My Ultimate Summer Trip

Ever since i was a little kid I loved travel. I lived in Florida, so the biggest thrill for me was to see mountains. My grandparents used to take me and my little brother all over the eastern united states. However as time tends to do, the trips stopped. The Adventures stopped. My parents werent much for road trips- so when my grandparents we no longer able to take us (dead), the trips became a memory. I remember saying, when im in college im going to pack up the car, get with my friends, and go on the biggest road trip of my life.

Seven years later, the time is here.
Quickly approching the end of my Freshman year of college and the University of Central Florida in Orlando, the trip is on the horizion. In May 2006 my two friends and I will travel across the country on an unbeleveable adventure. Heres what we have planned.


From Tampa Florida:
May 1st 2006 - Nashville Tennessee
May 2nd 2006-Des Moines Iowa
May 3rd 2006-Keystone South Dakota (Mt. Rushmore)
May 4th 2006-Yellowstone National Park Wyoming (camping)
May 5th 2006-Yellowstone National Park Wyoming (camping)
May 6th 2006-Yellowstone National Park Wyoming (camping)
May 7th 2006-Salt Lake City
May 8th 2006-Los Angeles California
May 9th 2006-Los Angeles California (The Price Is Right)
May 10th 2006-Los Angeles California
May 11th 2006-Los Angeles California (Jay Leno)
May 12th 2006-Los Angeles California
May 13th 2006-Sequoia National Forest (Camping)
May 14th 2006-Sequoia National Forest (Camping)
May 15th 2006- Grand Canyon
May 16th 2006- Zion National Park
May 17th 2006-Roswell NM
May 18th 2006-Dallas Texas
May 19th 2006-Baton Rouge
May 20th 2006-Tampa (home)

Alot of planning has gone into this trip. Ive used mapquest to determine the distance from Motel to motel, City to City. No days drive exeeds 11 hrs. I have countless maps and guides from AAA- including TripTic. However, what i dont have is experience. Ive read alot of posts on this site, I know its important to have a case of water in the car and have the car checked before leaving. However i have some questions.

-How exactly would i go about camping at the National Park camp sites? Its too early to make reservations (they dont reserve spaces until mid May) Check in times?

-What about Laundry?

-Dinner, cheap places to eat- fast food for 20days is not an option, i saw Super Size Me

- Can i expect snow in Wyoming in early may? (i've never seen it snow)

- I know problems will occur, what can i expect?

- I want to camp near the BIG sequoia trees in Sequoia, where are they?

Thats all i can think of now. But has anyone traveled any of these legs before?

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America forum.

I'm sorry, but many of your day's drives are going to be longer than 11 hours. The estimates of driving time you get from MapQuest and other trip planning software are the driving time ONLY. They assume that you can travel 65 mph every second you're on the road, that you never stop for gas, that you don't ever need to eat, that you have Paul Bunyan's bladder, and that you never hit any traffic. In the real world, you can expect to make about 53 mph when you take all those things into account. Your first leg, Tampa to Nashville, is 710 miles, and is much more likely to take more than 13 hours rather than "less than 11". Your second leg, Nashville to Des Moines is another 710 miles and another brutal day of driving. Third day to Rapid City is 'only' 630 miles, or 12 hours of on-the-road time. By the time you get to Mount Rushmore, you will all be exhausted and probably on each other's nerves from all the enforced together time in a very small space. Similarly, Salt Lake City to Los Angeles is almost 700 miles and Baton Rouge to Tampa is 710 miles, This type of speed run is possible, but not much fun, and will certainly not bring back any fond memories of the RoadTrips your grandparents took you on. I strongly urge you to reconsider the scope of this, your first RoadTrip, so that you have time to do more than just push on down the road half asleep

AZBuck

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Originally Posted by Frog1387

In May 2006 my two friends and I will travel across the country on an unbeleveable adventure.

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Welcome to the Great American RoadTrip Forum! I like the attitude and the work and time you have spent on the planning phase. However, as AZBuck has so eloquently phrased it -- there is no way you can keep this schedule -- Even professional drivers would never attempt this.

