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Hey all,
My girlfriend and I moving to San Diego from New Jersey in January 07. We are driving seperate cars out. I have a few questions...
1. Whats the best route with regards to weather?
2. Whats the best route for attractions?
3. Is January a bad time to cross country?
Any input would be greatlky appreciated. Thanks alot.
The King
Welcome to the Great American RoadTrip Forum!Quote:
Originally Posted by KingofJacks
It is too early to make such prediction -- but you will find respondents to this type of query to be evenly divided between I-40 and I-70.Quote:
1. Whats the best route with regards to weather?
Not really, January is often the milder month for winter storms.Quote:
3. Is January a bad time to cross country?
Mark
Thanks alot Mark. Im very excited to do this trek. I will share my expriences with the forum for sure.
Jeff
I found when travelling across the country in winter that it's better to go as far south as possible. The first time I drove from Northern California to Virginia, I drove down I-40 and it was...to put it plainly, cold. This was in February and many places had snow and ice. In Amarillo we were stuck in a horrible ice storm that took us an entire day to go about 40 miles. Of course weather is different every year so who knows? It might be warm and sunny for you!
The next time I went it was summer (not helpful to you, unfortunately), but I drove down I-10 and it worked very well. I know that the majority of it runs through much warmer climates. Southern Texas, for example (Where I live currently) is only about 40-50F lows in winter. You could either go down I-95 and cut across one of the highways that runs southwest, to get to I-10.
Just my two cents :) Good luck!
I posted on here a while back regarding my planned trip to San Diego in January, well its now official. I along with my gf will be leaving on Jan 3rd for San Diego. Now we have 7 days to make the trek. I looked on a few maps and basically came up with these places...
1. Charleston, West Virginia
2. Nashville, Tenn.
3. Little Rock, Arkansas
4. Dallas, Texas
5. Lubbock, Texas
6. Roswell, New Mexico
7. Albuqureque, New Mexico
8. Flagstaff, Arizona
9. Las Vegas, Nevada
10. San Diego, California
Now this is just the first stab at places to go. We want to take a southern route. Does anyone have any suggestions on where i should go or does this list look good? Some of the places are real weird, i know. Please assist. I want this to be the best experience ever.
King
What sort of things do you think would make this the "best experience ever?" A great roadtrip means a lot of different things to differnent people.
Just on first glance, there's nothing wrong with your route. However, you might need to save Flagstaff and/or Vegas for another day. This will be even more the case if you hit bad weather and lose a day or two of travel. Those cities are kind of a big zig zag back north if you are going to Dallas and/or Roswell. If you are both driving solo and you both aren't used to driving long distances alone, you might also want to keep your miles down just to keep your sanity.
OK the new list of places has been decided...
Day 1 NJ -> Nashville
Day 2 Nashville -> Dallas
Day 3 Dallas all day with family
Day 4 Dallas -> Denver
Day 5 Denver -> Grand Canyon
Day 6 Grand Canyon -> Vegas
Day 7 Vegas -> LA/San Diego
Hows that look, alot better huh. We will be driving two seperate cars. We will have 4 people going. 2 each car.
I'm not sure why you'd think adding more than a thousand miles to your trip would make it "better." Your previous idea added a couple hundred miles to the direct route, but if weather was ok, you'd probably be able to do it.
Your new plan is well beyond the limits of reality.
For example, Denver to Dallas is 900 miles. A solid 16 hours on the road, even in perfect conditions. Then after catching a nap, you'd be on the road for just as much time the next day.
All of your other legs between NJ and the Grand Canyon are well beyond 700 miles each - which puts you on the road 13 hours a day minnimum for several days during your week of travel. Simply put, that's not smart or safe.
