Printable View
hiii. i'm new to this, and my friends and i are planning to road tripp it this summer starting in california and then heading to oregon, washington, and hopefully ending up in canada. if anyone knows a great route to take or some highlights in any of those states it would be muy helpful!
<3.
Greetings, kellipoop, and welcome to the forum!
You have many choices depending on what you prefer to see. My first choice would be to drive up the coast with no final destination in mind. Just start up the coast and explore, meander, and enjoy until it's time to return home again. Allow yourself one or two days to jet home down I-5 when it's time to go home.
Highlights:
*Eureka - wonderful architecture
*Redwood National Forest - huge trees, even one you can drive through
*Brookings - just a cool, coastal town
*Gold Beach - just up the river are some fantastic river-rafting/mailboat trips
*Bandon - another cool, coastal town
*Oregon Dunes NP - huge dunes, lots of sand/dune vehicles available to rent. A blast!
*Sea Lion Caves - ride an elevator down to a huge cavern that hundreds (thousands?) of sea lions call home
*Newport - great aquarium, and fun places like a Ripley's Believe It or Not museum
*Depoe Bay - the smallest harbor in the world, inexpensive ocean excursions, see the whales (in the spring or fall)
*Tillamook - cheese factory/yummy ice cream!
*Cannon Beach - another cool, coastal town. Watch for the hang-gliders on the beach.
*Seaside - see a replica of a salt distillery used by Lewis & Clark, play in the boardwalk arcades
*Warrenton - check out the winter quarters of Lewis & Clark at Fort Clatsop (unfortunately, the fort replica burned down last winter but the museum still stands and they are rebuilding the fort more accurately based on new archeological evidence)
Up to this point, you will rarely be away from the ocean. It's a gorgeous drive! There's also lots of lighthouses, beautiful beaches, trails, etc. to explore at numerous points along the way. The rest of the way you won't be on the ocean itself most of the route but you will still be driving through some amazing scenery.
*Astoria - great maritime museum, historical buildings, etc. Cross the mouth of the Columbia River on a bridge that is almost 5 miles long, and just a few feet above the waterline....it's like driving on water. Very cool!
*Ilwaco - great, little fishing village with a great Lewis & Clark interpretive museum at a park with amazing views from some trails and a fantastic beach
*Long Beach Peninsula - fun arcades, great restaurants, great beaches and boardwalks
* Road from Long Beach to South Bend/Raymond - through some amazing marshes/wetlands
*Tokeland/Grayland/Westport - beautiful beaches, cranberry bogs, fishing and other ocean excursions
* Aberdeen - Lady Washington, a replica of the boat used by Capt. Robert Gray in the late 1700's to explore the Pacific Northwest (also appeared in "Pirates of the Caribbean")
* North Beach coastal towns of Ocean Shores, Copalis, Pacific Beach - beautiful coast drive and great beaches, cute towns with interesting shops to poke around in
* Olympic Peninsula - so much to see and do, if you're interested I could write a whole post on just this area so let me know if you're interested. Highlights: Lake Quinault, Trail of Mosses, Ruby Beach, Kalaloch, Sol Duc, Lake Crescent, Makah Indian Reservation with a fantastic museum, Hurricane Ridge, Port Townsend
Circle the Peninsula, end up back in Olympia, WA, and head home down I-5. Unless, of course, you have more time and want to hit Seattle and Vancouver, BC, before returning home.
This should give you lots of ideas for starters!
lots of great places listed by Judy & some I still want to get back to myself!
other options (depending how far out from the coast you want to get)
- Crater Lake, Mt Rainier, Mt. St. Helens, Glacier National Park...
Of course, in British Columbia, Canada...
Vancouver, Victoria, Kelowna, Yoho National Park, Glacier National Park, Mount Revelstone national Park,
and perhaps the Columbia icefield with Athabaska glacier (but that is getting over closer to Banff Alberta)
hey, how would you figure out the approx. cost if you were to be on the road for about a month, give or take a few weeks. how much do you think would be a good amount to save up before hitting the road?
