Summer 2006 American Road Trip

It seems we’ve got similar ideas of road trip through america. Originally, my plan was to start my trip in New York in May 2006 and then hit south: along the coast to florida, then west, almost the same road you plan to take, New Orlean, Houston, Carlsbad, Roswell, Santa Fe, Canyon de Chelly and Grand Canyon, great national parks in Utah, Las Vegas, Yosemite, Sequoia, Los Angeles and San Francisco. I planned it to last 3 to 4 months. Camping all the time, taking a camp stove, and generally being very careful with expenses. I’m on tight budget too. I was looking for companion for this trip among my friends but they don’t want to take a year break in studies or aren’t really into travelling. I just don’t want to wait with this trip till I graduate.

Please let me know if you still want to go and maybe we could do this trip (at least the part from Atlanta to SF) together.

Stay well
Tom, 21 years old student, Poland

sounds good Tom. 9,000 miles is totally possible. This past summer a friend and I conquered 32,000 miles in roughly 80 days. No breakdowns, no problems, it was an amazing trip. Alaska, Seattle, Mt. Rushmore, Chicago, Maine, Boston, New York, Washington DC, Miami, Orlando, Austin, Nashville, Memphis, Las Vegas were among places we reached! Got some good ideas. What are you into?

32,000 miles? Sounds amazing. Real 'around country' trip. I was rather thinking about something... smaller. Just coast to coast trip in 3 months, taking time, not being under pressure of making hundreds miles a day. Just see the sights, take back roads through small towns and visit some events like ufo festival in Roswell or apple feast in Oak Glen, Ca, stuff like that.
At this point I'm looking for companionship because solo travel is just not it.
After that I think I'll stay in LA for a while, till mid december probably.
Let me know if you recall any great offbeat places you had visited...

Thanks
Tom, 21 years old (student of astronomy), Poland

Hmmm. Cool places I can think of off the top of my head are..
Krause Springs Water Hole. -Found this through a Houston local who took us there for the day. Located in Spicewood, TX, this is some guy's property who opens it up in the summertime for visitors to swim in. Has awesome rope swings & a ledge you can jump 20ft off of. Very cool and something I've never experienced here in California. Other cool places you should look into are Sandpoint, Idaho. Great camping right in the middle of town on Lake Pend Oreille. Nice beach and crystal blue skies. Check out Wisconsin Dells, WI. Spend a couple days in Chicago. Go up Sears Tower. Stop in St. Louis, MO. Not alot of people know you can actually go up the Gateway Arch but you can. Very cool. Cedar Point Amusement Park in Sandusky, Ohio. World renowned and self proclaimed the best theme park in the world. I think I agree with that. If your really into music hit up the EMP Museum in Seattle, WA next to the Space Needle which I'd also go up. Heard alright things about Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in Cleveland but I've never been there. The #1 Places For Astronomy are Huntsville, AL, Houston, TX, and of course Cape Canveral in Florida. I'd time your summer trip around a launch. I tried this on my trip but it got delayed :( While in Florida go to South Beach(Miami). Plenty of things to do in Orlando of course. Charleston, SC is an amazing town. Boston, NYC, Chestnut St in Philadelphia, Washington DC are a must. Also Newport, Rhode Island, Toronto, & Elvis Presley's Graceland in Memphis are in my top Fav places.

Great tips Bam! I'd love to go to that Krause Springs Water Hole and camp at Sandpoint, ID. Do you have any pictures?

Gen

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The #1 Places For Astronomy are Huntsville, AL, Houston, TX, and of course Cape Canveral in Florida.

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I think you meant these places are great if you're interested in the space program or NASA. Astronomy is something different. For that, the best places are Kitt Peak, Mt Hopkins, Mt Graham and Lowell Observatory, all in Arizona. Kitt Peak for one, allows visitors during daylight hours. Also, there is a famous observatory in Hawaii (a little farther afield) and there is the fascinating VLA on the Plains of San Augustin in western New Mexico (also worth a visit). The VLA was a star in Jodie Foster's movie "Contact."

Here's a few pics. In the 1st Sandpoint picture I recommend camping right next to that lakefront park at Best Western's Edgewater Campground.

http://images.search.yahoo.com/searc...&cop=&ei=UTF-8

http://www.sandpointinfo.com/images/Sandpoint.jpg

http://come2sandpoint.com/sandpoint/..._Gold_Hill.jpg

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Originally Posted by Bam

In the 1st Sandpoint picture I recommend camping right next to that lakefront park at Best Western's Edgewater Campground.

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If you want a real fun place to camp -- Fox Farm (just up the lake from town) can't be beat!

Mark

Hey Bam.
THANKS A LOT. That’s exactly what I was looking for. Spicewood looks awesome. I guess I won’t be able to see all the places you mentioned but some of them are a ‘must see’ now. Over the past few weeks I’ve finally found companions for the trip and plans changed a bit. It’s called a compromise I guess. We’ll just give up the east coast (probably) and concentrate on western (and mid west) states.
I am interested in NASA programs (naturally) but I think we won’t make it to Houston, alas.
But VLA in Socorro and Kitt Peak, AZ are the places I just can’t miss.
Thanks again for the tips.

Tom

NASA in LA

Tom, if you're going to be in LA for a while and are interested in NASA, be sure to check a previous post of mine for the links and sign up for the tours of JPL and Edwards. This should be a lot easier now that you're EU and no longer Warsaw Pact.

AZBuck