NH to California in....

[wolfbeaver]

Hi!
My cousin and I are planning to drive from New Hampshire to California, specifically LA, in the summer. We’re planning on stopping in Cooperstown NY, maybe Cleveland Ohio, and Chicago Illinois on the way. These are the only three stops we really have planned out so far, the rest is pretty much wide open.
I was just wondering if anyone can help me out with an estimate of how many days it might take to take this trip? We are driving back, so we have to take that into account as well.

Thanks!

[Mark Sedenquist]

If anyone can help me out with an estimate of how many days it might take to take this trip? We are driving back, so we have to take that into account as well.

Welcome to the Great American RoadTrip Forum! As a general rule, it takes five days, driving 8-10 hours per day to travel from NH to California, so if you drove straight out to California and then turned around the next day, it would take a total of ten days. If you are going to stop and look around at various places, you need to factor in a few more days. So 14 days is probably about fastest you can do this trip. Here are some ideas about how many hours you can safely drive in a day.

Mark

[danhowe04]

I've driven from LA to New York before, stopping in Park City UT, Chicago, and Cleveland, and it took me about six days to do it comfortably. Like Mark said above, it mostly depends on how much time you're going to spend looking around wherever you drive through...

As for the drive itself, there are way too many different ways to do it. If you're just trying to get to LA (which I understand - LA is really awesome if you don't live there) obviously interstates are the fastest way, but may I recommend going through Colorado/Utah on I-70 for the scenery. Fastest way to do this would be I-80 from Chicago to I-76 near the CO/Nebraska border, which takes you down to I-70 and Denver.

I-70 will end at I-15 in Utah, which you can take through Vegas down to the LA area if you wish. If not, the Grand Canyon and other great Utah parks are within a few hours but will tkae you a bit out of the way.