San Jose to Philadelphia via I-10 through New Orleans (11 Days)
Hello Fellow Roadtrippers-
Need your collective help planning an itinerary for a one way trip from San Jose, CA to Philadelphia, PA in late January/February.
I have 11 days to do this trip and aim to sightsee as much as possible - especially interested in national monuments, natural wonders, big cities, and middle of nowhere must see's. Have done the coastal route 1 drive through CA before, have visited Vegas, grand canyon, red rock - thus aim to avoid those places.
Being the winter, I plan on the southern most route via interstate 10 with end goal of New Orleans. After New Orleans head north - not sure which is the best (most realistic route). Appreciate your insights of things to see :)
It's winter in the south as well.
Hello and welcome to the RTA forum !
If New Orleans is a place you really want to visit then I10 will do the job, however if you are headfing south just because it's winter then it will be worth reconsidering. Going south does not guarantee you won't see winter weather nor the fact that it could actually be worse than a more northerly route at the exact time you travel. Also, with all things equal, the south is not as well equipped as their northern counterparts to get roads cleared quickly in the even of a storm. You will then be adding over another 500 miles to your journey which is another day on the road that you could experience bad weather.
I would actually concentrate on places that you would really like to see and create a route around them and be prepared to change things up if needed when you have the weather forecasts and road condition info to hand.
Two Days to Tucson, Two More to San Antonio
You can certainly get from San Jose to Tucson in two days, just not going by way of the PCH, Los Angeles and San Diego. Doing any of those pushed your drive into the three day (minimum) range. If the PCH is a priority, then you need to plan on using two full days to arrive in the northern L.A. area for your second overnight. I'd aim for Ontario or even Riverside so that you're at least on the eastward side of the L.A. basin and headed out of town the next morning, although that won't make a big dent in the rush hour traffic until you clear Moreno Valley. But even with an overnight in the L.A. area, you won't have time to visit any of the attractions there, just time to beat your way through. However, if you clear the L.A. area in good order on the morning of the third day, you would have time for a visit to Casa Grande Ruins National Monument outside Florence AZ on your way to Tucson.
As others have noted, Tucson to San Antonio is completely out of the question in less than two days. But, again, taking a sane amount of time opens up the possibility of an interesting stop or two on the way such as White Sands National Monument (a bit of a detour), Fort Lancaster State Historic Site, or the Caverns of Sonora. Depending on which, if any, of those sites you choose to visit your overnight stop could range from El Paso (after a couple of hours at White Sands) to Fort Stockton (no stops from Tucson). Other than Van Horn, those are really your best choices, there's not a lot of 'civilization' in west Texas.
AZBuck
