and taking down camping equipment (not to mention the amount of room it takes up in the car) is just not fun on a nightly basis when you are tired from driving all day. That and the fact that the southern stops will all be too hot for tent camping or sleeping in the car. With four it would be cheaper and more convientent to stay in cheap motels. Check with a couple chains, say Hampton, Best Western, La Quinta to make sure you make the menimum rental age and plan to stay there. Most include breakfast which would be an additional savings.

You have gotten some great tips like the Parks Pass, cooler for drinks, AAA membership, to which I would add plan to set up and update a travel blog so all your families and friends can follow along.

Have a blast!

My first thought was to strongly suggest you reverse your route. Head south first, then west, then return via the northern tier. The weather may be marginally cooler in the south, but in the north/Rockies it will have had more time to warm up in the higher elevations.

But then my second thought was skip as much of the southeast as you can, otherwise I really don't feel you have enough time.

Coast-to-coast is around 50 driving hours, i.e. 5 days at 10 hours/day (not counting fuel, food, sleep, etc. breaks.) So if you have 15 days and plan to add the equivalent of another coast-to-coast drive on top of the straight line distances (i.e. northern and southern detours - up the west coast, down the east coast or vice versa) then I make it something like 150 hours total, in other words ten hours of driving per day for all fifteen days.

You won't see much besides the cars in front of you with that kind of schedule.

Add to that - and I know I'm showing my age as a parent of former teenagers - the propensity of teens to go to bed late and get up late, that means much of those 10 hours would have to be at night, which isn't especially safe, and which really takes away from sightseeing.

So I think your route needs some re-thinking. If it were me doing the planning, I'd roar out west as fast as you can in reason, then take your time on the way back. And I'd seriously consider planning a second trip to the southeast (Charleston, NOLA etc.) when you have more time and maybe when the weather's a bit cooler. Spring break?

Just for illustration on time and distance, here's a link to a X-country drive trip report I filed on Flyertalk a couple of years ago. Remember there's a big age gap - be kind to your elders. ;)

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...back-ford.html

Thanks so much for all the replies! I'll definitely pass the info along and see what everyone thinks.