From Florida to California

Hi everyone

After lots of looking , reading and searching... I'm finally writing ^^
My fiancée and I are planing to make a road trip (one way) from coast to coast, we have 14 days to make it (in September certainly), so my first question is: Is it enough to do it or do we have to chop it off ?

Then (if the answer is yes), if I'm telling you that instead of starting from Jacksonville we begin from Key West, would it change your opinion?

Then to help a little more, here is a little list of things we want to do:
(Key West)
Panama City Beach, FL
New Orleans, LA
Galveston Beach, TX
Albuquerque, NM (to catch the Road 66)
Grand Canyon, AZ
Las Vegas, NV
Los Angeles, CA

So if you guys can give us some tips in order to fulfill our fantasy and make it unforgettable... It would be really nice.

Ps: It is not my first time in US and I've also already driven in US.

Hello and welcome to the RTA forums !

A lot will depend on how long you plan on staying at the places you visit but your trip is certainly doable. To put it into perspective you have an estimate of 7 day's drive, driving for 9 hours for each of those day's leaving you the other 7 day's to take a look around. Of course you can split your time how you want to but we don't recommend driving for much more than 10 hours in a day [550-600 miles] as it becomes tiresome and workman like thus taking the pleasure away somewhat. If your time includes a little time at either end of your trip, say 2 day's at each then all of a sudden you only have 3/4 days down time and it's these factors you will need to consider before deciding whether it is your "unforgettable fantasy" !

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

This is certainly a trip that can be done over 2 weeks. Figure it takes roughly a week to drive from coast to coast, so 2 weeks for a one way trip will be plenty of time to cover the ground and see a number of things along the way. Key West to Northern Florida is a full day drive all by itself, but that shouldn't affect your ability to complete this trip.

In terms of tips, this site is full of them, both the forum and the planning section have tons of ideas to help you with your trip planning, and if you have some more specific questions about your trip, we'll certainly do our best to answer them.

Well to make it clearer on how we want to spend our time, here is what we planed to do:
Spend a full day in panama city beach: Apparently we can ride wave runner next to dolphins
A full day might be required in order to visit the Grand Canyon site
We might stay 2 night at Las Vegas (because, it think we'll need to rest a little ^^)
And we want to go to Six Flags near to LA

I've been in Key West once and I think that spending a full day there would be really enjoyable.
But regarding that I think we'll be running out of time if we start from there (instead of Jacksonville), don't you think?

It would give you an extra 2day's [1 travelling, 1 at Key West] and relax it a some but ultimately it's your decision, we just try and paint the picture. I would certainly recommend a full day at the Grand canyon, which equates to 2 nights close by.

Rest and Las Vegas are not often seen in the same sentence but you will have fun,fun, fun !

I know, it's my trip, but I just wanna have your point of view on those two different planing.
Just to know which one you'd rather do

Trip1: Morning - Evening

Day 1: Plane/Key West - Key West
Day 2: Key West - Key West/Miami
Day 3: Miami/Naples - Naples/Fort Myers
Day 4: Naples/Panama City - Naples/Panama City
Day 5: Panama City - Panama City
Day 6: Panama City/New Orleans - New Orleans
Day 7: New Orleans/Galveston - Galveston
Day 8: Galveston/San Antonio - San Antonio/Ozona
Day 9: Ozona/El Paso - El Paso/Albuquerque
Day 10:Albuquerque - Grand Canyon
Day 11:Grand Canyon - Grand Canyon/Las vegas
Day 12:Las vegas - Las vegas
Day 13:Las Vegas/Los Angeles - Los Angeles
Day 14:Los Angeles (Six Flags) - Los Angeles
Day 15:Los Angeles Airport