That's really up to you in a lot of ways. You can check on approximate gas costs for your trip by using our Road Trip Fuel Cost Calculator. Meals and lodging can be anything from camper basic to spa luxurious. The basic way to travel cheaply is to camp out and prepare many of your own meals. For some more on traveling on a tight budget check out these ideas from a couple of our regular contributors. Also be sure to follow the links to related threads at the bottom of this page, and look into the RoadTrip Planning section.
AZBuck
thanks for all your help. but would you suggest not to travel without a certain amount of money... like less than a thousand?
Prices updated Jan. 2009 and some text added for further information and clarification.
Questions about money are hard to answer. There are way too many variables. I'll try to give you some guidelines to help you figure this out for yourself. And I'll be glad to help you further after you have gotten a bit of a basic budget started for yourself.
These are the basics for a roadtrip: gas, lodging, meals, activities, souvenirs, emergency funds. Let's take them one at a time.
GAS:
You can get a rough idea of how much money you'll need for gas by using the Road Trip Fuel Coast Calculator that AZBuck mentioned earlier. A good place to get current gas prices if GasBuddy.
Step 1: You'll need to know how many miles you'll be traveling. Using MS Streets & Trips, if you traveled one way along the coastal highways and the other way via I-5, you'll be driving about 3100. That's a minimum. Sidetrips will add a bit. I always like to pad things so my estimates are on the high side so, let's say you'll be traveling 4000 miles.
For those without MS Streets & Trips, GoogleMaps, Mapquest, AAA, and various other online options are available to get an estimate of your trip miles. Add about 20-25% for meandering, leaving the highway for food/lodging/fuel, etc. and side trips off your main route to attractions.
Step 2: Now you need to know how many miles per gallon (mpg) your vehicle gets. If your vehicle gets 20mpg, you will need roughly 200 gallons of gas to do this trip. If gas prices are average $2.50/gallon, this means you have to budget about $500 just for gas.
4000 miles divided by 20mpg times $_current price_ per gallon = $your estimated fuel costs
LODGING:
Lodging costs vary a lot so you really need to think about where you plan to stay. Are you camping or are you staying in hotels?
Camping: Camping fees usually range from a low of about $18/night to a high of about $30/night in more resort-style campgrounds. It's probably safe to figure an average of $20/night but I always prefer to estimate high so I would use $25/night for my figure. Of course, you would divide this among your friends. But be aware that some campgrounds will charge extra for more than 2 people so these nightly rates go up a bit with more people. These extra fees are usually about $1.00 to $2.50 extra per person.
Hotels: Gosh, you can pay about $50/night at discount motels (but these rates are very hard to find and are not necessarily the usual rates you'll find) up to $100+/night. I would figure closer to $70/night for an average. And those rates will usually be higher in resort/tourist areas during peak times. In major cities, don't be surprised is $100/night is more common. In some cities, like NYC, Washington DC, and San Francisco, $150-200/night can be hard to find.
So, you will need to figure out how many nights you are camping and times that by some guesstimated figure. Then figure how many nights you will be staying in hotels and do the same. Figure a bit high so you have a buffer.
Of course, you can also get some good ideas by doing internet searches for hotel chains and campgrounds in the areas where you'll be spending the night to see what kind of facilities are available and what the rates are.
Hope this gives you some ideas to put you on the right track.
MEALS:
Are you going to be taking a cooler and filling it up at grocery stores for many of your meals? Or are you going to be eating at restaurants for most of your meals? Will you be focusing on cheaper/fast-food like McDonald's or will you want some nicer sit-down restaurant meals? Do you plan any fine dining experiences? These are the types of questions you need to answer for yourself.
