San Diego to New Jersey in 24 days. Critique my trip!

Looking for advice on a route between Lake Tahoe and Glacier NP, as part of a larger cross country road trip. I am torn between two options:

1. Taking a longer time and driving through a wide variety of parks/forests/cities ex: Lassen Volcanic NP, Modoc NF, Payette NF, Clearwater NF, Hells Canyon, Spokane (I could have up to four full driving days for any of these)

OR

2. Taking Rt. 95 to Rt. 86 to Rt. 15 and getting there in 2 days, giving me 1.5 - 2 extra days to spend in either Glaicer NP (currently one full day scheduled) or Yellowstone (currently 2 full days scheduled).

Any opinions or ideas are welcome. Thank you!

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America forums!

Well there really isn’t any right or wrong answer here, just a choice. Is the trip going to be mostly about being on the road and sampling a large number of different places, or is it going to be about relaxing and enjoying fewer locations in greater depth and tranquility? Excitement and go-go vs. rest and relaxation. Personally, I weould think that there is already enough new about this trip that you wouldn’t need to add more, and twio or three days in places like Glacier and especially Yellowstone will still only let you scratch the surface.

AZBuck

I tend to agree with everything Buck has said, only you can decide what works for your style of travel, and how it all fits into the bigger picture. For instance have you a little extra time set aside for the Grand Tetons while in Yellowstone, or instead of taking a direct to route to Yellowstone heading a little further West and driving in on the very popular and awesome "Beartooth highway" [212] through Red Lodge.

Whatever you decide, you are gonna have a lot of fun !!

I'm moving from San Diego to New Jersey this summer. Here's a google map of my plan. It will be a solo trip. Right now, I have time broken down like this:

Day 1 (Sunday): San Diego to Sequoia NP. Afternoon in Sequoia. Hotel/Couchsurf outside the park.
Day 2: Morning in Sequoia NP. Afternoon - drive to Yosemite. Hotel/Couchsurf outside of park.
Day 3: All day in Yosemite. Reserve campsite in am. Sleep in park
Day 4: AM in Yosemite. PM drive to Lake Tahoe, camping ground already reserved
Day 5: Full day at Lake Tahoe, camping ground already reserved
Day 6: AM (Early) Drive to Lava Beds NM PM - Explore Lava Beds NM, sleep in hotel outside of park
Day 7: Drive towards Glacier (staying somewhere around Kennebeck, maybe?)
Day 8 (Sunday): Drive towards Glacier, sleep outside of Glacier NP
Day 9: Full Day in Glacier NP, reserve campground in AM, sleep in park
Day 10: Full day in Glacier NP, sleep in park
Day 11: Drive towards Yellowstone, stay in hotel outside of park
Day 12: Full day in Yellowstone, reserve campground in am, sleep in park
Day 13: Full day in Yellowstone, sleep in park
Day 14: Drive towards Mt. Rushmore, stay in hotel nearby
Day 15 (Sun.): Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, PM - Drive towards Badlands NP, stay in hotel nearby
Day 16: Badlands NP, reserve campground in AM, sleep in park
Day 17: Drive to Minnesota, couchsurf
Day 18: Full day in Minnesota, couchsurf
Day 19: AM - Drive to Wisconsin Dells, PM - Noah's Ark Waterpark, stay in nearby hotel
Day 20: Drive to Chicago, hotel/couchsurf
Day 21: Chicago, hotel/couchsurf
Day 22 (sun.): Chicago, hotel/couchsurf
Day 23: Drive to Cleveland, hotel/couchsurf
Day 24: Drive Cleveland to New Jersey

I have two hangups/points of flexibility - More or less time can be spend driving from Lake Tahoe to Glacier NP, and I'm willing to give up my full day in Minneapolis, if I can't find anything interesting to do there.

Let me know what you think!