Atlanta to LA and back in a month

[sandramoc]

Hi there,

Myself and a friend are planning on driving from Atlanta to LA and back for the month of June. We're hoping to somehow fit in San Deigo, San Francisco, Las Vegas and Salt Lake 'on the way'. I guess I'm just looking for advice from some experienced roadtrippers. Does this sound like a 'do-able' enterprise. Any suggestions? What kind of a budget would we need ballpark? Any advise would be welcomed - we're just a couple of wee Irish kindergarten teachers wanting to explore America,

Many thanks

[PNW Judy]

But you'll need to keep moving. Welcome to the RTA forums!

What you plan to do can easily be done in a big loop. If you travel west from Atlanta via a more southern route, you can see Las Vegas first, then veer down to San Diego, go up to San Francisco, and then see Salt Lake City, and come back to Atlanta through the middle of the country before going south toward Atlanta. This route would be about 5600 miles. We generally recommend that people not drive more than about 500 miles per day in order to have time to explore a bit each day. So this would be about 11 days driving leaving you 19 days to play.

I am curious why you're starting in Atlanta if most of your places you wish to see are in the West. Not that this isn't a good idea because you'll really be able to roadtrip through some amazing scenery. Just curious. If you're not going to explore the South, you may want to fly into a more western airport and start your loop from there.

Bucks for the Basics would take you through the steps you need to begin to figure your budget. I would figure gas at about $4 per gallon for this summer as they are predicting gas prices might well reach that by June or so.

My main suggestion would be to divide your trip into 1-week segments, i.e. have an idea of about where you need to be at the end of each week in order to not have to rush way too fast at the end of your trip to make your flight home. This will give you some flexibility from day-to-day.

If the car rental agency can't give you an estimated fuel usage for the vehicle you're renting, check out Edmund's.