If you eat all your meals from your cooler and/or cooking on a campstove and shop carefully in full-size grocery stories, not mini-marts, and avoid convenience foods, you might be able to do this for about $10/day per person but that's really a tough goal to meet and requires sticking to sale items, etc. Since that's a hard goal to meet, I think $15 per person per day is a more reasonable figure to budget.
Fastfood meals are typically about $5-7 each. Diners and lower-cost restaurants (think Denny's) are about $10-15 each meal. Nicer restaurants can go up, up, up in price but I believe about $20-25 per person per meal is a reasonable estimate for moderate priced restaurants. You might want to budget for a few splurge meals in finer dining establishments and will have to guesstimate those costs based on your personal preferences.
ACTIVITIES:
Are you mainly just going to sightsee at freebie places? Even if these are your plans, national parks and many state parks have entry fees. You will likely want to go to a few museums, etc. It's hard to do a trip without paying any kind of fees to do activities. If there is something specific you know you want to do, do a web-search to find out the rate, then add a $5-15 for parking. Obviously, you'll want extra money budgeted in this category for unexpected opportunities like a neat river-rafting trip you didn't plan for so you can do spur-of-the-moment things like that. But this just really depends on you and what you want to do. This is probably one of the biggest variable categories. Obviously, someone who just wants to hike around is going to spend less than somebody who wants to go clubbing every night.
SOUVENIRS:
Are you someone who is just satisified with photos of your trip? Or are little things like refrigerator magnets good enough? Or do you want t-shirts/sweatshirts to remind you of your adventures? Again, only you can answer these questions.
EMERGENCY FUNDS:
You should always have access to something for emergencies. A car breakdown, etc. can really botch up a budget! Some people depend on credit cards for these types of things in the hopes they won't have to use them. What are your plans to handle some unexpected situation? Do you have a AAA membership that would pay for towing and some other minor incidents that might happen? If you don't have the funds, does someone else have money available to wire to you if you need help?
I hope this gives you some idea of how to start figuring your budget!
hi, so we are planning at 2 week roadtrip from california to canada. and our car rental is going to be taking most of our money. so i was just curious, is there any laws about parking on the side of the road and sleeping in your car? also, what would be the best maps to get for driving that far? we are going through oregon and washington... any suggestions or information is greatly appreciated because we have our flight arrangements which is in two weeks and we have just started planning... /: so anything, comments, concerns! are welcomed and very much appreciated. THANKS!
Generally I would say it is probably more a consideration of a personal safety issue than a law. In national forests, generally this is OK, if you get off the main road a ways, but I wouldn't really recommend it anywhere else. Much better choices are travel centers (truck stops) and hospital parking lots -- just be very courteous with this one.Quote:
Originally Posted by kellipoop
Our recommendation for maps are here. I always carry Benchmark maps when I am in the northwest.Quote:
also, what would be the best maps to get for driving that far? we are going through oregon and washington...
Mark
I've had the best luck for maps with the Atlas put out every year by NASCAR. I have a Rand McNally atlas also because in the past the NASCAR maps were small However, I'd often have to refer to my trusty NASCAR map because RM had failed to note that a road changed names or had left off a small state of county/parish road. But the 2006 maps are bigger and there are rather detailed maps of Canada and several of the National Parks.
Laura
yea, gas/car will be most of our money. it sucks because all of the people who are going are underage, and we cant find a company that will rent us a car besides this one car company atwest. has anyone heard/rented from this company? do they have trackers on their cars? thanks for the insight! love to hear more!
We are not familiar with this company, but I can just about guarantee that there will be embedded GPS chip somewhere in the car. 99.99% of all new cars purchased in America are equipped with these chips. It only takes a couple of clicks on a computer to activate them.Quote:
Originally Posted by kellipoop
Mark
Quote:
Originally Posted by Editor
Umm... not to be a bug about this. But I had the reason to look up the statistics on this at work in the last couple of days for a study we were doing. The odds of getting a new car with a GPS chip in it is above 50% if it is a General Motors car (Chevy, Cadillac, etc.) since they us a system called "OnStar", but rather low if it is Toyota (they have a Lexus version in some Lexus models), or if cars from Chrysler or Ford. The estimate is about 42% of call new cars sold in the US (and this includes to the rental companies) will have something like OnStar in it by mid 2007. By the end of next Year, GM is planning to have it as standard on all their models, and other companies (Ford, Honda, etc) are starting to roll out equivalent services -- but they aren't on the road in significant numbers yet.
