First roadtrip (LA, SF, GrandC, LakeP, LasVegas)- July 1 --> Aug 1

Greetings, and what a jolly good site you have here :)

My girlfriend and I will be departing Denmark at May 1 and have some fun in Thailand until we arrive in LAX July 1. Here we will stay 2-3 days and enjoy the city.
This will be our first vacation alone (Im 22, she's 19), and our first roadtrip aswell and after playing some arround on th e internet and with Streets & Trips I've come to the following route:

LA (July 1)
San Francisco (via route 1)
Yosemite
Death Valley
Las Vegas
Zion
Bryce
Needles Overlook
Lake Powell
Monument Valley
Grand Canyon NP
Grand Canyon Caverns
LAX (July 29-ish)

(5880 km - 63 hours driving time, aprox)

Two of the distances are pretty far (LA --> San francisco 750km) and (Grand Canyon Caverns --> LA - 1700 km)

Where to stop between those 2? I can't fnd something interesting between Caverns and LA :)

As mentioned earlier we are a couple traveling, and we have strongly considered getting a midsize SUV like Ford Edge, Saturn Vue etc.
You might ask why, and the reason is simple, we would like to sit high and get a good clear overview while driving comfertable.
Rental price and gas money (It's 1/4 price of Denmarks gas prices) isnt really a problem.
We also considered sleeping in it, but I believe we ditched that idea and went with a tent instead.
Any other car tips you can give?

Any other stops along the way we should plan for and what should we stop for in SW AZ / SE CA?

Best regards,
Jonas

Velkommen! Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

A month is a fairly good time span to see the area you'll be traveling through. As for specific places to stop between Los Angeles and San Francisco, if you're taking the Pacific Coast Highway, I'd recommend either San Luis Obispo if you get out of L.A. late in the day, or Cambria if you get going a little earlier. But Grand Canyon Caverns (Peach Springs) to Los Angeles is only 400 miles (640 km), so you should really be able to do that in a day unless you are going some really circuitous route. But if you are looking for stops in far southern California that would fit in with the general tenor of your RoadTrip, have a look at Joshua Tree National Park and Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, and spending a night either camping in one of them or at a hotel in Palm Springs.

AZBuck

Hello AZBuck,
Thank you for your fast answer, and I now notice that there was an error on my route and the distance between GC Caverns and LA is a small 1000 km shorter, that makes a little less painful to endure :)

Seems to me that our route is pretty much set, but not in stone, since we will have no reservations except on July 4 and helicopter over grand canyon.

And now to the subject that I am not at all sure about, the car I will be driving. Any suggestions? As mentioned I would like the midsize SUV because of the sweet overview and ofcourse joy of driving a big car on the big roads.

Regards,
Sch

Hi,

Quote:

---

Seems to me that our route is pretty much set, but not in stone, since we will have no reservations

---

If you are planning on staying in the National parks [which offer great campgrounds] you will need to book through nps.gov at the earliest opportunity to secure a spot. They can book out within hours of the booking window opening during summer months in the popular ones.

Quote:

---

As mentioned earlier we are a couple traveling, and we have strongly considered getting a midsize SUV like Ford Edge, Saturn Vue etc.
You might ask why, and the reason is simple, we would like to sit high and get a good clear overview while driving comfertable

---

If this is what you want go for it, but a couple of points. It costs significantly more than a good size sedan and I doubt it will be more comfortable. Keep in mind that as you are under 25 years of age you will be facing hefty surcharges on top of what ever rental you decide upon. Also note that all the major rental companies quote "or similar" in their adds so you won't be able to secure a particular model, just the equivalent of.

Quote:

---

We also considered sleeping in it, but I believe we ditched that idea and went with a tent instead.

---

Sensible choice.

Quote:

---

Any other car tips you can give?

---

When deciding on how long to spend in Vegas, keep in mind that because of your girlfriends age you will be very restricted in what you can do. To enter a casino or have a drink you need to be over 21 years of age.

Also thank you for your respons Dave, very appreciated.

And yay, we are getting closer. Getting the offer sometime next week with everything included, so we are kinda excited.

Quote:

---

Keep in mind that as you are under 25 years of age you will be facing hefty surcharges on top of what ever rental you decide upon

---

Actually not, renting from Alamo through Kilroy in Denmark where they have special prices for young drivers, without extra surcharges (awsome).

For the SUV group I've been looking at, it's a grand total of 1700$ for 4 weeks (Perhaps even cheaper since we are buying flights from same company)
( http://www.kilroytravels.dk/files/pd...010_inside.pdf )

Quote:

---

Maps

---

American Map 2008 United States Road Atlas: United States, Canada, Mexico would be my first choice. Can I buy it in Walmart since I'm going there anyway.

