driving cross country
 

I am planning to drive cross country from Boston to San Diego. Any tips from those who have done this before?

Renew/buy AAA membership, get a great map and be comfortable reading it, buy a cooler and keep drinks/snacks in the car, and never let your gas tank get below 1/4 tank.

First.........

DO A SEARCH!

COUNTLESS people on this board have done similar road trips!

Type in TRIP REPORT and you will get numerous reports of cross country trips.

Then, if you can be more specific about what you'd like to do, there will be many here to help you.

But PLEASE. Do a SEARCH. Thank you!

I just finished planning a cross country drive next September from VA to San Diego for a ship's reunion. Your main consideration would be the time available for the trip. We will be gone twenty five to twenty eight days. I started with freetrip.com entering starting and finishing points to determine stayover stops up to nine hours apart. I also entered my price range for hotels along the way. After checking the hotels shown for rates etc, I entered the city in a search engine to see what other hotels were available in the area. If you plan on sightseeing along the way, contact the state tourism office of your choice and also watch this site for other ideas.

When do you plan to take this trip and how long do you expect to be gone? Do you plan to sightsee on the way? If so, what are "must see" places.
You should join the AAA for maps and tour books. They are worth the membersip fee.

Thank you for your responses. I am leaving SUNDAY! There was not much time to plan this trip. We are looking for the most direct route and are not looking to make a lot of stops (unfortunately). Time does not allow. We are AAA members and are hoping to get some last minute help from them as well.

Oh my.... You realize that's an over 3,000 mile trip? You can try using freetrip.com for itinerary advice. AAA will be helpful to a point. But you're talking 45-50 hours in the car, at least 4 days (you HAVE to rest at some point), assuming nothing goes wrong. You absolutely can't fly? Could you get to JFK and fly JetBlue to Long Beach and rent a car and drive the 90 minutes down to San Diego instead?

I haven't done Boston to Southern California, but I have done Atlanta to Southern California - THREE TIMES. Two of the times were leisurely, taking over a week to get there and seeing sights along the way. Taking highways and byways instead of the interstate. For the one time that I had to get there in a hurry, I drove from Atlanta to Memphis on I20/US278/AL157/US72 (left Atlanta around noon). Memphis to Albuquerque on I40 (about 1000 miles) in 16 hours. Then Albuquerque to Los Angeles I40/I15/I10 (about 800 miles) in about 12 hours. Going East to West, the sun and time travels with you so you can travel further in a day. I made it to LA in 2 and a half days from Atlanta. Wouldn't want to do it again, but it can be done. The gas and roadside motels costs almost as much as the airfare cost me this past July flying JetBlue Atlanta to Long Beach. And I didn't feel like a zombie when I got there.

A long time ago, when my husband and I were young and adventurous, we lived in MO and drove to CO. The trip took 2 days and Kansas lasts a Loooong time. We now live in the East and have been to nearly all the Western states, but that first trip made me appreciate airplanes. Good luck!

The most direct route won't be the most interesting, so give us a bit more info. How long do you have? Are you stopping to sleep? Eat? Give us a little more info and you'll get a plethora of suggestions!