My experience is that rental cars have a much higher percentage of GPS-equipped nav systems in the cars. This is a conscious decision by the auto rental companies and the car companies which provide them with highly discounted cars -- the auto rental companies figure you'll be much more likely to be in an unfamiliar area, and more likely to rent a car again with the nav system, and the car companies provide discounted cars with the nav system as free advertising for a profitable option on new cars. However, its typically the larger, more expensive cars that are equipped with this.
Whether or not the car is equipped with a GPS navigation system will depend upon the auto rental company, the make of the car you're renting, and the size of the car/ cost of the rental from the company. My experience with "mid to economy sized" cars from several national rental chains is that I typically get about 1 car in 10 that has the GPS nav system. I rent cars on business trips typically 4-6 times a year around the US.
That is a good pun, but believe me, I am not "speaking" about Onstar or any GPS device used for consumer navigation. All OEM vehicles built and delivered for sale in American (except for military issue and some governmental units) have built-in GPS-equipped chips that enable a vehicle to be tracked by an outside source. Rental car companies have been using this technology for a while to locate "missing inventory". Towing companies that have the contracts to recover this "missing inventory" have a hand-held transceiver in their trucks for fast recovery. These chip-set are small -- about the size of a credit card and are mounted in out-of-the-way locations in the cars and light-trucks.Quote:
Originally Posted by Larrison
Now, perhaps "kellipoop" was asking about navigational systems and your information is spot-on.
Mark
Mark,
You might be surprised, but I did not know about this! Thanks for the insight. I just hope they do not have a microphone to record what you talk,eh!
cool
You might be surprised by the technology -- I have tested some of the units (here is one report I wrote in 2004). With it, I could tell how long it took my wife to drive from the store and by what route she took. I could also tell how fast she drove and in what lane she was....Quote:
Originally Posted by cool
Mark
That is very very scary, indeed. You think all rental companies have these?Quote:
Originally Posted by Editor
cool
Absolutely! Not a big deal -- unless you are doing something illegal with the rental car. In fact, if your personal vehicle is newer than five years old, I can guarantee it has one too....Quote:
Originally Posted by cool
Mark
All cars from a Rental company, pretty much -- and definitely from all the major companies They're protecting an asset that's worth maybe $20-50K apiece, so they put the GPS locator in them.Quote:
Originally Posted by cool
But I still don't think a run-of-the-mill OEM car you buy off a lot has it in, unless you either get the OnStar type system or a E-911 enabled phone in it, or one of the vehicle theft recovery system (such as LoJack). If its in the car, and the owner isn't aware of it, its a big privacy issue and the car companies would be seeing some major lawsuits I expect. The police need to get a court order to put a GPS-enabled tracker on a vehicle they want to follow -- they can't use use a handheld device to follow someone.
At work we've been looking at some aspects of the future Intelligent Vehicle Highway System and a number of technologies and options for traffic routing, optimization and even auto-drive capability. This includes some specific issues with GPS and other precision navigation systems. As background to this I've been looking at GPS and other navigation systems and what it would take to roll out some variations on precision navigation systems for different classes of vehicles.. If you look at the total number of vehicles sold, and the total number of GPS chips made, you can track how many go into each type of system -- phones, standalone systems, auto/truck systems, etc.