Driving times: MapQuest and the other online planning services used an alogorithm for estimating travel times -- they are almost always overly generous with the estimates. On the this site we use two rules of thumb: Interstate travel in the west (not urban west) = an average speed of 57 MPH over the course of a day's travel. Everywhere else an average speed of 53 mph. Even if you are traveling in excess of the posted speed limits, you will find that it is not generally possible to go faster than 57 mph on any day's travel unless you can keep the speedometer pegged in the triple digits. These lower average speeds take into consideration fuel and food stops, stretching, etc. and they are time-tested.

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May 3rd 2006-Keystone South Dakota (Mt. Rushmore)

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Read this field report filed by Peter Thody last summer.

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May 7th 2006-Salt Lake City
May 8th 2006-Los Angeles California

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Wow, this is a long day in the saddle. -- Don't you want to stop and check out the new Hooter's Hotel in Las Vegas?

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May 13th 2006-Sequoia National Forest (Camping)
May 14th 2006-Sequoia National Forest (Camping)

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Read this field report by Mark Helmlinger

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May 15th 2006- Grand Canyon
May 16th 2006- Zion National Park
May 17th 2006-Roswell NM

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Three brutal days in the saddle if you are going to spend any time looking at what these places have to offer -- From the Sequoias, I would suggest taking the awesome, and little traveled road over Sherman Pass -- through Panamint Valley and drive through my favorite park -- Death Valley and then on Zion. Then go to the Grand Canyon, another field report, and then make your way to Roswell -- it is too far in one day!

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-Dinner, cheap places to eat- fast food for 20days is not an option, i saw Super Size Me

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Read these tips by our road food guru, Dennis Weaver.

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- Can i expect snow in Wyoming in early may? (i've never seen it snow)

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I think you had better count on it!

Happy Planning! You still have some work to do...

Mark

Welcome to the RTA Forum and Congratulations on living out the trip you've been dreaming for.

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Ive used mapquest to determine the distance from Motel to motel, City to City. No days drive exeeds 11 hrs.

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I hate to tell you this, but you've actually given yourself several days where you will be driving for far more than 11 hours, despite what mapquest may have told you.

Experience teaches that its very difficult to exceed much more than an average of 53 mph over a long distance drive, even when planning for only short rest and fuel stops.

Just looking at the first few days of your trip, you are planning to travel 700 or more miles each of your first three days on the road. That means you'll be on the road for at least 13 hours for each of those days. You are young, and you'll have a couple of friends, so I don't think doing a 700 mile day here or there would be totally out of the questions, but driving that much several days in a row would be an exhausting trip even for a veteran roadtripper.

I'd seriously recommend scaling back your plans so you have some time to enjoy this trip. You can always go a little further than you planned, but when you start forcing yourself to drive too hard, the trip stops being fun and can start to be a job.

Also make sure that you and your friends take RTA's Road Trip Compatability Quiz to make sure you and your traveling partners are all on the same page.

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-What about Laundry?

-Dinner, cheap places to eat- fast food for 20days is not an option, i saw Super Size Me

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Laundry is available at many campgrounds and motels. If your lodging doesn't have the facilities, every town in america has a laundromat.

For food, I'm typically eating out of a cooler during my trip. Sandwiches are quick and easy, and a small gas grill costs as little as $20, and can let you cook lots of things even at a rest area.

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- I want to camp near the BIG sequoia trees in Sequoia, where are they?

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I'd check out the Sequoia National Park page. The Lodgepole campground appears to be the closest to General Sherman and the other "famous" redwoods. You might also look into the nearby Sequoia National Monument and Forest. There are also some groves of Giant Redwoods there and you might have more camping options that are less crowded.

That should help get you started, good luck and have fun!

wow well that has kind of let the air out of my baloon, but im glad i know this. As i said i lack experience, and the info given to me really helps. Im going to try to tweak the trip a bit. basically yellowstone, sequoia, los angles, and grand canyon are a must. When i planned the trip i figured that i could stop at as many cool sites as i could along the way(mt rushmore, salt lake city), but the realism prevents that. thanks alot for the advice- i wish i would have posted here sooner, i have less than 2 months to make this a little more pheasable

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Originally Posted by Frog1387

wow well that has kind of let the air out of my baloon,

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You are free to re-inflate that balloon any time you wish, your trip is going to be a blast no matter what. Everyone, including veteran roadtrippers, tend to collapse the size of this country when planning trips. North America is a huge place. It takes a long time to travel between parts of it. If you cut your planned route to only go to 1/2 of those destinations, you would still never see all that there is to see. I live in Nevada, if I were to take a two-day roadtrip every weekend for the rest of my life I would never be able to see all of there is to discover in Nevada.

