LA to NY - first timers! please advise!

[Shane Albritton]

Hey Everybody

I'm planning a trip from Los Angeles, CA to Long Island, NY, for mid-August. We have roughly 10 days for the trip, bearing in mind that my car is kind of old and we want to take it slow. I'm from Hawaii, and I've never seen most of the country. Any advice on stops we should make along the way? I want to take in a decent cross section of America, but maintain a semi-direct path to New York. Any and all advice would be much appreciated!!!

[Robert Schaller]

If you are doing this one-way, as a first timer, I would suggest the "mother road" (I-40 and old Route 66) as your first continental US adventure. Hopefully, it will only be a beginning!

There is plenty to see along the I-40 corridor, and then you'd follow the general route of I-81 north to NYC. Drive the interstate when you need to make time, but you can get off the superslab at almost any point along the way to see stretches of great old two-lane blacktop as you can.

Search on Route 66 and on I-40 to get some ideas on what has been posted here before, also for the Blue Ridge Parkway. There is also plenty of other information on this site and others about Route 66 (which followed the basic route now used by I-40 as far as Oklahoma City.

My first thoughts for attractions are Grand Canyon (not far off the route), Petrified Forest, Santa Fe, the Memorial in Oklahoma City where the A. P. Murrah building was bombed (a do-not-miss, I'm told), Memphis, the Smokey Mountains, and the Blue Ridge Parkway for gorgeous scenery and Civil War historical sites. If you want to meander a bit, see the Gateway Arch and Museum of Westward Expansion in St Louis (and find out what "sleep tight" and "OK" really mean and where the phrases came from), and Abraham Lincoln's home and tomb in Springfield, IL.

There are many others, and others may add in their favorites as well for you to choose from. This is a 5-day drive, roughly, so with ten days you have plenty of time to enjoy the USA! If it is a round trip, then I suggest I-80, I-76, I-70 and I-15 for the return trip. More questions? Bob

[imported_crystal]

hi,

i see that you recommend the smokey mountains. from the very little planning that i have put into my trip, the mountains seem out of my way.
is this true? i am going from nyc to la and hope to stop in eufuala,ok and the usual grand canyon/arizona stuff.
but the part of my trip between ny and ok is very hazy right now and i don't know what is the best stuff to see/route to take.
any suggestions would be awesome.