NYC to LA

Hey guys 😊

I posted on here a while ago about doing NYC to LA in 14 days next April. I've had serious internet issues since & have not been able to reply to the replies I got from some of you. Can't even find the thread now so just wanted to thank those of you that gave me advice.

We've since changed a good few details (routes, times, travel mode etc).

Originally there were 4-5 of us doing it in a pick-up, over 14 days. We've now changed to travelling in my friends RV, and now there are 7 of us doing the trip - over 21 days. As I'm from the UK, it'll take us 2 days to get back from LA so we've got 19 solid days of road-tripping, with the remaining 2 days to get back.
There are now 4 of us out of the 7, who can drive, so we'll be taking it in turns to do shifts at the wheel.
Here is a list of the stops we'll be making. Let me know what you guys think please :-)

New York City NY
Red Bank NJ
Atlantic City NJ
Philadelphia PA
Washington DC
Smoky Mtns NC
Nashville TN
Memphis TN
New Orleans LA
San Antonio TX
Hamilton Pool TX
Waco TX
Fort Worth TX
Roswell NM
Meteor Crater AZ
Grand Canyon AZ
Four Corners AZ
Horseshoe Bend AZ
Las Vegas NV
Sierra Nevada NV
Myers Flat CA
San Francisco CA
Los Angeles CA

By clicking on your own name and going to find posts or find threads, you will find your previous thread.

Your itinerary looks fine to me, though I have not checked the distances between your stops. You might consider going to Four Corners and Horseshoe Bend before the Grand Canyon, and then enter the Grand Canyon on route 64, along the Colorado River. There are many view point which are easily accessible along that drive, and a spectacular entrance into the NP. Besides the drive from Four Corners to the Grand Canyon, especially that bit between Kayenta and Cameron is a very scenic drive.

If Meteor Crater is a must for you, then it is a fair bit of bactracking, either way you do it. But going to Four Corners before the GC will enable you to enter the GC the same way the Colorado does, and leave the GC on 64 to Williams, before heading to LV. It would be worthwhile to do the detour on old route 66 from Seligman to Kingman on your way to LV.

Do you plan on staying within the GCNP? If so, be sure to book your accommodation as soon as the booking window opens.

Lifey

Ahhh, so that's how you find it. Thanks for that :-)

Great advice! Never thought about the alternative route through GC. I'll check that out.
There are a few places on the list where we'll literally only be spending a few hours at a time (Red Bank, Philadelphia) and probably a few others, depending on the times. Still may need some tweaking, as far as stop-offs are concerned. I'm not too bothered about Nashville & Memphis, so figured if we head down from NC through Atlanta on the way to NO, it may save some time, considering they would be 'over night' stays.

Haven't yet quite managed to look into RV parks, and not sure on state specific speed limits - which I'm hoping doesn't make too much of a difference where travelling times are concerned.

In an RV, you may find yourself going a little slower than you would if driving a car. Not so much the speed limit. But, an RV doesn't have the ability to go from 0mph to 65mph in -30 seconds like many cars can do. It will also take you a lot more time (and $$) to fill up the tank. Finally, with 7 people, every stop is going to take longer than you think it will.

The NO to San Antonio run is about 550 miles, btw, which is a good 11 hours in a car, probably more like 12 or 13 in an RV.


Donna

Right, that's what I though (time-wise). Good point about the stops too. Maybe it WOULD be a better idea to leave Nashville & Memphis out then, so as to try & get some time back. I can always go see them some point in the future I suppose.
Some of our long drives are a daunting thought, but with us taking it in turn to drive, I'm hoping we don't need any unnecessary stops.
Thanks for the tips Donna. Any more would be greatly appreciated.

In your first post you mention picking up a rental car. If this is an RV trip, it changes quite a few things. For one thing, you will find most RV parks on the outskirts of most cities. Since other than in a few of the major cities you are not going to be able to rely on public transport, you would have to take a taxi to commute into any of the cities if you plan to visit bars or restaurants or see the city. I would also urge you in that case to reserve your spot in the GC as soon as the booking window opens. Keep an eye on the website.