With only 7 days to get from New Jersey to San Diego, and assuming you really will be spending a day in Dallas with family, then you really do not have much choice in either your route or where you will stay each night. Between NJ and Dallas, you will need to stick to (I-76 or I-78)/I-81/I-40/I-30/I-20 with overnight stops in Wytheville, VA and Jackson, TN. That gives you three days of driving, each on the order of 500-550 miles. From Dallas to San Diego, just continue on I-20/I-10/I-8 with stops in Pecos, TX and Benson, AZ leaving you three more solid days of driving, each 450 to 500 miles long. I know it does not sound like an adventurous drive and the cities you'll be stopping in are not cute, romantic or exciting. But they offer good accommodations at reasonably spaced intervals. The sad fact is that the trip you are about to embark on is going to be far more work than pleasure and I think if you come at it with that attitude, you might be able to occasionally reward yourself with a roadside attraction. But if you continue to think that you can do 700 and 800 mile drives day after day after day and enjoy it, you are setting yourself up for a major disappointment
AZBuck
The other experts (above) have already shared their expertise -- I will add one more -- Professional drivers (who get paid to drive 8-10 hours per day) would never attempt to keep this schedule.Quote:
Originally Posted by KingofJacks
Mark
I understand that people from the East may not realize how big the West really is. It's possible to drive 12 hours from Denver and still be in the state of Colorado. (not all interstate, of course.) So, if you want to have time at the end of the day to relax, I wouldn't go over 600 miles a day MAX, and figure fewer per day if you drive I-70 through Colorado. The shortest route is I-70 through KC, Denver, I-15 through Las Vegas.
I-40 is more heavily traveled cross country because it's easier and much lower elevation over the Continental Divide. If you want to go through Dallas, you're better off Taking I-20 to I-10 and going across the desert southwest. In this case you'd want to go Columbus, OH to St. Louis, Tulsa, OK on I-44.
My advice is to spend the night in Columbus, Ohio and make a decision if you want to stay on I-70 or go south based on the weather. Someone predicted that due to El Nino, there may not be much snow this winter in Colorado, but more in New Mexico.
Well this kind of dampers the plan. Its upsetting but i will take your advice. I figured with two of us switching driving, we could easily do 5 hours each. Thats not too bad is it? Is the weather bad this route?
KoJ
Sorry, didn't mean to dampen your enthusiasm, but reality is a stern taskmaster. If I could run a marathon at the same rate I run a hundred yard dash, I could do it in just over an hour. (The world record is twice that.) It's the same with long distance drives. One thinks if they can do 75 mph, they can do 750 miles in 10 hours of driving. But it never works out even close to that. Once you factor in stops to gas up, eat, use rest rooms, etc., and slowdowns for traffic, cities and sights, you're lucky if you can maintain 55 on an hour after hour basis. We have learned from hard experience that, in fact, you can do maybe 57 (on average) in the wide-open west, and only 53 in the more congested east. We're just trying to save you from learning that same painful lesson all over again. And much as you think having multiple drivers and cars will help, it will only help in as much as it will let the drivers share the load. Anytime you add to the number of people involved or the complexity of a task, it slows things down even more.
You probably can take time to see a few things along the way. In fact I'm sure that everyone here would encourage you to do so, if only to take a mental break from driving. But your basic route is going to have to be pretty direct given your time constraints and any sites you visit are going to have to be pretty close to the main highway, no wandering off to Denver.
Weather is simply not predictable any further than 5 days out, so you'll have to keep an eye on it as you travel. Be sure to check the Weather Channel each evening and morning from your motel room, and keep an ear open to local radio (a hoot anyway), and don't press your luck.
AZBuck
Ok so we are taking Denver out of the trip. We are still going to drive from NJ to Nashville then Nashville to Dallas. After that its up in the air. Where do you suggest we go from Dallas. We would love to see the Grand Canyon....
KoJ
Trying to make it from NJ to Dallas in 2 days is not a good idea. On a theoretical level, it would be possible. But it will involve 2 greuling days on the road.
Depending upon where you are starting in NJ, you are looking at 800-900 miles to get to Nashville. Assuming ideal conditions of good weather and light traffic (which are certanly not sure things in January), that means you will need to spend between 15 and 17 hours on the road. You'd follow that up the next day by "only" being on the road for 13 or so hours. Put simply, there are laws that prevent professional drivers with years of long haul experience from even attempting this kind of feat.
If you want a suggestion on where to go from Dallas, I will agree with Buck, you should go to San Diego the most direct way possible which involves using I-20 and I-10. The Grand Canyon will add several hundred miles to the trip from Dallas to San Diego, which quite frankly, you don't have time for if you are going to make this journey in just 7 days.
