Savannah to Seattle - May 2013

[Barrie]

Hi everyone,

I am planning a cross US trip as a birthday present for my wife, we will have 3 weeks and would like to do sea to sea. It looks like arrival will be Orlando, the only thoughts we have are we would like to travel through Texas, Colorado, Wyoming and Montana, maybe including a day in Savannah. We reckon on booking a few places ahead and the finding places as we go, we are very flexible but would like to get a feel for the US, previously our trips have been NY, Pennsylvania, Highway 1, including SF and LA, Chicago.

I guess we are looking for some beautiful views and drives, some nice towns and meeting some interesting folks, it will be a rental car drive so any helps, hints, tips or pitfall information will be very gratefully received

Thanks and regards
Barrie

[Southwest Dave]

Hello Barrie and welcome to the RTA forums !

That's some present, cool !!

With approximately one weeks worth of driving ahead, 3 weeks in total will give you a nice amount of time to sight see. At this point there are thousands of attractions to choose from and really too many to give meaningful suggestions at this point. Texas, Colorado etc are all big States so what I would suggest you do is find places that are attracting you to these areas and get a few more dots on the map. This will give a clearer picture of your route and interests and then we can make some suggestions on alternative routes and other attractions along the way.

All along the way you can find beautiful drives and views, especially in the Rockies. I would also look at the possibility of heading into Utah from Colorado and enjoy some of the contrasting scenery of Red rock country. The NP's are amazing from Rocky mountain, Black canyon and Mesa Verde in Colorado, to Arches and Canyonlands [among many others] in Utah, to Yellowstone NP. Some of the highways are among the most scenic anywhere in the world !

Once you have a few more dots on the maps of places you and your wife want to visit and further questions come up, just ask.

Get a good paper map of the USA, read through the forums and road trip planning pages in the tool bars above and you will come across endless amounts of info to help. The Map centre and Wizard [under Maps in the green tool bar] have many attractions listed and you can create your own routes.

The only real pitfall with a one way car rental is the rather hefty one way drop off fee. When comparing costs make sure everything is included and you have the bottom line figure.

Enjoy the planning !

[Barrie]

Thanks, I'll take your advice, we are going to try and get a few key points sorted and then take it from there as you suggest
Thanks again
Barrie

[Mass Tim]

Welcome to the RoadTrip America Forum!

Will your trip be one-way or will you be heading back home out of Florida?

A typical coast-to-coast trip takes about 5 days. There are extra costs associated with a one-way car rental, but given you want to do a road trip there really isn't any way around this.

To start with, you will want to determine what you find desirable in the states you listed and we can help you with recommendations that match those desires. Quite often the destinations include National Parks and the like - but occasionally folks are more interested in the urban areas.

For scenery:
In Colorado, you may be interested in Rocky Mountain National Park.
Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho have Yellowstone National Park.
Montana has Glacier National Park.

Depending on when you arrive, there may be some roadway restrictions in effect if you choose to visit. For example, several Yellowstone roads are generally not completely open until the end of May.