Spring 2016 road trip

I used to travel regularly to Hawaii on business, but never got time to explore the west coast of USA or take my wife with me! BIG mistake!

We would like to plan a road trip with a Mustang convertible - it has to be that or similar - from Los Angeles along the coast road to San Francisco, then head inland across to Reno, down to Las Vegas and take in the grand Canyon, back to San Diego and fly home. We have plenty of time to do this.

I used to work with Dollar Rent-a-car and sold many bookings for them to UK clients. We were the UK and Europe GSA for Hawaiian Airlines and sold Virgin, Delta and Pan Am flights to the west coast and then out to Hawaii on our aircraft. Our Hotel bookings were made with a booking consolidator in Honolulu, Rick was his name,but i cannot remember his company's name...maybe a brain cell might spark that one up.

Any ideas, hints and help on this would be gratefully received

Thanks
Roger

Hi Roger, and Welcome to the Great American Roadtrip Forum.

First thing that jumped out at me with your plan is to reverse the trip. The Pacific Coast Highway between San Francisco and Los Angeles is best driven from north to south. That way you have the ocean on your side, avoiding the need to cross over oncoming traffic each time you turn into and out of the many view points and scenic overlooks.

Do you have any maps of the US from your past employment? They would be extremely helpful in planning a trip like this. Good maps would show you all the other things there are along the way for you to consider including in your loop. Sites such as the many other national parks in the region, scenic routes as well as historical and touristy attractions.

If you do not have maps, or do not have access to maps locally, may I suggest a Rand McNally road atlas, which can be purchased from the RTA store at the bottom of this page. Order it now and you'll have it in a couple of weeks.

Good maps are invaluable during the planning, and essential when on the road.

Enjoy the planning.

Lifey

From San Francisco inland you would be close to one of the greatest of all National parks, Yosemite. However the CA120 route that crosses the Sierra Nevada west to east [ Tioga Pass] could still be closed. The later in the Spring you travel the more chance of the pass being open after the road crews have cleared the winter snow and debris. Even if the pass were closed, it would be worth visiting the valley where the waterfalls will be in full flow. You might also consider driving through Death valley, perhaps spend a night there, before Las Vegas. Depending on what you mean by "plenty of time", from Vegas you could first head north to Zion and Bryce canyon and then head through Page to the Grand canyon with a possible detour to Monument valley. I am not 100% sure what you mean by "to Vegas and take in the Grand canyon", but if you mean you are planning to take as tour from Vegas, I would reconsider. First of all most tours do not go to the National Park, they go to the west rim which is on Indian lands and not part of the NP system and nowhere near as spectacular. Spending a night a the south rim and witnessing a sunset and having time to explore alll the wonderful viewing points is quite something else.

Reversing the trip is well worth considering.