It could happen that you will have lovely weather and dry pavement the entire way across the country -- (not real likely, but it could happen). If you stretch the trip to Dallas to 2.5 days, you MIGHT still have time to detour up to the Grand Cayon. However, on the most direct path, there are some really cool places you could stop and check out....Quote:
Originally Posted by KingofJacks
Las Cruces, New Mexico is in a gorgeous valley and a short detour will take you to White Sands National monument. An amazing sight -- keep your eyes peeled for the long-horned Eru that live near here.
Another short detour comes up when you reach Benson, Arizona -- the Kartchner Caverns are a few miles south on Highway 90. -- Even easier is taking the round trip drive through Saguaro National Park near Tucson. From Tucson, you could head for the Grand Canyon, but this will effectively take another day and will have to see if you have this much time.
If time is as short as it could be (weather, fatigue, etc.) another place to stop (that is on your direct route) is the Yuma Territorial State Prison park -- here are some dreadful photos -- but it is a fun stop.
The trip across the country can be done very reasonably in five driving days So, if you lose a day in Dallas, it will make it tough to fit in the Grand Canyon and still have a day/night in Las Vegas -- But if you make a plan to be on-the-road for 10 hours or so for each of the 5.5 DRIVING DAYS-- you should be fine---it is going to be an adventure of a lifetime. Enjoy!
Mark
OK well thanks everyone for all the comments, assistance, ideas, and so on and so forth. We will consider all of your recommendations for our trip. We will be departing January 3rd at 9am so wish us luck, less than a month away. I will be sure to update the forum on the entire trip. Thanks again.
KoJ
What does everyone know about El Paso? I may be diverting my trip to go through there, possibly sleeping there a night. Is it a safe town? Does anyone recommend a hotel or a restaurant.
It has been a little too long since I have been there to offer recommendations about lodging or restaurants -- it is a place with a little rough edges (as are most border towns) but a fascinating place for shopping and sightseeing. I am curious why you choose to route your trip that way?Quote:
Originally Posted by KingofJacks
Mark
Well, i heard the weather is better down there then in Amarillo. Its not set in stone. We are cutting out the Grand Canyon basically because everyone here said its alot to add to the trip and its possibly cold up there. Also I would like to hit up Phoenix/Scottsdale. I hear Scottsdale is great. Do you maybe have a recommendation for another place to stop and sleep before heading to Scottsdale. I would need somewhere between Dallas and Scottsdale. I would like it to be a safer town, doesnt have to big very "popular".
Thanks Mark.
KoJ
I never really know how to answer this question. I've stayed in the heart of major cities, in the suburbs, in small towns, and in little "if you blink you'll miss it" places that are just pit-stops on the road. I've only stayed in one place that made me a tad nervous in all my travels. And that was in a hotel owned by a major chain in the heart of a very nice city. And the situation only occurred because of a rather bizarre incident and probably wasn't indicative of anything typical for that hotel.
I guess what I'm saying is most places are just about as safe as anyplace else. Remember, that other town/city/"blink and you'll miss it" place are where people live. And they probably feel every bit as safe at their homes/areas as you do in yours.
I simply recommend that you turn your personal safety radar on high. This doesn't mean being paranoid. It does mean being aware and observant. Some questions you might ask yourself: is it well-lit, does it look maintained, are the staff friendly, do you see other people walking around without looking like they're nervous? If, for some reason, a place just doesn't look right to you, or you feel the heebie-jeebies coming on, don't stay there and try the next place down the road.
Maybe that's why, except for the one incident, why I've never felt unsafe where I've stayed...I heed my personal safety radar. I don't tell myself "oh, don't be silly" and ignore it. I figure I may be wrong and that place may be safe after all but I tell myself "I'd rather be safe than sorry" and keep on going until I find a place more appealing.
I do tend to avoid small hotels that advertise weekly rates prominently on billboards, etc., unless they are extremely well-maintained and charming. My reason is because in my area several of the hotels that do weekly rentals tend to be where the druggies stay. I have no idea if this is typical elsewhere but it is just a criteria I tend to use. But, like I said, if it is very clean, charming, etc. than I figure that they probably screen out any trouble-makers so this isn't a criteria that is set in stone for me.
Hope this all makes sense.
That makes perfect sense. I kind of knew i should do that, but i just wanted peoples remarks if they have been there. I heard border towns are bad, so i figured i'd ask.