Yep, I think it is a reasonable business practice.Quote:
Originally Posted by Larrison
I used to cover the telematics industry as trade media (1999-2004) and I can relate the gist of an off-the-record conversation with a senior systems engineer for a major auto company who indicated that virtually every chipset for every model of vehicle produced in North American markets would have "room" for such a chip commencing with model year 2005. All of those legal issues remain unresolved, but the technology that can enable such telematics applications, to a large extent, already is in place and merely requires an activation code. I am not sure, but I have seen some nondescript chips/expansion card module-like-thingys in new vehicles that could be examples of this technology.Quote:
But I still don't think a run-of-the-mill OEM car you buy off a lot has it in, unless you either get the OnStar type system or a E-911 enabled phone in it, or one of the vehicle theft recovery system (such as LoJack).
I agree that this is an reasonable approach.Quote:
If you look at the total number of vehicles sold, and the total number of GPS chips made, you can track how many go into each type of system -- phones, standalone systems, auto/truck systems, etc.
Mark
I'm once again trying to plan a road trip this summer... I was hoping this time to go somewhat across America. I know that I want to go to Texas and to Illinois, but I was wondering if you knew any good route to get to those places. Also thinking about heading east after Illinois, depending on how much its going to cost. If you could give me any feedback at all it would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
kelli-
so nice to see someone interested in heading east and south for that matter. where are you coming from? i think it is very interesting that you want to travel across america. i could not agree with you more that it would be amazing in every sense of the word. i also want to go to texas! i have been through there but have never stopped and enjoyed the beautiful state or people for that matter. i am drawn to the south for some reason, not sure if its the amazing food or the wonderful people. where do you tend to head in texas? .. also on your wanting to hit illinois, i live in illinois and can tell you that yes it is one of those states that not many seem to excited about (that live here) but there are some great places and things to see. for example, lincoln and the log cabins in springfield, frank llyod wright in oak park, joliet and the historic route 66, and of course chicago (where i live) that cannot be ignored. there are many other places but those stick out to me. i myself am wanting to head south/southeat this summer and cannot wait for this adventure to start. good luck! ..
Welcome back to the Forum, kellipoop.
Is this new trip a various of the last trip you asked about, or is this a whole new plan. If so, did you take the trip you asked about last summer?
Right now, you aren't giving us much to work with for this trip. Where are you starting from? California again? Illinois and Texas are both very large states, is there any specific places there that you want to visit? How long do you plan to be on the road? Have you figured out how to deal with the transportation issue considering your age? Without those things, its going to be hard to get much in terms of specific advice.
As far as how much things are going to cost, I suggest going back and rereading the advice you were given last time. You recieved several insightful responses about how to build a roadtrip budget. The same principals will apply on this trip as well.
From San Francisco take 80 east. Take 505 north to join I-5 north. Take I-5 and first nice place is Redding. After that you pass Lake Shasta. Cross the mountain and arrive in Oregan. Ashland is the first town. Go through You find Medford , Eugene, Salem and Portland. Enter State of Washington. Pass through Olympia, Seattle and cross the border into Vancover. Travel time is app 18 hours.
this summer trip is a whole different road trip, we actually did go on our last years trip, but we made some changes during the time. we stayed in san fran a lot longer because we had friends we could stay with, headed up to oregon for only a few days and then headed to vegas because we had more friends we could stay with... so i'm hoping with that experience, we are ready financially and mentally to hit areas where we might not have friends and explooore.
so i'm hoping to do a 10 day road trip, but also hoping to make it back to our starting point so that we can fly out from that area. we are going to start from either los angeles or san fran. we have the car situation figured out a bit more since we are now 21 and most places rent to 21 and over.
i was just hoping to get a general route to get from california to illinois... and hoping that throwing texas into the mix. i know that they are both big state, but i know that i at least want to go to chicago and austin. i guess i just didn't know a good route to take (which states to go through)
10 days just doesn't give you much to work with for a loop of this size. You'll need 4 days to go from California to Chicago, 2 very long days to get from Chicago to Austin, and then probably 3 more to get back to California. That's 9 days of a 10 day trip right there. If you are hoping to spend some time in Chicago, Austin, or anywhere else along the way, you really won't have much time.
