Summer/Fall 3 Month Road Trip Help

Hi all,

So, I'm planning to take a (roughly) 3 month road trip starting in Northern California in Late July/Early August. My friend and I have done very little planning. We're a bit overwhelmed and are unsure where really to start or what we need to do. I've been reading posts here, but was hoping to get some insights on our (very, very rough) itinerary and any other thoughts on how to go about planning.

Our general idea is as follows:

1) San Francisco to Vancouver: Stop in Seattle for 2 days and otherwise drive straight through. Figure we live close enough to do much of this area on weekend trips in the future.

2) Vancouver to Jasper/Banff/Glacier Nat'l Park

3) Glacier to Montana/Wyoming (skipping Yellowstone) and then east through the northern plains states to Chicago

4) Chicago to upstate New York up to Canada (Montreal, Quebec City, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia)

5) Nova Scotia to Maine (via ferry? Any thoughts on that) south through New England (hope to see fall foliage, but not sure if we can time it right)

6) New England to New York City (stay there about a week to visit people)

7) New York City south to Orlando (want to stop in Philly, Baltimore/DC, Asheville/Blue Ridge Mountains, Outer Banks, Charleston, Savannah)

8) Orlando for a few days (Disney fanatic...kind of a requirement for us!)

9) Orlando up to Alabama through southern states (stop in New Orleans, San Antonio, Austin)

10) Up to Santa Fe and back to San Francisco

Obviously I have a lot in there. Do you think 3 months (we can probably swing an extra 2-3 weeks) is enough time?

I also want to make sure I'm building in time to: A) spend time traveling on non-interstate roads; B) spend time in smaller places and random attractions we find along the way. I know that my favorite parts about my (admittedly much shorter) road trips in the past have been the places and experiences that were unplanned.

I know these are very general questions. But I'd appreciate hearing from anyone who has some wisdom, thoughts or comments...

Thank you!

David

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

Three months (more or less) is plenty of time to do a tour of the U.S. such as you have planned. And you've certainly pocked enough, but by no means all, of the highlights of what there is to see. You could spend a week or so at each of the destinations that you've listed and still have time to spare. As always, I'm more concerned with what I don't see mentioned than what I do. In your case, that's the money side of this. My rough guess is that such a trip would cost in the neighborhood of $15,000 for the two of you, assuming that you'll be doing this in your own car rather than a rental, and that it gets pretty decent mileage.

So, in general, for planning there are a host of good tips here. Also, don't forget to schedule a fair amount of time for you and your friend to be alone. Three months of 24/7 is too much togetherness. And as you've noted, look for some of the smaller, quieter, interesting locations in between your major tops. As for your 2 specific questions: I'm a big fan of ferries, and while the Yarmouth-Portland or Yarmouth-Bar Harbor runs aren't particularly cost effective, they do offer a bit of an ocean cruise. As long as you're in the Maritimes and New England anytime from late September to late October, you will see color.

AZBuck