L.A. to Graceland/Teaching long distance driving

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Originally Posted by ll18

Do the mapping programs determine drive time based upon speed limit on the road? 100 miles on a 65 mph road is really different than on a 40 mph road - is that taken into account?

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They take into consideration type of road [possibly speed limits] but they forget about the "human factor." That's the one where we need to eat, sleep and go to the bathroom. The need to top up with Gas also appears to have been overlooked and then we get on to traffic, construction delays etc. With a cross country drive on Interstate they seem to think you can drive at the speed limit from the moment you back off your driveway to when you pull up at your destination, impossible.

As a time tested rule here at RTA it is thought that an average of 57mph in the West and 55mph in the East on main Interstate/highways can be sustained with all these factors taken into account .[other than sleep of course]

I'm having great fun researching my road trip, but I'm having a heck of a time figuring out how to keep it organized. I'm searching old threads and articles here, using TripTiks (which seem most useful only if you know exactly where you want to go), AAA print maps, Jamie Jensen's book, and other random things. If there's a thread here about this already, I'm sorry - I did try to search for "research".

I probably won't have a computer with me on my trip and I have a dumb (i.e., not smart) phone. That means that I have to print out everything before I go, and it all comes from so many sources. I've been cutting and pasting tidbits into a word document, but that can't be the best way to do it. I've always liked annotating paper maps with information from other sources, but on a 4000 mile trip it's not working so well (especially since I want to note lots of places I may want to see, but won't decide about until I get into the area).

I know you all must have come up with some great systems to efficiently wrangle information from multiple sources - this is clearly not my forte.

Thanks!

It sounds a bit too me like you are actually doing too much work. It certainly is good to do your research and get ideas about what you want to do, and as you keep compiling ideas, you might want to sort them into states or region, or some other category.

However, at some point, you've just got to let your trip happen. No matter how much you research, you'll never find everything in advance - and that really is a good thing and what makes a road trip different from a prepackaged tour. Certainly, bring some highlights and ideas with you, you could even put some of your favorite ideas together on a spreadsheet, but if you've got so many thing that you want to bring that you can't keep them organized, you've probably just go too much stuff!

I understand what you mean about overplanning - I'm really not trying to know everything. The funny thing is that the way I usually like to travel is to read some stuff, go wander around, then look at the map and figure out what I discovered after the fact. I guess I'm just feeling like that method doesn't work so well when I've got so many miles to cover.

My favorite guidebooks are the access guidebooks - which show you everything in a specific neighborhood that you pull out when you're in that actual neighborhood. I'm struggling with how to make myself something equivalent when I'm learning (but not over-researching ;-) ) about different neat things from many different places. Sorry if I'm not explaining myself well. And spreadsheets, nope, they make me crazy.

But seriously, I think you are over-thinking this. RoadTrips are not rides at Disneyland where the outcome is virtually always known -- Do as much reading and studying as you want and then hit the road and see what comes up. There are companies that offer road trip planning services down to the teeniest details about where to stay, what to eat, what to see, etc. But that's not our philosophy here.

Mark

I have to agree with the others, sometimes there is so much to do it makes your head spin ! As well as my purchased paper maps I usually print off more detailed maps from the Internet of the places I am spending some time and do some scribblings on the back of the page and mark out things on the map that are of extra interest to me. I also can't help but print off park maps from the NP site and make notes of walks that are both scenic and fit in with my time structure but there is always a ton of info available from the visitor centres. It's the research that makes me partly familiar with the area before I go and things just fall into place on the road. I am always amazed at the number of things that you stumble across unaware of it's existence, those are the bits that make a very special road trip extra special.
While researching, any sites I find with lots of useful info get added to my favorites list so that I can access them easily when looking for further info.

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Originally Posted by ll18

The funny thing is that the way I usually like to travel is to read some stuff, go wander around, then look at the map and figure out what I discovered after the fact. I guess I'm just feeling like that method doesn't work so well when I've got so many miles to cover.

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I'm exactly the same way, One of the first things I do when I get home from a road trip is to look up where I was and what I just saw. There's no reason you can't still do that on a larger trip. If it helps, you might want to keep some notes or a journal - which of course could be its own great resource in the future!

. . . so long as I end up home in LA, not in Canada because I took that cool looking road to the right (which actually might be fun . . . )

Thanks for the sage advice everyone. It sounds like I like to plan the same way alot of you do (general familiarity, and then let things happen). Thanks for reminding me that this still works, even on the larger scale of a big road trip.

After finishing my road trip with my niece and her friend in St. Louis, they're flying home and I'm driving back, probably by myself. I'm very comfortable with going solo. I'll have 4 nights to get home, 5 if I'm feeling tired or want to explore more.

I know I want to see Arches NP and I know myself well enough that as soon as I hit the 15, all I'm going to want to do is get home. So, here's my tentative itinerary:

Day 1 - St. Louis - Someplace in Kansas. I'll probably take I-70.

Day 2 - Someplace in Kansas to Colorado Springs via I-70/US24 (Tesla's house).

Day 3 - Colorado Springs to Grand Junction via I-25/US50 (possible stop at Black Canyon of Gunnison or Salida Hot Springs).

Day 4 - Grand Junction to Arches to Wherever I'm Ready to Stop via I-70/I-15.

Day 5 - Wherever I Slept to Home via I-15, etc.

I'm considering a couple of options through Kansas. I'm curious about Greensburg, KS, because of its green rebuild after it was leveled by a tornado a couple of years ago - there's a fascinating series on the Planet Green channel about it. Greensburg is on US400 between US281 and US283. I also have thought about going through Wichita to drive by the house that my mom lived in for a short time in the 20s.

It looks like it would make most sense to take US50 across Kansas if I want to go to Greensburg and/or Wichita (ending in Pueblo instead of Colorado Springs). However, I'm not sure I want to commit to driving all that flat distance on US50, or take the extra time instead of I-70.

I could most easily skip Wichita since I've already looked up the house on Google Street View (which may sort of be cheating). I could take I-70, drop down to US400 to see Greensburg and then go back up to I-70, but I can't get a good sense from the mapping software how much drive time that would add for me.

So, I'd appreciate comments on which route to take through Kansas. Also, any recommendations for what town to stay in in Kansas my first night on the road? If anything else jumps out at you about the itinerary, please tell.

Thanks.

I've made the run through Kansas on US-400, and for a non-Interstate highway, it's really a fast road. Here is my recommendation for you to go from STL to Arches via Greensburg:

Take I-44 out of STL to the OK state line, and get on US-400 (MO Exit 1). Take that all the way through KS into CO. Shortly after entering CO, 400 ends, just stay on US-50 all the way to Grand Junction. Suggested overnights are Wichita and Pueblo.