El Paso is no different. I've been there but I haven't slept there so I can't give you any specific recommendations but this isn't like some little village in the middle of nowhere. Any city has areas that are better or worse than others. I would imagine that they also have areas where there are more hotels/motels than other areas. Each city always seems to have areas where the motels congregate together a bit. I would imagine that any place like this that has the normal chains you would expect to see like Holiday Inn, Ramada, Motel 6, Days Inn, Econolodge, etc. is going to be just fine.
Can someone possibly help with info on Austin. Hows is this place?
Hi KingofJacks,
El Paso is one of my favourite cities in the US and definitely not because it is a picturesque town. It's quite the opposite actually. That city is not pretty following any American standard but is somehow unique presicely because of its raw character or rather rough around the edges. The closer you get to the border, the less caucasian folks you will meet, even though I haven't met many of them during my stays in EP. At night, you can hear Mexican mambo screech until wee hours and see all kind of shady people.
To me, El Paso is pretty much like the Detroit of the south west : unloved, unrefined, but aesthetically much more interesting than most cities. Although, I have to admit I felt much safer in El Paso and you don't get to see as many wreck buildings as you do in Motor City. If you spend enough time looking around, you will find many jewels of Spanish architecture and you could also follow the Old mission trail which will lead you to interesting small towns further east.
On my last trip, I was passing through EP on my way to Arizona and I heard some loud music. I parked on a side street and followed the music. There was a fiesta going on in a park. Even though I was probably the only white girl in the group, I went in there and started taking pictures. Some people thought I was a journalist and they all came to chat with me. When I told them that I was just some French chick from Quebec travelling by herself, they were like : oh,...whatever! They just accepted me as their "second Latin" cousin:-). There was a Mexican food contest - you know, the best of... kind of contest -- so I got to taste all kinds of good stuff. These people were very cheerful and I had such a good time!
I guess it comes down to one thing really : if you want to learn about a place : people, manners, language, culture, you need to blend in even though you might feel desoriented. I really enjoy travelling like that although it might lead to risky situations from time to time (been there, done that:o). I never felt threatened in El Paso though. Being a guy already gives you an advantage. Unlike me, you could go to Ciudad Juarez and actually enjoy the commercial area. If you do, cross the bridge by foot (0,35$) and be sure to have your passport on your way back (0,25$), don't bother using your car. There is plenty of free parking on the American side and go to a casa del cambio to get some pesos before you cross.
As for hotels I was a little bit more conservative, I've always stayed at chains in EP because they had good deals and wireless internet. If you pick up a copy of Texas' coupon booklets, you will notice that El Paso usually has cheap and unbeatable hotel rates. Unfortunately, I haven't tried a lot of restaurants in El Paso, but I can suggest Kiki's Restaurant on N. Piedras and the Los Bandidos (I can't remember the address) which is more touristy but has good margaritas.
Have fun!
Gen
From what I understand, Austin is a pretty nice place to be, with a good music and arts scene, as well as some interesting wildlife.
Thanks for all again. Sorry for all the constant changes and questions. I just want to make sure I do it right. So heres the updated trip. This is 98% sure.
NJ - Nashville
Nashville - Dallas
All day in Dallas
Dallas - Austin
Austin - El Paso
El Paso - Scottsdale
Scottsdale - San Diego
Im nervous/excited for the trip.
I hope you let us know what you find out there!
Have a fun adventure!
Mark
There really isn't. As long as you enjoy yourself and it works for you, it's right. Ande, remember, sometimes something that seems like a mistake at the time, can bring you to the best moments of your trip. To me, right or wrong is something that has to do with attitude, NOT schedules, itineraries, etc. Of course, things like safety and pacing yourself ARE important, so...
* Newark, NJ, to Nashville is 875 miles! Expect this to take a good 16-18 hours to cover. If you can actually make this distance in one day, I would expect you are going to be so exhausted the next day that it will be tough for you to do another long day to Dallas.
* Nashville to Dallas: 665 miles. About 13 hours! After your long hours on day one, your ability to drive this distance safely is questionable. I would really encourage you to reconsider this and stretch it out over 3 days. Even over 3 days, this is a long drive averaging 10 hours each day. But three-10 hour days is far more enjoyable and safe than what you're planning now.