In terms of Routes, you've got plenty of options. I'd probably focus on taking I-70 across Colorado as you head east, but you could also use I-40 or I-80. From Chicago to Austin, you could either head straight south to New Orleans, and then head west via Houston, or you could take a more diagonal route using I-44 from St. Louis to OK City, and then down I-35 through Dallas to Austin. I-10 would then be your direct route home.
BTW, since you were under 21, what did you end up doing for a car for your last trip?
so ten days isn't enough... about how long would you think would be appropriate for a trip like this? 14 days? given that we would probably want to stay in texas/chicago for at least 3 days. and we'll have at least 4 people with us which would probably let us drive through states easily if we switch off.
as far as that, would you say that given that we are going cheap on pretty much everything, food, motels, and everything else, would you say that we could do this trip with less than $1000-1500?
as far as our car situation went last trip, we were able to find this company called atwest that rented out to people under 21. we were charged a under age fee, but at least there was someone out there willing to risk it with us.
At this point, I think you are asking questions that you'll have to figure out on your own.
I've given you an idea of how long it will take to drive between the places you want to go, and you have the experience from your last trip to help you understand how far you can go in a day. From that, only you can determine how long you should take for this trip.
As far as the money goes, again, you've already been given the tools to make your own budget in this thread, and you should have your experience from your last trip to build on in terms of knowing how much you will actually spend while traveling.
I will say that since you are looking at 6,000 miles, if you drive an average car and gas prices stay at or below $3, you're already looking at $900 for fuel alone, making a $1000-1500 budget pretty unfeasable, but again, you'll have to figure out how much you will spend and where you can cut corners in your budget.
Somebody correct me if I'm wrong on this, but I think Wal-Mart allows overnight parking in their lots. Plus they generally have clean rest rooms and many are open 24 hours.
Wal-Mart is private property and, as such, each Wal-Mart manager has the option of encouraging, permitting, or prohibiting over-night parking. In most cases, Wal-Mart managers do allow self-contained (RVs) to stay overnight, but many towns and muncipalities have passed local laws prohibiting the practice.Quote:
Originally Posted by The Driving Fool
Mark
Hey! The drive up the coast is lovely, and I've spent a lot of time doing the southern Oregon-Washington drive. Definitely take Coastal Highway 101 instead of I-5 if you want the scenic (but twice as long) route. Steer clear of the tourist towns on the Oregon Coast--- Seaside especially--- since they'll cost more and will be crowded in August. Try for places just outside Cannon Beach, like Arch Cape, or further north, like Astoria. There are a few good campsites there, but you'll probably want to book ahead as they're popular. As far as sleeping on the side of the road, I wouldn't recommend it-- coastal roads are twisty and sometimes narrow, and there aren't great places to pull off. But if you're really short on cash, you can always try sleeping on the beach. You might get caught and asked to leave, but probably not. Arch Cape would be a good place to do this. Bring sleeping bags, build a fire, stay up until the fire burns down, and sleep until morning. Just watch out for high tide-- consider sleeping on the rocks to make sure you don't get washed away.
me and my friend are doin the same thing but coming from vancouver bc to LA...and stayin there for like a monthish....will be goin to vegas for the wknd...san frann for a few days...but WOW I love cali<3 where abouts are you from there????
We are driving down the oregan coast and the california coast cuz ive never done it and i heard its AMAZING!!!!!! ive gone from vancouver to vegas then cali ...took the I5 all the way..slept most of the way thank god!!! that took like 24 hours...i hear the other way is longer but WAY nicer...Im so excited :)
This thread is more than 3 years old so its very unlikely that you'll be getting any sort of a response.
HAHAHAHAHAH omg ... i didnt even notice..im knew to this and this is the first thing that popped up LOL i feel so dumb but thanks wow hahah