I would also then give Meteor Crater a miss. There is Sunset Crater much closer to the GC, which you would be able to visit after Horseshoe Bend and before the GC.

Lifey

Sunset Crater WAS on the original list, so I'll swap it back for Meteor Crater if it'll save time. One thing id hate to do is rush this trip - so anywhere that takes us too far off track, I'd like to try & avoid.

We were originally using my friends pick-up, but have now managed to get an RV, so as to try & save having to be in specific places to bed down - and to give us more time on the road.

The plan was to spend a few hours at the GC, and then drive to 4 Corners, where we'll be spending the night - so we won't be staying near GC.
Some sights we wanna see, will need to be 'open' (during daytime hours), other sights don't necessarily need to be. It's proving a bit difficult to plan so that we end up in certain places during opening hours - but I suppose the planning is all part of the fun :-)

Thank you so much for your advice guys. It really is helping a lot - so if you have any more ideas, they'd be greatly appreciated.

Sorry, just realised what you meant. By 'pick-up', I was referring to my friends pick-up truck. Not sure of the correct term :-/

You will need to check that your friends RV has enough seat belts to accommodate 7 people when on the move as being buckled up is the law in most [if not all] States. We love to travel by RV when in the States, but trying to do a lot of miles in a day [500 plus] isn't really fun for anyone. As mentioned, everyone in the vehicle needs to be restrained and are not allowed to move around the vehicle while in motion and the dinnette benches are not the most comfortable to be seated on for long periods. The real joy for us comes from those nights around the campfire in a State or National park, out in nature, but parking and visiting City's can be awkward and time consuming due to the size of the vehicle, and it appears to me that you plan on a lot of City's. If you were heading more direct towards the National parks etc of Colorado and Utah and the GC before the coast, I would say great. With the miles and City's you are adding going south, I would actually consider renting 2 cars and stay in Motels. It's not to say what you have planned won't work and be enjoyable, but you do need to weigh up the pros and cons of travelling by RV with such a big group and another plus for 2 vehicles is that if a couple of people get grumpy with each other during the trip you can rotate who goes in which vehicle to freshen things up. An RV is a big vehicle to drive but can start to feel small as a home with just 4 people, with 7.. ?

See, this is what I love about this forum - I could never have considered this stuff without the help of people on here :-)

There are a guaranteed 6 of us going - and possibly 7. But at least 6. Will need to talk to my friend about the seat-belt scenario. I'd love for us all to be together, rather than in seperate vehicles. I might need to rethink some of the route so we can add more outdoorsy type of places, rather than cities.

Again, thanks for the advice. It's all a huge help & I'm glad I joined here. To be honest, I never knew much about the geography of America until I started planning this trip, so it's all a learning curve for me.

Thank you :-)

May I suggest that you allow at least one full day at the GC, to enable you to experience a sunset and/or sunrise over the canyon. An unforgettable experience. You are in the great position that if you decide on the RV, to get spots booked early into many of the great national parks. If this trip is still taking place in April, then you should not have too much trouble to get into RV parks along the way. It will also avoid you having to be in a certain city to get accommodation.

Actually, if you have travelled a bit, you will know that after a while all cities start to look somewhat the same, but there is nothing on earth quite like the national parks of CO, UT, CA and AZ.

Are you using good paper maps for this planning exercise? You really can't do without them, to allow you to see something of the land along your route. If you have friends in the US, they may be able to get State maps from the AAA and send them to you. Alternatively, you could order a Rand McNally road atlas from the RTA shop link at the bottom of this page. You will have it in a couple of weeks.

Besides being invaluable while planning the trip, good maps are essential when on the road. Don't be tempted to rely solely on your electronics.

