I'm starting to a plan a year-long, round-the-world tour that unfortunately won't start for a few years. My husband and I will be starting in the US and ending in Ireland (where we are moving). We want to drive all around the US starting and ending in Washington, DC, but were unsure how much of the year to devote to it. We were thinking of 3 months. Is this too long? Will we kill each other?

Are you planning to make this trip in a car. The best would be to rent a motor home, normally grim things but for prolonged trips there are wonderful parks where you can get a membership and stay, close to every desireable location. I think three months is the absolute minimum. With a motor home you can at least fix your own breakfast and you don't have to repack all the time, and you can kick back at night and meet your neighbors.

I think it depends on how much you want to see and how far you want to drive each day. I read a book a few years ago about a couple that bought a motorhome and drove from NE US to Alaska the down thru southern states. I think they took almost a year, but if you aren't doing Alaska you won't need that much time. The book was titled "First We Quit Our Jobs".

Three months sounds just right. Of course you can't see and do everything, but you can cover a lot. I think that I'd want a change of pace after 3 months.

Loop the country
Amish area PA, New England, NYC, Chicago, Dakota Badlands, Glacier NP, Yellowstone NP, Zion/Bryce NP,California Redwoods, Joshua Tree NP, Grand Canyon, Sedona, Big Bend NP, Austin/San Antonio, Memphis Nashville, New Orleans, Florida, GA/SC/NC/VA, etc.

Maybe try to hit the lower 48 with a theme -- all capitals?; see a Walmart in every state?; visit a music venue?; visit the tackiest place in every state (by the way in NC it's Cherokee); find the state mineral, animal, flower, etc.; or try to drink a beer or milk in every state.

I've gone on a trip across country; we took 1 week at a fairly leisurely pace. DC>Cleveland>New Orleans> Dallas>Carlsbad NM > Santa Fe> Grand Canyon > L.A. Spent one day in each location.

The only long drive we did was the Cleveland to New Orleans, other than that we barely spent more than 6 hours each day.

So, I think 3 months would be enough time. Pick out places you really want to see and plan to spend a week or so, to break up trip. Do you have friends you can visit? That could keep you guys out of each others hair as well.

It sounds like a blast!

My mother and I drove a loop around the U.S. a couple of years ago. We started in Atlanta, went south to Florida, west through Louisiana, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico--up the CA coast, then through the western national parks, and back east through S.Dakota, Michigan, etc., through new England and ending in Washington. We took 3 months and drove 14,000 miles. I drove all but 200 miles of it, actually. We stayed in modest-priced motels. It was great, and my mother and I got along great (NOT our usual mode) once we laid down some agreed-upon ground rules--the most important being that we could do our own things and didn't have to be together all the time.

Thanks for the advice. On the motorhome question, that's a definite "no". Those things are too damn big, and we will be spending a fair amount of time in cities, and there's no way in hell I'm going to drive through Manhattan and San Francisco in a motorhome.

I have been in 45 of the lower 48, but my husband's from Ireland, so he's about 30 states behind me.

Drinking a beer in every state sounds like a fine idea to me. Of course, we have to go see the largest ball of twine in the world in Kansas and the Corn Palace in South Dakota.