Los Angeles to CT in 10 Days - Advice Needed and Appreciated

Hi there,

DH and I are driving from LA to CT. Due to work restrictions, we only have 10 days to travel and sight see.

If members could look at our itinerary and provide comments/feedback, that would be appreciated! The current itinerary has an "extra" day baked in, so if we need to add something; or give a place more time, we do have 1 extra day. We'd also love to hear suggestions for local food and beer.

Due to time restrictions, we aren't really going to hike or do anything too time consuming. But, if we love a place, we can visit in more depth on a future vacation. We have never visited any of the places on our route.

Day 1: Drive from LA to Grand Canyon - hopefully arrive in time to see the sunset; eat/sleep. (7 hour drive)
Day 2: Explore a little of the Grand Canyon, then head to Monument Valley, UT (roughly 3 hour drive) - Are we missing something big here? Should we try to see more of UT? If so, suggested routes?
Day 3: Drive to Denver (8 hour drive); maybe go check out a brewery in the evening
Day 4: Explore a little of Denver and head to Cheyenne, WY (1.5 hour drive). Stop in Fort Collins to visit New Belgium Brewery. Explore Cheyenne.
Day 5: Drive to Kansas City, MO (9 hour drive); Good bbq for dinner, live jazz somewhere and sleep
Day 6: Either explore Kansas City all day or explore a little and then drive to St. Louis and explore a little of St. Louis (if go to St. Louis, 3.5 hour drive). Kansas City has the National WWI Museum, we'd like to visit that.
Day 7: Drive to Louisville, KY (either 4 hours from St. Louis or 7.5 from Kansas City). Explore.
Day 8: Explore Louisville; Visit a bourbon distillery. Louisville Slugger Museum?
Day 9: From Louisville, we are 11 hours to CT. Begin drive to CT. Either drive all the way, or stop 1/2 way
Day 10: Arrive in CT

Moderator Note: Please don't create multiple threads about the same trip.

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

The first thing that stands out is that you clearly are using online map programs for your travel time estimates - because they don't match real world travel conditions. You need to expect all of your actual times to take about 20% more than you've currently planned, once you factor in basic stops for fuel, traffic, etc.

For example, you can make it to the Grand Canyon in more like 8-9 hours. It's still doable, but you'll need to be on the road early to get there for sunset. You didn't say exactly when you'll be traveling, but obviously the later in the summer, the less daylight you'll have to work with, and you will have to factor in LA traffic as you get out of town.

Day 2, again, you'll need to plan more like 4 hours for the drive, plus, it's easy to underestimate just how big the Grand Canyon is, and how much there is to see. Seeing both the GC and MV in a day is possible, but its already very full and I wouldn't add more to it.

Day 3, another 8-9 hour drive, but this is a case where I think you'd really be missing out. There is so much you could potentially do that would be right along this drive. Arches, Canyonlands, Mesa Verde, and Rocky Mountain National Parks are just a few of the potential options. You aren't going to have time to do all of them, but you won't have time to do any, unless you add another night before Denver. I'd strongly recommend doing at least one or two.

Day 4. If you're looking to get a day back, this is where I'd do it. Nothing against Cheyenne, but it's a bit out of your way, and I'd rather enjoy some of the Natural Beauty of the Rockies. If stopping in Fort Collins is a high priority, it could be easily visited after Rocky Mountain NP.

Day 5. Even if you start from Denver, you're looking at a 10-12 hour drive to Kansas City. That's a very full day on the road, and won't leave much time left to enjoy the evening.

Day 6. If you like WWII era history, you might also try stopping in Independence MO, for the Harry Truman sites. Boulevard Brewing is one of my favorite regional beers, although I haven't done their tour.

Day 8. Louisville is a nice city, the Slugger Museum is a fun stop for a baseball fan.

Day 9-10. You really don't have an extra day. There is no point in Connecticut that is within a single day's drive of Louisville. Even the closest point of CT is 800 miles from Louisville, and that's not a safe or reasonable distance to drive during a multi-day trip. Even Google estimates it as a 12 hour drive, but real world that's going to be close to a 15 hour drive, and could be even worse if your route takes you through New York City. You need to plan for a minimum of one and a half days for this leg.

Thank you for the advice! I wish we had more time to work with - there is so much to see and do. We are comfortable cutting out Cheyenne. Theoretically, we could cut out the Grand Canyon, since I have a business trip to Arizona in the Fall and we will have a 3 day weekend to explore then. DH is going to join me for the trip.

We can't add any days to the trip, unfortunately. But, if we re-route and drive directly from LA to Zion (UT), that is less travel time the first day, and then we'd have the following day to explore Zion, Bryce, and at least drive to Monument Valley. The 3rd day we could be a bit more leisurely on the way to Denver, and perhaps not even make it to Denver - where in the middle/on the way would you recommend as a resting point? Then, on the 4th day, we could continue to explore, omit Cheyenne.

Would you recommend staying in Denver that night, or trying to get partially to Kansas City, sleeping somewhere on the way? That way, on Day 5, we'd only have a portion of the drive to Kansas City, as opposed to 12 hours. Maybe we drive partially, and instead of KC, we go to St. Louis, which then is a comparatively light day of driving to Louisville.

You're right about Louisville note being a day's drive. I guess we could go from Louisville to somewhere 1/2 way, sleep and then drive the rest of the way to CT. I just wish we had more time for such a fun journey...

Thanks again!

How are you starting this trip? Are you flying into LAX, and if so, is that also on day 1? Considering the costs of a 1 way cross country car rental, have you considered just doing a fly/drive loop of part of the west, so you can see more with the time you have?

In general, it's a very full day to try to see any 2 national parks in 1 day, and that's certainly true with Zion and Bryce. Trying to also drive onto Monument Valley that day would be way too much. Not even factoring in time to see the parks, you'd be looking at a good 400 miles/7+ hour day on the road. If it's me, and you're going to do Zion and Bryce, I'd skip Monument Valley and continue on towards Moab, via the very scenic highway 12, but even there, I'd be looking at spending the night near Bryce.

That makes sense! As for starting the trip, we fly into LAX 2 days before our Day 1. A relative of ours is moving from Los Angeles to CT, so we're driving his car from L.A. to CT for him.

DH really wants to see Monument Valley, which is why I am trying to incorporate that one. What is along Highway 12 that you recommend? I can probably convince him of a better route.

Thank you so much for helping me!

If you are going to be in AZ in the fall, you could combine a trip to MV with your trip to the GC. A 3 day weekend should be enough time to see both.