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How does this sound to you experienced trippers?
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This is just a very early plan. I've no idea how doable this is.
My plan would be to fly from the UK to New York and spend about 4 days there. Then I would rent a car and start my drive. To Washington DC, stopping just for a quick bite to eat and a few photos in Philadelphia since it looks like its on the route anyway. I'd then arrive in DC and book a room. The next day I'd spend entirely in DC and then leave the next morning.
A long drive to Chicago, I'm not sure if I'm underestimating this one and might need to stop somewhere in the middle for the night. I'd like to spend a few days enjoying Chicago before leaving for LA via the Grand Canyon. This is the only part of my route I am unsure of where I want to go. I've gone for long drives through Iowa and Nebraska and Colorado here with basically just over night stops for rest.
The alternative I thought about was driving a bit further south through St.Louis, Kansas.
Just a day at the Grand Canyon and then the long drive to LA. Here for a few days and then another long drive to San Francisco for a few days. And yet another long drive to Brownsville for a quick visit before finishing in Portland.
There seems to be quite a few long runs in this trip and I'm not sure if I'm underestimating them. I used to drive 400-500 mile trips here in the UK every few months and handled those ok. But America might be a whole different story? Plus I've no idea if I'd be missing too much of the central states by just driving through them so quick?
I'd appreciate any thoughts you'd have on this route and this very early plan :)
Apologies if I don't make much sense, I do get excited when I'm talking about this!
... so many places, so many decisions!
You don't say at what time of the year you are planning to take this trip, nor how much time you will have. Both those will affect what and how much you can do. That said, in this initial planning stage, the best thing you can do is get a good (wall size) map of the US. I like the National Geographics map as it shows all your National Parks and other natural attractions, as well as the cities, highways and interstates. Lay out your trip on it, and see what attractions - other than the Grand Canyon - are within a stone's throw of your route.
For one thing, if you take a route through Colorado, you may find that you could spend a month there, so spectacular is that state. You really should not miss Utah if you have never been there, and once again, a few weeks there would not give you time to see everything. And the same could be said of quite a few other States.
Enjoy the planning.
Lifey