We are planning a five month road trip from Penticton, British Columbia to Playa del Carmen, Mexico and continuing south as far as Panama starting out in December. To avoid winter driving conditions as much as possible I'm thinking we should stay on the west coast as far as San Fran before heading inland toward Las Vegas and Tuscon. We'll save Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce etc for our return trip in the spring. Any advice/suggestions/recommendations regarding our route, reasonably priced motels, points of interest etc would be greatly appreciated.