Another rule: You have plenty of time. Time is elastic and only exists (in reality) in our minds. Whether you have two months or two hours to plan an epic roadtrip -- it will be enough.

In my youth I subscribed to the notion of the 800+ miles per day form of roadtripping. Now I firmly endorse the "less is more" approach -- if you can, build in some "found time" days on the trip -- with no planned destinations or routes. Let the wisdom of the road plot your course for that day. RoadTripping is dynamic -- some of my most memorable experiences came about when I had no idea where I was going when I left for the day.

You are about to embark on a voyage of discovery -- (feel that balloon inflating yet?) I hope so.

Mark

Welcome, Frog1387!

I agree with everybody's advise. Having done a few speed runs myself, I know that they can be a lot of fun if you need to drive like heck to get to a particular destination and have limited time. However, after just a few days of marathon driving, the road loses it's allure and it's time for a break.

Let me make a suggestion....

Some of the best roadtrips I've ever taken in my life are those with no destinations, no itinerary to keep to, no reservations that require adhering to. For your first roadtrip, I would suggest that you just get in the car and go. Meander. Explore. Take any road that looks interesting. Stop at anything that tweaks your fancy. Stay as long as you want at serendipitious discoveries. Quickly escape from anyplace that disappoints.

Now, there have been times where we have done speed runs of a day or two to get to an area where we explore like this, and then have had to do speed runs to get home. But these days of driving like heck are offset by wonder, discovery, and lack of schedules that are sublime.

So I would suggest that you target an area and enjoy the drive there by stopping and exploring along the way, then exploring whatever area you choose, and then, if there has to be a speed run to get home, limit those marathon drives to doing just that.

This type of trip can be freeing. I mean, how often do we get to live without schedules??? Not often in today's world and, as you enter adulthood, those opportunities will become even less frequent. You are young and have a lot of years for more roadtrips. You can get to other places you've missed on this trip in other years.

Well, that's my two cents, anyway.

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basically yellowstone, sequoia, los angles, and grand canyon are a must.

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I think you're going to have to do one of two things to see all these things. Either extend your trip by a few days, or plan on spending less time at the places you are stopping at.

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When i planned the trip i figured that i could stop at as many cool sites as i could along the way(mt rushmore, salt lake city), but the realism prevents that.

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I don't think the realism stops you from stopping at those places, you've got to travel through them to get to your primary destinations anyway. And afterall, why bother with a roadtrip if you aren't going to stop and see things along the way?

Thanks for all the advice everyone im really learning alot. I like the idea of the freeness of the road trip, and i think i with the schedule im trying to make- i eliminate the freeness i so greatly seek. theres so much i want to see and im forgeting that i have plenty of time to see it. this trip was about escape. Escape from the demanding nature of college, escape from the hellish florida heat and humidity, and an escape from the ordinary. When people ask me where i was going on this trip i said "everywhere" becuase this trip wanst about one set location, it was about exploring a world i never get to see. The mountains of northwest, lights of L.a, deserts of arizona.

The only real schedule ive got to keep is i need to be in Los Angles the week of May 8th and i need to be home before May 25th. Everything else up to me. Is there a way a can pull this off? Starting in Tampa, Florida on May 1st.

This trip will be a blast no matter what we do, and i cannot wait for it.

Both Tampa to Yellowstone and Los Angeles to Tampa are on the order or 2500 miles. I think that if you budget 5 days to each of those legs, then you'll have time to stop for a few hours each day at interesting places along the way, be able to have relaxing meals, and still manage to cover around 500 miles per day. Yellowstone to Los Angeles is roughly 1000 miles, so two such days. That leaves you 8 days to spend at Yellowstone, Salt Lake City, Bryce, Zion, and Los Angeles, and the only places you'd miss are Mt. Rushmore and Sequoia. Not a bad trade-off for making the trip truly enjoyable. Just remember to concentrate on all the great stuff you'll be seeing, rather than fixate on the one or two places you didn't have time for this trip. There will be others.

