LAS VEGAS to BOSTON via SEATTLE

[London Terry]

Hi Guys,

I've just joined the site, mainly because I need an awful lot of help !

We're planning to come across to the States next July for a period of 31 days.

Ideally, we would like to fly into Las Vegas, see the Grand Canyon and then head to San Diego. Before making the customary stops on the Pacific Highway en route to Seattle. Then head acroos country to Boston, cutting around the top of the Great Lakes.

Is this viable in 31 days. Or should I revert to my first plan and end in Chicago - a saving of 1000 miles.

Must sees for us would be San Francisco, Yosemite and the Giant Redwoods. Then Olympic National park in Washington.

Also, Glacier National park and Yellowstone, followed by the Badlands. Niagara if we carry on to Boston.

Any advice - and other suggested - stops would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[glc]

Welcome!

That looks quite possible, as long as you don't stay in any one place for any real length of time. Just to do the drive is about 6000 miles, which means you will need to average 4 hours a day on the road traveling from point to point.

If you reach Chicago and you are running out of time, you can make it to Boston without sightseeing in 2 days.

If you want to go around the top of the Great Lakes, that would put you through Canada, and Chicago would be considerably out of the way. If you do that, make sure you rent a car with permission to take it across the border.

[Southwest Dave]

Hello and welcome to the RTA forums !

It will of course depend on the pace you want to travel at, and how many multi day stops you want to take at how many of those places you want to visit. A 6000 mile trip will often end up close to, or above 7000 miles with added detours into City's and National parks etc, say 2 weeks worth of full driving day's, leaving you quite a bit of time to do some exploring along the way.

Have a good look around the forums and other RTA pages such as the road trip routes above. As you build your trip and have new questions, just ask and we will see if we can help to "fine tune" it.

Enjoy the planning !

[London Terry]

Thanks for the replies.

At this moment it looks like we're going to try to get right across to Boston via the north of the Great lakes.

First question concerns gas, as a few of the posts I've read have me concerned with the costs.

I'm planning on hiring a car (compact) with Alamo (one way) for the duration and was budgeting on a 7000 miles journey at 30 miles per gallon at a cost of $3.25 per gallon making a total of just over $750 dollars. Is this being too optimistic.

Thanks again.

[AZBuck]

On both the miles and cost per gallon, I think you've left a pretty good margin. It's hard to predict exactly what kind of mileage you'll get without knowing the exact make and model, but 25-30 is certainly in the ballpark for a compact with automatic transmission over a mostly highway RoadTrip. So, all in all, I think your $750 estimate on fuel costs will leave you at least a little margin. The one thing you'll want to make sure of before you drive off the lat with the rental car, however, is that your contract has no geographic restriction and in particular allows you to take the car into Canada.

AZBuck

[glc]

Gasoline is more than $3.25 a gallon in Canada. It's closer to $4 right now. I'd budget for 25 miles per gallon at $3.50 just to be safe. It's also difficult to predict what the prices will be next summer.