Is there such a thing as a "Lodging Map" where I can see all the lodging possibilities along our route?

Added a small picture of our route.
Pointer 2-6 is not actual stops, just to get the program to create the correct route.

Mod note] Map can now be seen in post 10.

It's actually rather large, and makes viewing your thread difficult and would help if you could reduce it a little.

Your general route looks fine, but a couple of options are that you could go from Bryce canyon to Torrey on Scenic byway 12 [great drive] and then past Capitol Reef NP to Hanksville and up to I70 for Moab. The other one is that you are heading for the North rim of the Grand canyon but on your way South on 89 towards Flagstaff you could visit the South rim as well by turning off onto 64 through the East entrance and exiting on the 64 via the South entrance to Williams.

You could well find that the annual pass for the National parks which costs $80 is cheaper than buying individual entrance fees. It is available from the kiosk of the first park you visit.

Your journey down the 261 to Mexican hat will take you down the Moki dugway, a very interesting drive !

Very nice inputs, thank you.

I guess I have to find some addresses @ all the stops in order to insert them into my gps, too bad I can't bring this map along on a PC :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Sch0sler

American Map 2008 United States Road Atlas: United States, Canada, Mexico would be my first choice. Can I buy it in Walmart since I'm going there anyway.

Is there such a thing as a "Lodging Map" where I can see all the lodging possibilities along our route?

---

I don't know if I've seen the American Map Atlas at Walmart, although its possible that they have. I can assure you that if they don't have it, they will have the latest edition of The Rand McNally atlas - which should still work just fine. The basic version only costs about $5. In either case, I'd expect any atlas to be on a 2010 - if not 2011 - version by now.

There is no such thing as a lodging map, simply because there are thousands upon thousands of motels and its just not possible to do something like that. Even my GPS, which is brand new, can't manage to know about every single motel possibility.

Most chains will have a directory telling where each of their locations are throughout the US, and motels do tend to bunch together, so if you got a few of those, you'd have a pretty good idea about what you can plan for.

I'll also add to Daves earlier request that you try to resize your map. It is really making it difficult to read this thread, and if you can't fix it or find another way to get it into the margins, we may have to take it down.

Hello, and yes, Id love to change the image. But I simply can't edit my post from that day anymore, so you will have to take it down.

http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/5...tripmap.th.jpg

Above: A big picture (I have added Dave's suggestions to our route, but not uploaded the new map)

I normally break my trip down into days and print off a map and directions from Google maps or Windows live local to cover each day. Even if I don't want to pre book lodgings, if I have an idea of the area I am spending the night I put said place into the search engine plus lodging/campgrounds and take a note of my options and note contact numbers. Those that I book in advance I then print off a more detailed map of that location to guide me to that address. By searching on line you can find some fantastic little places that you would have passed by and not known they existed.

Definitely carry some paper maps or print outs as the GPS will just take you from A to B by the quickest route and you could miss out on some gems and with the back up of a good map you can always detour and let the GPS re calculate the route, just show it who is boss ! Lol.

At the top of the page just above the green tool bar to the right you will find links to road trip books and maps.

Thanks for removing the picture (alltho it looked sweet on my big screen :))

I have also wanned to break the trip down in day trips for a long time, but since we had no offer BEFORE TODAY WOOHOO, it hasnt been posible. So here it is, and please do not be afraid of commenting.

Best regards,
Sch

May 3 --> July 3
Thailand, relaxing on the beach.

July. (dates)
3-4-5. Pick up car, wander/drive arround LA.
6. LA --> Cambria (scenic water-route 1)
7. Cambria --> San Francisco
8. San Francisco
9. San Francisco
10. San Francisco --> Yosemite
11. Yosemite
12. Yosemite --> Mammoth Lakes
13. Mammoth Lakes --> Sequoia National Park
14. Sequoia NP --> Death Valley
15. DW --> Las Vegas
16. Las Vegas --> Zion NP
17. Zion
18. Zion --> Bryce NP
19. Bryce NP --> Needles Overlook (via Torrey, Hanksville and Moab)
20. Needles --> Lake Powell
21. Drive arround the area of the lake, do stuff
22. Lake Powell --> Monument Valley
23. Monument Valley --> Grand Canyon
24. Grand Canyon
25. GC --> Grand Canyon Caverns (Driving on Historic route 66)
26. Grand Canyon Caverns --> Joshua Tree National Park
27. Joshua Tree NP (Worth staying a day more here?)
28. Joshua --> LA
29. ?
30. ?
31. ?

August 1. LAX --> JFK
2. Wander arround in NY
3. Wander arround in NY
4. Departure to Denmark

Should I let those 3 days in the end be "joker" cards to be played if we find out a place is really awsome?

Your only major problem I see is day 13 and 14. You've got a mountain range blocking your path!