Lifey

Thanks again for the advice.
We will be arriving at the GC quite late, so will be up for sun rise.
The trip is defineteley happening in April - we've already booked the flights. And as there are a few of us, we will be using the RV for sure.
We are going to keep the same route, more or less, bar a bit of tweaking - but will be trying to incorporate more outdoor stops rather than lots of Cities.
We have been using a mixture of paper maps & software - although I will be getting some more up to date maps closer to the end of this year.
Thanks again for all the tips. It's really helping :-)

One part of your trip that might be worth taking a second look at is from LV to SF. You will be passing one of the greatest National parks in the system, Yosemite. I think it's worth considering rather than going all the way north to Myers Flat. You would have to go south around the Sierra Nevada as the Tioga Pass [CA120] will still be closed due to snow, but Yosemite valley can be lovely this time of year and with the added bonus of the waterfalls being close to peak flow. It would cut your mileage back by 4-500 miles,[guestimate] which is a full day of driving that could be spent relaxing and exploring this amazing natural wonder.

Wow! Fantastic tip. That would save a LOT of time. I've already took the advice on board to cut out Meteor Crater & go see Sunset Crater instead, which will cut out a good bit of driving.
If you know of any other ways for me to save time, please let me know.

Thankyou once again for these ideas :-)

Well to be honest you are putting on a lot of miles by going to Roswell, the Grand canyon and back to Four corners. To be honest I would skip Roswell, but either way, from Fort Worth I would head up to Albuquerque and Farmington to Four Corners. You would then have the opportunity to drive through Monument valley to Horseshoe Bend b efore heading south to GC on US89. You would then enter the GC from the east on 64, the exact same way the Colorado river carved it out and the views just keep building right through to the main rim area.

Thanks Dave. Roswell does seem too far out, so I'll take it off & head up to Albuquerque instead. Makes perfect sense to me.

Now I need to start figuring out where the best places are to park the RV at each destination

Hey Guys

After all of the great advice I previously received on here - I've taken it all on-board and revised our route.

We'd like to try and spend a day or so in LA before we head home, although if we need to take our time getting there from San Francisco, Im happy to use just the last day to visit LA. This is not set in stone yet, although I feel like we're getting closer to a finished route.
I'm also looking to try and add Antelope Canyon to the route but having a bit of trouble trying to work out the best way to travel to the Arizona destinations (saving time but not taking boring routes). I would greatly appreciate your help please in trying to figure it out so we're not wasting time doubling back on ourselves.

We're doing the trip middle of April next year, for 21 days and in an RV.


Day 1 - Arrive from the UK in NYC early afternoon
Day 2 - leave NYC around 6pm for Atlantic City
Day 3 - leave Atlantic City early afternoon for DC
Day 4 - leave DC early morning for New Orleans
Day 5 - (spend travelling to New Orleans)
Day 6 - arrive, spend day/night in New Orleans
Day 7 - leave New Orleans early afternoon for Austin TX
Day 8 - (spend travelling to Austin)
Day 9 - leave Austin early for Hamilton Pool. Leave Hamilton Pool mid afternoon for Fort Worth.
Day 10 - leave Fort Worth early afternoon for Albuquerque
Day 11 - leave Albuquerque early for Four Corners Monument, then onto Horseshoe Bend.
Day 12 - leave Horseshoe Bend early for GCNP
Day 13 - leave GCNP early afternoon for Las Vegas
Day 14 - leave Las Vegas early afternoon for Yosemite NP
Day 15 - spend day/night in Yosemite NP
Day 16 - spend day/night in Yosemite NP
Day 17 - leave Yosemite NP early for San Francisco
Day 18 - leave San Francisco early/late afternoon for LA
Day 19 - ??
Day 20 - ??
Day 21 - leave LAX to head back home to the UK


Thanks in advance guys

Moderator Note: Please keep all questions about this trip in the same thread.

Are you still meeting up with friends in NY. It is not wise to drive coming off a long haul flight, so I assume your friend will be doing the driving to Atlantic City.