AZBuck

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Originally Posted by AZBuck

Both Tampa to Yellowstone and Los Angeles to Tampa are on the order or 2500 miles. I think that if you budget 5 days to each of those legs, then you'll have time to stop for a few hours each day at interesting places along the way, be able to have relaxing meals, and still manage to cover around 500 miles per day. Yellowstone to Los Angeles is roughly 1000 miles, so two such days. That leaves you 8 days to spend at Yellowstone, Salt Lake City, Bryce, Zion, and Los Angeles, and the only places you'd miss are Mt. Rushmore and Sequoia. Not a bad trade-off for making the trip truly enjoyable. Just remember to concentrate on all the great stuff you'll be seeing, rather than fixate on the one or two places you didn't have time for this trip. There will be others.

AZBuck

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thanks man! im really starting to see an amazing road trip emerge.

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Originally Posted by Frog1387

..this trip was about escape.

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Since you already have too many destinations... I will share another possible one with you -- one of the places I go when I need to re-boot my brain. The Chiricahua mountains are located in the extreme southeastern corner of Arizona. They were the once the refuge of Geromino & his band and a whole host of refugees continue to go there seeking an escape from the pressures of the civilized world. In particular, I like to hike in the upper drainages of Cave Creek canyon. There is an awesome dirt road from Portal to the Chiricahua Monument (it is graded and a normal passenger car can make it) -- from the road, you can see Silver Peak (where I was a fire lookout in 1976) and there creatures living in those mountains that simply don't exist elsewhere in large numbers... (oh, and a few thousand rattlesnakes as well)... Also in the area is Tombstone -- a fun place to check out and Ft. Bowie!

Actually, I could probably create a list of a 500+ such places of refuge I have found in my travels. But one more --- Eagle Nest Lake in New Mexico -- good vibes there.

You are going to love the, hot, dry winds of the American southwest. A good place for inflating that balloon!

Happy Planning!

Mark

I know every has already mentioned it, but there's just too much driving your trying to do at a time. If your are trying to do things outside of driving, there's just not enough time to do things. I live just north of Des Moines, and I've done the trip to the Keystone area several times. It will take you the entire day. Depending on the time you leave, you won't even be able to make it to Mount Rushmore at a reasonable hour. That'd be missing out on the Badlands (which are awesome, take the Scenic Byway through), Couple of Caves there, and alot of other things in the Rapid City area. It seems every point in your intinery, just accounts for travel time. No sightseeing time. You'd get to every stop (outside of the multiday stops) in the afternoon, and leave yourself with very few hours to actually enjoy some of America's most beautiful Landmarks. I'll be honest with you, the first few of my road trips I did were about getting there and seeing it, not getting there, experiencing it and enjoying it like I do now. I believe with your current trip plan, you'll get back wishing that you'd spent more time in some places and missed out on alot of stuff. Is it possilbe to lengthen the amount of time on your trip? I'd hate to see you go on a trip and feel like you missed out on lot of stuff.
If your like 99.9% of all college students, you probably don't have a huge budget for this trip. If time is of the essence, may I suggest you fly out and rent a car? Yes, I know it will be a bit more money, BUT, it'll give you more days in parks like Yellowstone(don't forget the Tetons), Grand Canyon, etc. If you flew into SLC, it'd be somewhat of a Central Location, You could make a big circle of all your places. (maybe skipping mount rushmore) Student Universe might be able to find you a good deal. It can't hurt to research.
If you are planning on camping in National Parks, most are first come first serve. I believe there are a few that you can book online. I'd check out www.nps.gov for more info.
Good Luck on the Trip! You've picked some of the world's greatest natural wonders.

Thanks alot to everyone for your helpful tips and suggestions. I have revised my trip and now it seems much more pheasable.

Basically its broken up into 3 parts.
PT 1 :Tampa to Los Angeles (8 days)
-take our time
- stop along grand canyon for a day
-spend some time in vegas
-enjoy the open road
PT 2: Los Angeles (5 days)
-enjoy everything the city has to offer
PT 3: Los Angeles to Yellowstone
-stop in sequoia for 2 nights (7 days)
-2 days drive to yellowstone
-stop in yellowstone for few nights
PT 4: Yellowstone to Tampa (5 days)

Basically this covers 25 days from may1st to may 25th.
I think this will give us enough time to enjoy the road without rushing.

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Originally Posted by Frog1387

I have revised my trip and now it seems much more feasible.

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I think so too. You will see more than you can imagine, but you will have the time to think about it a little more.

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I think this will give us enough time to enjoy the road without rushing.

