Ohio-Nevada new experiences trip tips!

[benji3eb]

First off, awesome site, glad I found it. All the info and stories are great. Road trippin' is definently a hobby of mine. Unfortunately, I'm the only one of my friends who likes doing it, so I plan it every time. So I'm looking for some help this time.

I've read all the, "Want to take a movie-like road trip" threads, very amusing, and I understand road trips aren't like that from experience. But I think they're much closer if you want them to be. My memories of my previous Ohio-Vegas trip feel like a movie montage. The only memory I have of the boring driving only hours are summed up in a quick 20 sec clip.

My trip this time will probably be at the end of August, beginning of September. I know a drive takes about 3 days, or 32-36 hours to complete. I have a great car, great gas milage, and depending on the number of people coming (hopefully 3-5 total) 2 cars.

This time I'm dragging my friends along and packing more video tape and notebooks for logging. Here's a vague list of things I want to accomplish this time:
-I want to travel most of way on southern roads/highways.
-I'm big into historical sites, so I'd like to see many along the way
-Nature sites, it can include national parks
-At least for a time, Rt 66 just to say I did it
-Grande Canyon
-Any musical landmarks (example: The Joshua Tree)
-Famous diners/hotels

Any ideas or thoughts would be helpful. Possibly a route of something similar anyone else has taken. We're between the ages of 24-29, most engaged or married. I don't nesissarily want to avoid main cities, but not much in the cities interest me. That doesn't mean I want to see 8 hours of farms though. We plan on logging a lot of what happens on our epic journey with video, pictures, and notes.

Thank you for reading and for any help/advice offered!

Road Trippin' from Akron, OH

[Midwest Michael]

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

You can certainly see a lot of the things you are looking for along the way. I'd say your bet bet for a route that will satisfy your goals would be to take I-70 to St. Louis and then follow the path of Route 66 by taking I-44 and I-40 west.

However, you should know that while you could make this trip in 3 very full days. You would have to have to be on the road for 12+ hours for each of those three days. That is quite a bit more than we generally recommend for an leasurly trip, and it really leaves no room for any sightseeing. If you want to take time to stop at historic sites, like the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial, pop into a national park, like the Petrified Forest or the Grand Canyon, or just make a random stop to stand on a corner in Winslow AZ, you're really going to need closer to 5 days, minimum to make this trip.