Printable View
Attachment 3711
I plan on driving on May 8th around 8pm and flying out of Seattle on May 18th. Is this worth the drive, what do I have to stop and see along the way? Any suggestions for stops for sleeping along the way?
>> Car gets 12 city and 15/16 highway as far as MPG goes.
>> I'm expecting to pay around $900 in fuel on the way there.
Current Planned Stops
- Chicago
- Yellowstone
- Missoula
Hello and welcome to the RTA forums !
I'm not sure how to answer your question, is it worth it ? It depends on what your goals are, whether you like driving, what you want to see and whether or not you have a budget to meet the costs. It's almost as though you have put the cart before the horse and chosen a route before deciding what you want to see. Only you can decide whether it's worth it to you, but asking if a roadtrip is worth it to a bunch of roadtrip enthusiasts there is only going to be one answer, hell yeah !
The first thing I am confused by is why would you leave at 8pm ? The idea of a roadtrip is to see things not drive in the dark. If it's because you have been working all day then it's a really bad decision, you will be exhausted the following day and your body clock will be out all trip. In this circumstance you would be better off getting an early night and be on the road at 5-6 am. You would have the option of driving out of NY for a couple of hours though and then settle into a Motel for a good nights sleep. Chicago is close to a day and a half's drive and Chicago to Yellowstone is close to a 3 day drive. Missoula and Seattle can be reached in under a day in the road. Basically it all adds up to about 5.5 days of driving plus sight seeing time. If you took I90 you would be near Badlands NP and you could cut down to Mt Rushmore, Custer State Park and Wind Cave NP, Thunder Basin National Grassland and into Yellowstone via the Grand Tetons. Note that you should check conditions in Yellowstone as it will still be in winter mode and some of the park may not yet be open to traffic. Just up the road from Missoula is the National Bison Range. These are just a few of the options but you should get out a good map of the USA and take a look to see what appeals to your tastes and decide what's worth it.
Sorry for my vagueness. I am wondering if anyone has experience with driving 8 hours a day for almost 5 days in a row. Tips on what to do when I stop (i.e. jog around, push ups?)
If you are getting your drive times from a computer, add 20%. If you only want to drive 8 hours a day, it's going to take you considerably longer than 5 days.
yes, I realize this and am trying to estimate if I do this in 10 days if I will have time to enjoy myself outside of the carseat. Thanks for the 20% * expected computer time function.
If you consider a day to be 10 hours on the road then your trip would be split roughly 50/50 with being in the carseat and being out of it and then you have the evenings to unwind of course. That's not a bad split in my opinion but then I love to drive. If you study a good map as I suggested earlier you will have many opportunities to get out of the car and explore, whether it be a State park, National Park, Forest, or City park/City centre. Once you have found things of interest you [we] can work on how to fit it in, but the more research you do the more reward you will get. For example one day you might drive for 10 or 11 hours with the briefest of stops for food, exercise and gas and another day not spend anytime in the car. So until we know what you plan to do it's hard to say where to stop.
The 'Chicken dance' can stretch and ease the muscles and attract attention at the same time ! ;-)Quote:
s on what to do when I stop (i.e. jog around, push ups?)
Recognizing that you've come to a site called RoadTrip America where the people giving advice are all experienced and enthusiastic RoadTripers, the answer you're going to get to your first question, "Is this worth the drive?", is obviously: Yes. There is much to see along any route crossing an entire continent, especially one that goes through the Black Hills and Yellowstone, crosses the Rockies, and ends up on Puget Sound.
As far as how long it will take, you would need to devote six full days to driving roughly 500 miles a day. That is an eminently sustainable pace that you can keep up day after day after day and allows for two or three short stops each day to break up the workload. That leaves you four full days that you can devote to longer stops such as Yellowstone. So all in all, this a trip that can easily be done in ten days.
Other sites to "stop and see along the way" will depend on your interests and how far off your path you're willing to travel, but some that you should be considering would include Cleveland's Cuyahoga Valley National Park/Rock and Roll Hall of Fame/Natural History Museum; a sop on one of the Great Lakes such as the Bass Islands or Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore; Wisconsin Dells for the Dells, not the water parks; Badlands National Park; Devils Tower; the Little Bighorn Battlefield; and some of the many scenic byways in northern Idaho.
AZBuck
4 days of longer stops is worth the trip to me. Sorry if I offended you or anyone when I asked about the value of the drive in relation to the time spent traveling. I just want to be able to stop and take in the beauty and meet some interesting people along the way.
I am not looking to check things off of a bucket list, I'm trying to seeing and learning new perspectives from the short trip (if that short statement makes sense to anyone).
Thanks for the breakdown and stop suggestions Mr. Buck ! Greatly appreciated !
You might get a lot out of this journal page. It seems to answer all your questions.Quote:
Originally Posted by nslashg
Sounds to me that we have a roadtrip enthusiast in the making. Safe travels.
Very funny! Must try it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Southwest Dave
Lifey
Most definitely not :-) It's a fair enough question, but one that has not got a definitive answer, as each road trip is an individual affair and it has to be worth it to you, that's all that matters and is what we are trying to say.Quote:
Sorry if I offended you or anyone when I asked about the value of the drive in relation to the time spent traveling.
Buck and I have given some suggestions as to what you could see, but again it's ultimately your choice to make.
What is everyones experience as far as gas? The internet is saying that the trip will cost around $900 in gas for a 2000 Toyota Land Cruiser. Do you think this accurate?
I'd budget that much. You may do a bit better. 3000 miles x 15 mpg x 3.75 a gallon is $750.
Did you use the RTA Fuel Cost Calculator?Quote:
Originally Posted by nslashg
Mark
Any suggestions for comfort in the drivers seat over this long distance?
I've never really found anything that substantially changes the comfort of the seat. The best thing you can do is to take a vehicle you think is comfortable in the first place. If there is a specific problem, there might be something you can do or buy to help solve it, but I've found they work with marginal success.
Of course, the other thing is to limit your time behind the wheel, of course, both by limiting your total hours of driving each day, and then again to make sure that you are stopping at least every few hours during the day to stretch out.
Yeah, I just thought someone might have a magical charm. But it's fine!
Does any one know of any websites that will calculate tolls along the way?
I personally used each separate toll road's website for calculating tolls on our upcoming trip, and then using a common calculator (or your head, or an app for the phone) to add them all up. If there's a website that runs all of them together, I haven't found it yet. Nor would I trust it as much as the toll road's website, looking of course to see when the rates were last uploaded.
Donna
There isn't a single "catch-all" website for tolls, at least not that I've seen in all the times this question has come up over the years.
Having said that, you can generally look up the information state-by-state. Some states websites are a bit more user friendly than others, but you can find it if you're looking for it. Having said that, depending upon which route you take, all your tolls will likely be less than a tank of gas, so I wouldn't worry about it all that much.