I'm a little puzzled that you are visiting DC just to sleep. If you have not been there before, this would really be shortchanging yourself. There is so much to experience.

You will not make it all the way to Yosemite on day 14. Even if Tioga Pass were to be open, it would be a tough day's driving to get all the way into Yosemite. Plan on getting there well into the afternoon of day 15.

Be aware it is two full days driving from SF to LA via the PCH.

And get onto the national parks website early to book the accommodation, if you wish to stay within the park. It books up very quickly after the booking window opens.

Lifey

Others have mentioned this previously, but I really don't think an RV is a wise choice for this trip. With the exception of one night at Grand Canyon and 2 nights at Yosemite, you're almost exclusively planning to visit cities, where an RV will really be a headache, not a help.

Otherwise, your route looks ok - be it a bit rushed. The only spot I see a big potential is Fort Worth to Albuquerque. If you're going to do that trip, you need to leave earlier than in the afternoon. That is a long, full day, drive, especially if you're in an RV.

Wow! Perhaps I'm a lot further away than I first thought ha

Lifey - I am still meeting up with friends when I get to New York. I don't drive, so I won't be doing any & there are 3 of my friends who drive, so they'll be doing shifts between them.
I meant to put 'morning' instead of "afternoon" when referring to the drive from Atlantic City to DC, - so I figured we would get to where we need to be in DC by around mid-afternoon, giving me enough time to see the sights I want to see that will be open during normal working hours. The rest, I thought we'd go & see around evening time so that I can get some decent shots of certain buildings and places. I thought that would give us enough time in DC - but perhaps I'm underestimating how big it is?

Maybe if we were to leave Vegas around 10/11am on the morning of day 14, would we not make it to the RV site by evening time? If not, then what you suggested sounds like a good idea - although I wanted to try and have 2 full days and night in Yosemite. But if it's not possible, it's not possible.
I wanted us to avoid the interstate coming from SF to LA, as much as possible - and would prefer to do the full coastline drive. How long would you suggest for us to comfortably do the PCH - and maybe be able to make a few stops on the way? Would 3 days be better?

With regards to the route - I'm all for missing some of those things out so that I can make more time for my preferred destinations. I'm going over on my own now, and meeting my friends over there. My friend from the UK has dropped out - and I'm lucky enough to be doing this trip with guys who have seen most of America over the years - so they're giving me 100% free reign on wherever we go.

I read a few comments earlier on another thread, where somebody was explaining the cost of doing it the RV way. One of my friend's family members is allowing us to use it, so we'll avoid a chunk of the related costs. Just fuel and pitch fees (I think). However - I'm starting to go off the idea of the RV, with the things you're telling me. It just seems like it'd be more of a hinderance, than a help - what with having to use local RV parks and all the travel to and from them, then getting to where we want to get to. Might be a possibilty to give the RV a miss and use smaller vehicles. I'll have to discuss that with my friend.

New Orleans is one of the places I wouldnt be too fussed about missing out. If I cut that out of the route, would it save us any time just heading straight for Austin from DC? I initially planned on a day and night in New Orleans, so I supose we;d at least get that time back to use for making our way to Austin.

I'm not too keen on the Fort Worth to Albuquerque idea either - so wouldn't mind changing that around. It was suggested to me by a member on here to miss off Roswell, and instead head from Fort Worth to Albuquerque - which I've done, but it seems like it'll add to the trip now, with having to make more stops. I could also give Four Corners a miss if that would save time - but I'd really love to try and keep HorseShoe bend on the list.

I really appreciate your help with this guys. Thank you

Fort Worth to Albuquerque is certainly shorter than going via Roswell, it's just that it is a very full day on the road, and you'd have to leave Ft. Worth in the morning to make it.

I will say, of all the great sites to see in the Southwest that you're not making time for, singling out 4 corners and horseshoe bend seem like somewhat odd choices.

