27 days : NYC- Los Angeles

[autumnwaldorf]

Hi all,

First of all, let me introduce myself.
Autumn, french, just turned 27 and I live in New York for almost 11 months now.

With my friend Felix, british, 25, we plan to do a roadtrip east coast to west coast from August 25th to September 20th.
Our flight back is at LAX on September 20th so we can't miss it.

As european, we have always dreamed to do a roadtrip across America. I know it sounds often stupid or crazy but this is an experience that will happen once in a lifetime and we are already aging ( haha).

Our roadtrip is as followed, the part Denver - LA ( the second part) is 99% done, we still need to work on the first one.


NYC – Memphis
• NYC
• Wilmington, North Carolina 1 day
• Myrtle Beach, South Carolina 1 day
• Berea, Kentucky 1 day
• Nashville, Tennessee 1 day
• Memphis, Tennessee 1 day

1695 miles

Memphis – Denver
• Memphis, Tennessee
• New Orleans, Louisiana 2 days
• Dallas, Texas 1 day
• Denver, Colorado 2 days

1732 miles

Total miles first part : 3427 miles


Denver – Los Angeles
• Denver
• Moab, Utah 1 day
• Bryce Canyon, Utah 1 day
• Lake Powell, Utah 1day
• Page, Arizona
• Monument Valley, Arizona 1day
• Grand Canyon, Arizona 1day
• Los Angeles, California 2 days

1768 miles

Los Angeles – Los Angeles
• Los Angeles, CA
• Mojave Desert, CA 1 day
• Las Vegas , Nevada 2 days
• Death Valley, CA 1 day
• Sequoia, CA 1 day
• Yosemite, CA 2 days
• San Francisco, CA 2 days
• Los Angeles, CA

1694 miles

Total miles second part: 3462 miles
Grand Total miles: 6889 miles or 256 miles a day or 420 km

The return flight is booked, the cars are booked ( we booked a Mustang from LA, a dream will come true hehe).
So the project is serious,we are doing it.

In addition, I'd like to say, that I know this is crazy or pretentious or unrealistic, but again this is for the experience. We can come back one day to focus on certain parts.

I'll add we plan to take as much as we can secondary roads.
So, what do you think? Be honest and feel free.

A frenchie who wasn't born in the good country, God bless America.

[Midwest Michael]

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

I'd say your trip looks reasonably good, except the Backtracking to LA doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Is Mustang the reason you're going there first and then back to Vegas?

It would save you a lot of time and miles just to go to Vegas after the Grand Canyon. Often there isn't much of a penalty for doing a one way trip from Vegas to LA, so that could be a better option.

Also be aware that there are no direct roads between Death Valley and Sequoia NP, so that is basically a full day drive all by itself. You might consider going from DV to Yosemite and then heading south to Sequoia. It's a little less direct, but does take you over the very scenic Tioga Pass.

[autumnwaldorf]

Hi Michael,

Thanks for your feedback!

Indeed, it's for the Mustang, no one was available in Vegas so we have to pick up the car in LA.

If we stop in Vegas on the way to LA, can we still plan the LA-San Francisco part without backtracking?

Meaning we will do :

Vegas
LA
DV
Yosemite
Sequoia
SF
LA

What do you think about the timing of the roadtrip?

I ave thousand of questions!

[autumnwaldorf]

No other feedback?