79 Days RoadTrip!

I'm planning with a friend The Trip of Our Lives, starting 14th March and ending it on 31st May.

It will be a loop trip from NY to NY. That's because we're from Barcelona, Spain, and NY is the cheapest flight destination.

My idea is because of the probably cold weather on march:
Go south to Florida.<BR>
Then go across the whole country to San Diego, CA.<BR>
Then go north to Oregon or Seattle.<BR>
Then go south east to Arizona, reaching in the route Lake Tahoe and Las Vegas.<BR>
In Arizona, take the Route 66 to Chicago.<BR>
From Chicago go to Maine.<BR>
And finally go south to NY again.<BR>

I know renting a car will be so expensive, so i thought on buying a used car and selling it before leaving the country. To low costs i also thought that if the car is a 4wd or a Covered Pick up, we can sleep on it, at least on Campings and National Parks(God bless American Huge Cars).

Yesterday, i ordered some books from Amazon so i can prepare a little what to do, but i really don't want to have all it thougt, because i like the freedom to do whatever you want cause of roadtripping.

That's what i have in mind at the moment, i will welcome opinions about if it is too many miles for 79 days, or if they are too few and i can visit more things at the north of USA. Feel free to opine about it.

Check www.nps.gov/parks.html

This website will show you on a map where all of the national parks, national monuments, and historic sites are. These are great places to go to learn about the country and see all of the varying scenery across the country. Buy a National Parks Pass (about $50). This gets you entry into ALL of the above & expires in one year.

Be sure your rental car has unlimited mileage. What we call a "VAN" or "mini-van" might be best for sleeping in. You can lay out on the floor beneath the rear seats if you are too big for sleeping across a bench seat. A 4WD or SUV will not have much sleeping room.


Places you'll want to see:

Washington, DC - Smithsonian museums (all free entry) & walk about to see all the monuments & government buildings

Asheville, NC - Biltmore Estate
Charleston, SC - historic homes & plantations, beautiful "deep south" area

New Orleans, Louisiana - take a swamp tour while there, see the historic homes & plantations between New Orleans & Baton Rouge. Drive along the Mississippi gulf coast (Biloxi, Gulfport) into Texas.

Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas - historic stockyards, see a rodeo! San Antonio Texas - do the "riverwalk", the missions tour, the Alamo. Big Bend National Park, Texas.

Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico.

Grand Canyon, Arizona, Las Vegas, Sedona, see cotton fields south of / near Phoenix, Arizona.

BRYCE CANYON, ZION Nat'l Park - are MUSTS!!! Beautiful, amazing, favourite places of many. Southern Utah. Also MOAB, Utah as your stopping point for a few days in this area (Arches National Park, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, etc.)

Mesa Verde National Park, CO

Yosemite National Park California.

Drive the coastal route - Hwy 1 & Hwy 101 between Los Angeles, CA & San Francisco. See Redwoods National Park.

YELLOWSTONE National Park & Grand Teton, WY (this area also a MUST-DO). Take hwy 212 ("Beartooth Highway") out of northeast exit from Yellowstone. Go to CODY WY. See Buffalo Bill Historical Center.

South Dakota - towns of Deadwood & Lead ("wild west" historic towns), Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse Memorial, Mammoth Site, Custer State Park. Continue across to BADLANDS National Park in South Dakota.

Detroit Michigan has the Henry Ford automotive museum. NIAGARA FALLS New York is a must.

Lancaster Pennsylvania is a very nice farming area with lots to do & see.

Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky.

www.byways.org shows you where all the scenic byways are instead of using the freeways ("Interstates") everywhere.

I could go on & on...

Thank you for all that info!

I'll remember all your advice(or advise? never remember XD)

I already did a 12 days road trip by the south west on October 2003.
I visited Joshua Tree, Zion, Bryce, Grand Canyon(North Rim), Death Valley, Sequoya and Yosemite.

I will repeat most of them. Probably all except the ones at the center of California (Yosemite, Sequoya) because my idea is to go north by Hwy 1 to Oregon and then go south east to Tahoe and LV.

I'm interested on a 4WD because i've seen that many parks have 4WD-only ways, and i'm really interested in them.

I have some MUSTS (SEE and FEEL): cocodriles(not really cocodrile, the very similar animals called Caiman in spanish) on swamp area, another night on Joshua Tree, Bryce Canyon New Moon Night (read last time i was there the darkest night in USA(so the night you can see more stars), Yellowstone's geysers and some others.

Arches National Park, Utah & Canyonlands National Park, Utah both have excellent 4 x 4 roads. In fact, the town of Moab, Utah is kind of a 4 x 4 hub. Inside and outside of the park there are all kinds of degrees of roads to take. For beginners I recommend the Potash Road, to the Shafer trail (with a short side trip to Mussellman Arch on the White Rim Trail) from Moab, Utah up to Canyonlands, Island in the Sky District, then stop at Dead Horse State Park before taking Long Canyon back to Moab.

Capitol Reef National Park and Dinasour National Monument both have 4 wheel drive roads.

Here are some websites with information on 4 wheel drive roads in Utah.

http://www.discovermoab.com/fourwheel.htm

http://www.utah.com/offroad/index.htm

http://www.4x4now.com/mu4wd.htm

Utahtea

We also maintain 4x4 (or as we prefer to call it -- "off-highway") information <a href = "http://www.roadtripamerica.com/read/offhighway.htm">here<a/>.

With respect to the national parks -- while there ample off-highway (4-WD) trails -- most of those roads can be driven with a high-clearance vehicle and 2-WD.

Mark