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For your drive as you approach Yellowstone -- my I suggest this audio book written and read by Tim Cahill "Lost in my own Backyard" (my review here). Also I would suggest Michael and Heidi Pfeil Dougherty Wyoming and Montana Atlas and Travel Encyclopedias-- there are a little tough to use at first glance but full of information you are unlikely to find as easily.

Mark

Just a quick suggestion:

Would it be worth taking a flight to Des Moines and hiring a car for the rest of the trip? That should give your schedule more room to move, and still allow you to keep to your planned duration. I don't know how much a short internal flight would be, but they are cheap here in the UK.

It put things into perspective for me though- if you drove for 11 hours in any direction from where I live you'd be in water :) The UK is only about 10 hours long (at 70mph)...

I think your itinerary seems a lot more fun and do-able now. You should still have time to stop at serendipitious places along the way as well.

Enjoy! And if you need any specific help with something now that you're getting your route nailed down, please let us give you another hand.

Hey Frog,

Your second iteniteray sounds much better. i've driven around the country twice by myself (from FL too). Last summer, I drove from here, my first stop was a ventriloquist puppet museum in Fort Mitchell, KY, then realizing Cincinnati was just a 10 minute drive, I made an unplanned stop there. Then I found out a friend was also driving through Cin. that evening, so I waited around and spent an unplanned night there. This type of thing will probably happen to you too, not running inito friends, but unplanned stops. Then, off to Chicago, spent one night and planned on leaving the next morning, but got tied up and left the next night. Got lost for many many hours in WI, drove through MN.

Next stop was The Badlands. If you are going to Mt Rushmore. I highly recommend, stopping at the badlands (freaking amazing) and Deadwood, and get to Mt Rushmore about 7 pm, so you can be there for the lighting ceremony, I think it's at 9 pm, but call and check. All three of those places are very close together in South Dakota.

Then I drove up to Glacier National Park, not realizing how far it actually was, so i ended up losing another entire day driving there and leaving there.

Then I drove straight through (I was exhausted) to Winnemucca, NV, slept for a couple of hours, did laundry and shopping and headed to Burning Man for a week, got to the desert Sunday instead of my planned Sat. So, even though I added a few days on, unplanned, I still made it to bm only a day late, but that included driving over night.

Then, I went to San Fran. ended up staying there an extra couple of days, down the coast, to San Diego, spent an unplanned night there. To Joshua Tree (highly recommended), then to Bryce, Zion and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Got through Bryce and the Grand Canyon quickly, Zion was much more than I expected. I spent a full day there and still didn't get to see everything I wanted to see. Did hike the Emerald falls hike though, I recommend that too.

After that I think my last real fun stop was in Las Cruces, NM to visit a friend.

Anyway, the point of all of this is to tell you that I did all of this in exactly one month. With one full week of that (Sun-Mon) spent at burning man, so basically that trip was done in three weeks. I had a great time, there were a few places I wish I had more time, but now I know better for this summer.

Here are my pics if you are interested in checking some out, this entire gallery is from that trip. http://donnas-pics.smugmug.com/Travel

I am more hard core than the average road tripper I think. I love to drive, once I'm in the groove.

The day I got home, my car got totalled, so now I have a new one, and after 4 times driving around the country, I decided last year was the last time, but, now I'm thinking my new car needs to have the experience.

Good luck!

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Originally Posted by Frog1387

-stop in sequoia for 2 nights (7 days)

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Frog - quick bit about Sequoia National Park, sounds as if you are coming out of Los Angeles and making a beeline there. Not too far, about 200 miles, half day's drive maybe depending on the pace. As you come up the hill into the park, right at the top of the hill, mountain really, is Morro Rock (at center in the keyhole map). You can walk a short distance out to this and stand at 6725 Feet surrounded by NOTHING!! Truly an amazing spot in all the state. On a clearest of days, you can see clear across the Central Valley say nearly 100 miles.

http://www.pashnittours.com/photos/k...8/Hwy198-4.jpg

http://www.nps.gov/seki/mainvc.htm

http://kingscanyon.areaparks.com/

Very cool map plus all your campgrounds

http://www.sequoia.national-park.com/map.htm

Make sure you take Hwy 180 down into Kings Canyon all the way to Cedar Grove at the end. Everything is very expensive (lodging/gas/food) inside the park so bring everything and gas up BEFORE you enter the park!