The Yosemite Valley is west of the Sierras, Tioga Pass will take you through Yosemite to the east side and Mammoth. However, Sequoia is also on the west side of the Sierras and there is no pass to get you from Mammoth to Sequoia NP or back across the mountain to Death Valley.

There isn't a great option here, but what I would probably do is visit Sequoia first, then go to Yosemite, and across to Mammoth and Death Valley.


And thanks for providing the new link to the map!

Oh yeah, I see what you mean. According to my map it will take me back to Yosemite to Fresno and then to Sequoia. I think it's a good idea to to it like you propose:
Sequoia --> Yosemite --> Mammoth and then Death valley.

<3 Microsoft Streets & Trips

Oh yeah, and since Im buying a GPS, are there any models you can say good for (walmart). Price range 100-170$

With 3 spare days I would consider adding a couple of them to your time between Bryce and Needles area of Canyonlands. Scenic 12 is quite slow going and you will want time to enjoy it. Capitol Reef is on route and I would spend at least one night in Arches NP and possibly 2 as you will be arriving late it would allow you a full day there, plus it has a great campground ! The Islands in the sky section of Canyonlands is also close by and offers some spectacular views from the end of Grand viewpoint road and others along the way.

Coolio, looks like we are out of time if we stick to the scheduled time.
Im very excited to see if its possible to stick to it, if not, it's not the big problem.
Already booked 3 nights in LA, 1 in Cambria and 3 in SFO. After that we are tenting :)

Gps gps, any specific models within my budget 100-170$ you would suggest?

Eg: http://www.walmart.com/Garmin-Nuvi-750/ip/7958703 ?

Regards,
Sch

By all means get a GPS. I bought a top model and paid much more for it. However, do not expect it to be a substitute for a good paper map and map reading ability. I lost count of the number of times it took me to the wrong destination, or the long way round, or just completely got me lost.

There is a link on here (somewhere) of a recent horror story of an elderly couple ending up spending several nights bogged in snow on some remote mountain track, as the result of following their GPS. The most telling information in that article is the comment from a Garmin spokesman, who said that the GPS is meant to give a suggested route, not specific directions. Unfortunately, that is not how they are marketed.

Lifey who trusts her maps

With a GPS, as long as you go with one of the big names (Garmin, Tom Tom, Magellan) you really should be fine. In that price range, you're generally just paying more for extra bells and whistles (3'' vs 4'' screen, mp3 player, traffic updates, North American vs US only maps, etc), so figure out what you want and see which one has the best deal that fits your needs.

You could also look at buying a unit before you come over and just download the US maps, which would give you a chance to get used to it before you come over, and meaning it would still have a use when your trip is done.

I intend on buying both a GPS and a good map.
The GPS to ease up on driving on highways etc and the map to get specific information and a clear overview.

The problem about buying a GPS from home is that we need to spend 2 months in Thailand before we arrive in LA, and I really do not want to stress my newly bought GPS that much :)

AND US prices is 1/4 of the prices in Denmark.
Also considering buying one in Bankok if I find a good cheap one with the right maps (US, EU).

Dunno really, guess I'll just have to look around and simply ask some salesmen along the road :)

Since I just realized that I have birthday on the road, I was thinking of staying in San Francisco that day, which makes it 3 nights in LA, 1 night in Cambria, 4 nights in San Francisco.

Would it be worth taking an extra day on route 1 or are there plenty to do and see in SF for 5 days 4 nights?

There is plenty to see and do in and around SF but it is a fairly compact city and easy to get around, personally I would take a little more time along the coast and spend another night, perhaps in the Carmel area.

I would recommend you book a Hearst Castle tour if you add a day between LA and SF.

I've just seen the movie from hearst Castle, and it looks wonderful. It's very near Cambria where we will be staying a night.

Would it be worth just driving arround and exploring the National State Beaches and take another night where the wind blow us before going SFO?
Anything to see on all those state beaches?

When traveling in July, how far ahead do I need to book accommodations in the various areas, is it 2 days, 1 week or can I just show up most places and get a room?

And also

Quote:

---

Anything to see on all those state beaches on PC HW-1?

---

With regards to lodgings it is a very personal choice between "winging it" and hoping you find suitable lodgings or booking in advance and having the security of a bed for the night. If you wanted to stay inside the National parks for instance it could already be too late as they book up real quick in the high season, [as mentioned in post 4] and when booked up the surrounding nearby towns start to fill as well. If you know where and when you will be in a place, then I would recommend booking asap, if you want to keep things open to change then you will have to gamble but expect to have problems in popular areas, but most people seem to find somewhere.

The scenery is fantastic all the way down the PCH and you will find lots of info on various places by putting key words into your search engine [PCH, Big Sur, San Fran to LA etc].