* Dallas to Austin: This is a short 200 miles. Are you planning on doing this the day after you tour Dallas? Or is this for the evening on the same day you tour Dallas? Because of your long driving days prior to getting here, I highly encourage you to sleep in Dallas and take a day to sleep in a bit, refresh yourself, and then drive to Austin in the afternoon.
* Austin to El Paso: 570 miles. If you took my advice and rested in Dallas and then had a short day just driving to Austin, then you are probably up for another long day like this. If not, don't you think you'll be extra tired by this point?
* El Paso to Scottsdale: 450 miles. A reasonable day but there are a heckuva lot of neat things to see along this route. I hope you take the time to enjoy exploring some of them. And I question why you would want to spend the night in Scottsdale? I just think it's on the wrong side of the Phoenix Metro area. If you are leaving in the morning, you will likely end up in a of morning rush-hour traffic. Ugh! You could avoid this by staying more in the Glendale/Avondale area on the west-side of greater Phoenix. Or you could simply skip the area altogether and spend the night in Tucson. That's what I'd do....Tucson is a beautiful place.
* Scottsdale to San Diego: 365 miles. A fairly easy day to end your trip on.
I don't mean to sound critical. I've done my share of speed runs. But I also know that fatigue does set in. We all become less safe on the road for ourselves and others, and we will get tired enough to not enjoy the road trip experience as much as we could if we were more rested.
If you can squeeze out a few more days, I think you'll have a far better trip. The route itself is great...it's just the timeframe I'm concerned about.
Hey Judy, you are a great help. Heres the skinny...
NJ to Nashville is the only part im not looking foward to. I figure once we get there, we should be good to go. However, everyone on here is advising not to drive so much. Do you have a suggestion where to stay between NJ and Nashville, bc i have no idea. If you have any ideas please let me know.
Nashville to Dallas - I figure this will take about 10 hours, not too bad splitting it up with the other drivers. The great thing is once we get to Dallas we will be staying at a relatives for 2 days (2 days of rest).
Dallas to Austin - This is going to be done in the afternoon to late afternoon hours. We figured we'd drive there and see some stuff then crash for the night.
Austin to El Paso - I figured since we have the long resting days we will be up for it. (i am still very concerned about where to stay here, the whole border town thing kind of irks me).
El Paso to Scottsdale/Tucson or somewhere in Arizona - the idea to stop in Scottsdale was killed yesterday bc they do not have any open rooms in any hotels. This is a result of the National College Football Championship Game being played in Glendale at the University of Phoenix. I will look into Tucson, that may be a better idea.
Somewhere in Arizona to San Diego - I figured we would take it easy with a 5 hour drive to finish it off. Not too bad.
So if you know of somewhere between NJ and Nashville I should stay, please let me know. Also if anyone knows of the "safest" area of El Paso, please let me know. Thanks.
KoJ
All of the respondents have suggested that you are being far too optimistic about how fast you can cover distances. If you manage to drive between Nashville and Dallas and actually make it in less than 11.5 hours, I would be stunned. If you have a police escort and could control the driving delays, you might be able to cover this stretch in 10 hours, but I doubt it.Quote:
Originally Posted by KingofJacks
At about 575 miles, a reasonable day.Quote:
Austin to El Paso - I figured since we have the long resting days we will be up for it.
If you are going to roadtrip, it helps if you are willing to embrace risk. Non-risk trips can be had at any amusement park...Quote:
(i am still very concerned about where to stay here, the whole border town thing kind of irks me).
Tucson to San Diego is 410 miles, and even with a police escort you would need a full 6.5 hours to cover this distance, a reasonable driving period would be a tad over seven hours.Quote:
Somewhere in Arizona to San Diego - I figured we would take it easy with a 5 hour drive to finish it off. Not too bad.
Mark
So this trip is going to be a challenge. All of these negative responses are very upsetting. I guess I will just have to wait and see what this trip brings. I cant wait to report back to everyone.
RoadTrips are, by their very nature, supposed to be challenging and exciting. We look forward to hearing about your adventure. I am closing this thread now, and will re-open it once you get out there and are able to share what you find.Quote:
Originally Posted by KingofJacks
Mark