Starting in CT, 12-14 days. What can we do?

[06ElementGirl]

The hubby and I are looking to do a nice long road trip this coming summer. How far out can we realistically go with 12-14 days total?

We'll be driving in my Honda Element, and have some decent camping gear. We're not experienced campers, but not novices, either.

I appreciate your ideas! Thank you!

[Midwest Michael]

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

A good rule of thumb is that you can cover about 500 miles on a comfortably long day on the road. Now, you wouldn't want to do that every day of your trip, I don't imagine, but that does give you some idea about how much ground you can cover.

Sticking with that, pretty much anywhere east of the Mississippi would be pretty easily. You could also reach out to the eastern edge of the Rockies, say Colorado or the Black Hills and Badlands of South Dakota.

You could possibly push onward to places like Yosemite, Utah, or maybe the Grand Canyon, but that's going to start putting you into a position where you are doing long days of driving almost every day of your trip.

[AZBuck]

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

Two weeks from Connecticut puts the entire contiguous United States and most of populated Canada within reach. So the first couple of decisions you're going to have to make before anyone can offer you any meaningful suggestions are 1) How much time do you want to spend on the road vs. at your destination, and 2) What sort of destination are you interested in?

AZBuck

[06ElementGirl]

Thank you for the quick responses! We like history, architecture, and nature, so I'm sure we'll want to base our stops on parks and monuments. I'm used to driving long distances, and we don't mind so much. It's part of the adventure. :)

I'm still learning this site, but I think there is a section for people to post their trips, right? That should help give me some ideas as to what places we'd like to see.

[Southwest Dave]

I'm still learning this site, but I think there is a section for people to post their trips, right? That should help give me some ideas as to what places we'd like to see

That will be the "Road trip field report" section, but your best way to search for ideas is to look for possible destinations of interest to you and use the search function. You will find this in the green tool bar at the top of the page, or on top left of page the google link, click on RTA and type in key words to navigate around the forum.
With each thread you find you will find more corresponding options at the bottom of the page.

When you know where you are headed, I am sure we can help you to get the best from your trip, happy hunting!

Could you confirm that it is a one way trip, or do you need to return in that time frame ?

[06ElementGirl]

Sorry if I didn't clarify. Yeah, we only have about 12-14 days total, so I know that limits us a bit.

[Southwest Dave]

That's OK, but the decisions you have to make remains the same. If for instance Colorado/Utah appealed to you [we loved it there] and for instance you headed to Denver and back from Albuquerque, it would amount to 8 or 9 day's of full travel, giving you between 4 and 6 day's to explore Colorado, maybe a little of Utah and New Mexico between Denver and Albu, or less if you wanted to explore more on the way there and back .

Keep looking !

[BlueCuzco]

I know specific destination recommendations are only mildly helpful at this point, but here's one to look into: the (very) Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina, as well as all surrounding portions of the Southern Appalachians like the Blue Ridge Mountains and Asheville, Cumberland Plateau (Tennessee River Gorge) and Chattanooga, and the mountains of North Georgia.

Spiel: Besides the wonderful scenery quite on par (though quite different from) the scenery out West, the Southern Apps are one of the most biodiverse temperate climates in the world. Mixed in is the distinctive culture of the Scotch-Irish and other groups of Southern highlanders (see Horace Kephart's book by the same name), the sad tale of the slow demise of Indian tribes in the region (but also the continuation of their cultural contributions!), and very important Civil War battles over in Chattanooga. As extras you have attractions like the Biltmore Estate, Ocoee Whitewater Center, and Tennessee Aquarium.

Relevance to you: the Southern Apps are far enough from Connecticut that it's a legit road trip, but not so far that you're spending too much of your time driving. Instead of driving long distances every day you could hop from spot to spot at a more leisurely place. On the way down you could follow Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway, and on the way back up you could check out the sea coast.