Trip2: Morning - Evening

Day 1: Plane/Jacksonville - Jacksonville
Day 2: Jacksonville/Panama City - Panama City
Day 3: Panama City - Panama City
Day 4: Panama City/New Orleans - New Orleans/New Orleans
Day 5: New Orleans/Galveston - Galveston
Day 6: Galveston - Galveston
Day 7: Galveston/San Antonio - San Antonio/Ozona
Day 8: Ozona/El Paso - El Paso/Albuquerque
Day 9: Albuquerque - Grand Canyon
Day 10:Grand Canyon - Grand Canyon/Las vegas
Day 11:Las vegas - Las vegas
Day 12:Las Vegas/Los Angeles - Los Angeles
Day 13:Los Angeles (Six Flags) - Los Angeles
Day 14:One Extra Day
Day 15:Airport

It looks like the only real difference is a day in Key West vs. a day in Galveston, and if it were me, I'd rather spend the day in Key West. But really, that is something that completely depends on your own tastes and what you are looking for.

These trips will be fine as long as you recognize that you won't have a lot of time at any of your destinations except Las Vegas and Los Angeles. And most of what you do have will be in the evenings when attractions might be closed. Still, I really enjoy the form of RoadTrip where you spend the day as a series of short drives (2 hors more or less) between stops at smaller attractions that might provide a scale and ambience better suited to a honeymoon. If the two of you are comfortable with this, then this will be a great adventure. To that end, I think I'd start in Jacksonville and leave those few 'extra' days for wandering, relaxing and resting rather than adding more miles.

AZBuck

Well thanks you all for your advises so far.

Still, I have another question:
From San Antonio to Albuquerque (via Ozona and El Paso), I don't really know if there's so much to see in between.
Do you know if there some thing to drive near or to stop by (like some ghost or old fashion and typical Town) ?

If Ozona is not a destination but merely a descriptive way point, then you might want to look at something other than I-10 through west Texas. In particular US-90 could be a workable alternative, taking you past the Amistad National Recreation Area, and Marfa on the way to El Paso. But if Ozona is a must, then you'll pretty much have to follow I-10.

AZBuck

Ozona is definitely not a must. In fact, once I leave Galveston (or maybe San Antonio), I have no precise way to go.
I only want to reach the 66 road by Albuquerque.

This is why any kind of suggestion would be considered.

You should know that Route 66 hasn't officially existed in more than 25 years and large portions of the road simply don't exist anymore. While there are segments of the road around, and many of the towns along I-40 still have the charms associated with the old highway, you will need to do a fair amount of research if you really want to follow the old highway. Its not as simple as just getting on a well marked modern highway.

Well sure the 66th doesn't exsit anymore and I was talking about I-40, but I was wondering if there were some places that could seem like the 66.

REally, the only/best place to experience long a long stretch of old US-66 is in northwestern Arizona where You can travel from Seligman to Kingman through Peach Springs, a distance of about 90 miles on the old highway, now signed as AZ-66.

AZBuck

Thanks so much !
I just googled it and it sounds really fantastic, especially in this area.
It'll surely be noted down my road book ;)

Hi there
I was just wondering, do you have any kind of recommendation regarding New Orleans ?
Place to go? Place to avoid? Place to sleep? Or do we have better sleep elsewhere?

Just wanted to know a little more about where to go and where to stay in new orleans.

By the way, do you think Panama City Beach will be touched by all this oil thing ? Galveston ?
These where I was hoping the rest and/or swim so...

It sometimes happens that somebody might be able to give advice on lodgings etc in a particular place, but with only a small number of regular contributors it is rare to get such detailed help. For New Orleans, I would use the Internet to do some of your own research and check out places such as trip advisor for reviews. I usually go with my "gut feeling" about a place though as you are more likely to get people writing about a poor place than a good one.

The same for the oil spill, keep up to date with local news and see how it plays out. It's a horrible tragedy but what will be, will be.

If you have further questions please ask, but "bumping" is regarded as rude behaviour around here, all questions that can be answered, will be.

Enjoy the planning.

All right then.
I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be rude.
I simply thought my thread was forgotten and I wanted to refresh it up.