helpful advice for first timer who wants to see everything?

Hi all!

So my girlfriend and I have been working on planning a road trip for the summer. Her birthday is August 3rd and she wants to spend it in Vegas. We're leaving from Annapolis, MD some time in late July (thinking the 27th?) to try to get there without feeling rushed.

Along the way to Vegas we want to hit Charleston, SC; New Orleans, LA; Austin, TX; Carlsbad Caverns, NM; and Antelope Canyon, AZ.

From Vegas we want to then head down to Los Angeles, then to San Francisco, up to Portland/Seattle, over to Glacier National Park, down to Yellowstone, and then cut through the badlands over to Chicago and finally ending up back in Annapolis by way of Philadelphia.

The time frame for the trip would be a month. We're just trying to figure out how much money would keep us comfortable if we're primarily camping and grocery shopping. And advice on if we're going overboard with the amount of stuff we want to see.

Thanks for any/all the help!

Lou

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

By my math from your description, you have 7 days for the drive from Annapolis to Las Vegas. You list intermediate stops that require you to drive 6+ days to get to. Presumably, you want to stop at each of those places. You will have about 2 hours, on average, at each stop. to me, that seems "rushed". You can't even do a tour of Carlsbad or Antelope Canyons in 2 hours. You certainly can't see magnificent cities like Charleston or New Orleans in 2 hours. You could spend that much time trying to find a place to park! I suppose you could see one set by one band in Austin before getting back on the road, but again it's going to be rushed. Really, if you want a pleasant, relaxed trip within your current time frame, you're going to have to cut back on the miles, stops, or both.

Your return trip has plenty of time, and when traveling with my wife, I find that about $150 a day covers motels and meals (there are slightly cheaper alternatives). Plus gas, plus admissions, plus tolls, plus...

AZBuck