Suggestions for road trip San Francisco to Washington DC - July 1-13, 2012

We are retired Australians & we are spending 3 weeks in Washington DC & 2 months in San Francisco doing home exchanges, however we have 12 days 1-13 July 2012 to spare at the start of our stay in the US & thought we would drive?? from San Francisco to Washington DC & hopefully see parts of the US we have not visited on previous trips before.

I would appreciate suggestions on route & things to see & do.

We enjoy scenic driving, music, places of interest. My husband loves Chev Corvettes 1950's - 1960's so any places associated with this car?. He is also looking to buy one to take home.

regards,

Ann

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

I think the absolute must stop on your trip would have to be the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Its located just down the road from the factory where the Corvette is made. Mammoth Cave is also in the area and would be worth a stop while you're there.

Just returned from US road trip and have to say the scenery is just everywhere,but if you do come down as far south as Kentucky (previous post) don't miss the nearly 500ml Blue Ridge Parkway its free and totally amazing, also if you have friends in the US that it can be shipped to, we got a used sat nav from Ebay for $34 about a 6th of the price of hiring one and it got us every where even tho it was last updated in 2006 lol.

Actually, it's a lot less expensive to buy a GPS (sat nav) here than to rent one. You can buy one brand new for $100 or so, where renting one will probably cost you $10-15 day (or more).

When we did a fly/drive within the states, we threw our GPS into the suitcase. The rental car agency clerk asked us if we wanted one, and just out of curiosity, I asked, "and how much does that cost?" Answer: $15/day. I just said no, knowing that ours was in the suitcase. (We rented a car for 10 days....do the math.)



Donna

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Originally Posted by Midwest Michael

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

I think the absolute must stop on your trip would have to be the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Its located just down the road from the factory where the Corvette is made. Mammoth Cave is also in the area and would be worth a stop while you're there.

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Hi Midwest Michael,

Thank you for the welcome, what a wonderful forum, no doubt I will have lots more questions. I think the Museum should be included on our Bucket List. lol

Speaking of GPS, we already have a Garmin Nuvi that is loaded with maps of England & Europe & a Tom Tom with New Zealand & Australia maps would it be possible to buy a chip for either of these for USA or would it just be better buying one already loaded with USA maps. Just trying to cut down on the duplication of technology devices.

If you like your current devices, you should be able to download US/North American maps onto either one of them. The only downside is that sometimes the maps alone cost nearly as much as a new low-end unit. If your units have more than barebones features and/or you just want to avoid the clutter, then download away. You should be able to find the maps you are looking for directly from Garmin or TomTom's websites.