How are you doing a 1 way trip in a friend's RV? Doesn't it have to get back to NY?

We did a 21 day trip from NYC to SF (via LA) very recently - loved every second.

We did not do the Southern route, as you plan to to, and if that is something you really want to go for, great.

If, however, you're still flexible, I would consider finding your way into Colorado and crossing the Rockies (magnificent), going through Southern Utah (magnificent) and as much of Arizona as you can (magnificent).

We only spent a few days in these parts - I am already planning another trip dedicated to this area. It is awesome, especially to a Brit/European.

If you can find the time (as your current plan stands), try to make time for Death Valley. It is the most beautiful place I have ever seen, and my favourite spot in the US. This, of course, is a personal opinion.

The coast between SF and LA is fantastic - we had two days for it, wish we had had three. You will feel the need to stop often for photos, and for good reason.

I really would consider the RV choice, if I were you. We like cities and nightlife as much as the natural wonders and spent time in a few - it was easy enough to find accommodation with a car - looking for RV parks in cities I don't think would be a lot of fun.

I hope you have a wonderful trip!

Subman

I could live without Four Corners, and possibly Horseshoe bend - but I'll look at tryna get around seeing them as they're on my 'bucket list' and chances are, I might never get to do this kind of trip again. What other sights then would you suggest around Arizona?
Maybe we should allocate a couple of days to get to Albuquerque then?
The RV will be at his Uncles compound just outside of NYC, so we'll pick it up from there, and then drop it off in Cali, which will be picked back up by his uncle who will be flying over not long after we're done with it. That's why we were gonna use it, because it'll all kinda fits in at the time. However, I talked with them last night & we may just give the RV a miss & rent an extra car, based on what I'm being advised from you guys. Seems like the best option ATM. The RV is diesel, so the mpg ain't too bad - but the downsides of the whole RV thing are throwing me off the idea now.
The plans are still completely open ATM, so I'm up for any suggestions you may think will make this trip less of a rush.
I've decided to drop NO, Austin & Hamilton Pool, which should give us 4 days or so to get from DC to Fort Worth.
What's confusing me now is the part of the trip from Fort Worth to Arizona. Like I said, if I have to drop Horseshoe Bend and Four Corners, then so be it. But now I'm stuck with how we can get from Fort Worth to Arizona, without wasting time. Any suggestions?

Thanks again for all your help. It's evidently needed, and your tips are proving extremely useful - so thank you.

The questions really center around what do you want to see.

You're cutting a lot of things out of your plan now, where you're almost to the point where you're just driving straight across country. Some of our advice you seem to be really mis-reading. Again, Even if you drive straight from Fort Worth to the Grand Canyon, Albuquerque is a perfectly good place to stop - it's just a fairly long day on the road, and you can't do it in an afternoon. If you want a shorter drive, then there are still a lot of other places along that same route you could look at - Santa Rosa, NM, for example. Remember, you don't have to only be looking at large cities as good places to spend the night, especially if you're just looking for a place to sleep.

If Horseshoe Bend and Four Corners are on your bucket list, then you should absolutely work them into your trip - that is the ultimate beauty of a roadtrip, you get to go to the places that are most important to you. My only thought is there is so much else around that area that I personally would rank a lot higher. In that area you've also got Mesa Verde, Monument Valley, Natural Bridges National Monument, Zion, and Bryce Canyon National Parks, and many more places (some time looking at a map here would be very helpful). But again, this is your trip, and you should go to the places that you want to go, not the places that I want to!

An RV can be a great way to travel across country, and if you have access to one for little cost - especially if you don't have to worry about a 1 way fee, the you will have with a car rental - I think it does make a lot of sense to use it. The only issue is that if you're going to use it, then I would recommend building a trip that isn't focused nearly exclusively on cities - as your most recent plan did. If you use it a an opportunity to explore the natural wonders of the US that you won't find anywhere else on earth - and still hitting a few of the cities you think are most interesting - it could really be part of a great trip.