LA to NY to Miami and back to LA. I have a few questions.

[Ian]

My 4 friends and I are planning a 2 week road trip this summer from LA to NY to miami and back going via the 15 to 80 to 95 and back on the 10, i know thats not perfect but its the basic route. My question is how much gas money do i need? We plan to get this done in 2 weeks because we will be driving non stop by switching out drivers every 3 hours. We plan to stop in big cities and see stuff. Sleeping in the volvo wagon will be plenty comfy. So, is this feasible? Oh and for food we will have a stove and 200 packets of top ramen. This trip is planned for this June so weather isnt a huge issue. How much gas money? and how long? thanks!!!

[laydownthelaw]

You're going to sleep four people in a station wagon for two weeks?

You're going to speed around the country for two weeks instead of exploring a portion of it?

You're going to drive non-stop for what purpose?

One of the awesome things about living out in L.A. is the opportunity for road trips. I'm assuming you're from out here...have you ever really explored California? What about the 'four corner' states?

The idea of traveling across the entire country, or to do it in one big loop as you're planning is exciting, and I don't want to deflate your excitement if that's really what you want to do. But know this...I did a similar trip back in '98. 11,500 miles covered. But we took SEVEN weeks to do it. And there is plenty of stuff that we didn't see in that time.

If you reconsidered your destination for a 2 week trip, you will get plenty of feedback about what to see in the western part of the U.S. I could easily give you a 2 week plan in which you wouldn't even have to leave your home state.


ab

[Ian]

Actually we plan to sleep 5 in the volvo wagon. We plan to see a cubs game in chicago, tour NY for a day, tour DC for a a day maybe 2, and spend a day in Miami. Will probobly take more than 2 weeks ya, but thats the minimum. Since we will be driving no stop it will only take 2 days to get to chicago and another day to NY then 1.5 days to miami and 2 days back! good fun!!!

[kristy]

You need to decide which personality type you are or what your goal for the trip is. To see a little of everything or a lot of one place? aside from the 5 sleeping in the volvo part the rest of the trip is do able with nonstop driving. I differ from almost everyone on this site in that i prefer to spend little time in each spot i visit hitting the big sites and moving on to the next place when i do a big road trip. i would rather have seen a small bit of all of america than a big piece of one section. i have then taken smaller 3-5 day weekend trips back to anyplace i wanted to explore more of. I have been able to cover almost all of the west and east coast this way and a large portion of the midwest and south. I also am a typical New Yorker and even on vacation never really slow down. anyway like i said decide what you want to see , a lot or a little, and go from there.

[laydownthelaw]

Well, I wish you the best of luck and I hope that things work out for you. You may indeed cover the ground that you want to cover, but you will likely look back at the two weeks or so as being cramped and high-stress.

It takes alot of individual will power to travel that far by car in that short a period of time. Collective will power is even harder to maintain.


ab

[Ian]

Well the main cuty we want to see is washington DC, all the other cities are just kinda along the way so we are checking those out just a little bit, but we will probobly spend most time in DC.