first timer, help!

[imported_shannon]

My two best friends and i have been dreaming about that classic 'summer after senior year roadtrip' sence about the sixth grade. We'll finally be seniors in the fall, so i'v been thinking more about it. Were willing to start planning and save money untill next summer, but we really have no idea where to start. We live in central florida, i'd like to see mostly southern states, deffinitly texas and the ultimate destination is california. we'd like to spend about a month, is it possible to go north also? ny and chicago? about how much money would we be looking at for three people? hellllllllp!!

[Robert Schaller]

Get yourself a road atlas at the grocery store and start dreaming! Rand McNally atlases (and probably other publishers as well) will have mileage charts in them that you can use to figure out how far you can reasonably go in the time you have. If you are just driving, you can often cover 500-700 miles in a day, for short stretches. If you are sight-seeing, your mileage will often be much, much less, depending on how much time you spend at the places you stop (or drive slowly through). There are links on this site for road trip planners that also can be of good use to you.

Daily expenses:
Gasoline -- 500 miles at 25mpg = $40 at today's average price ($2 per gal).

Lodging -- from hostels ($15?) to motels ($30 -- $80 or more).

Camping -- anywhere from FREE to $35 per night in private camps. And everywhere in between.

Food -- you can eat in restaurants for $25 per day per person. If you eat from a box and ice chest, you can do it for less if you're careful about what and how much you buy.

You need to keep the cost of repairs and service for the vehicle in mind (how will you pay if something happens?).

Don't forget to take a little extra along for FUN. Bob

[imported_shannon]

thanks bob,
that helps alot.
i have another question
how many days aprox. will it take to drive thru, if i plan on stopping often. the trip is the vacation and cali isent really the final destination, its really the turning around point. I know thats a hard one but you seem like an expert so just a ball park number would really help,
thanks again,
shannon

[Robert Schaller]

The driving from coast to coast is somewhere between 4 and 5 days. The best thing to do is come up with your "for sure" stops, add the time you think you'd like to spend at each one, than add a few extra days for unexpected surprises and then put it all together. Ideally, you could plan at least a day in each of your major points of interest, and even that won't be enough at some of the best ones!

The absolute best way to do this kind of a trip in my opinion, is to keep things loose -- with a month you have plenty of time to ramble. Keep in mind how far you are from home at any given point (in the US, that's not more than 4.5 days of steady driving), and adjust your itinerary as you get farther along. Two weeks from the end, you can take a look at what's left, what you still want to see, and you'll know about how many miles you normally cover at that point, and plan from there. Make sense?

[Randy]

Hey Shannon,
What part of Texas would you like to see? Houston? Dallas? Amarillo? I was born and raised in Texas and I have traveled all over the state so I can help with some"must sees". I have also traveled from Texas/Oklahoma to
California many times and could help you with that. I would
avoid southern New Mexico and southern Arizona in the Summer.(HOT!)

While in "Cali", try to visit Laguna Beach. It's great for fun & sun and there is a bench in Heisler
Park on a cliff high above the ocean where you can sit and
watch the greatest sunsets you'll ever see. It would be a
good turning around point.
Randy.