Boston to San Diego Road Trip While Moving

[Zach Touba]

Actual starting point is Manchester, NH, but any serious travel we'll be doing will/can be started in Boston. Myself and my best friend are seniors in high school at the moment, however the trip will take place towards the end of summer 2005, and we will both be 18. I have prepared an extensive budjet, what I really need help with is:
1. What route should I take, and what are the alternative options?
2. How many days of driving does it take (comfortably)?
3. Where are all the best places to stop along the way (grand canyon etc, or even smaller lesser known things)?
4. Any tricks of the trade that I need to know about?

[Zach Touba]

Actual starting point is Manchester, NH, but any serious travel we'll be doing will/can be started in Boston. Myself and my best friend are seniors in high school at the moment, however the trip will take place towards the end of summer 2005, and we will both be 18. I have prepared an extensive budjet, what I really need help with is:
1. What route should I take, and what are the alternative options?
2. How many days of driving does it take (comfortably)?
3. Where are all the best places to stop along the way (grand canyon etc, or even smaller lesser known things)?
4. Any tricks of the trade that I need to know about?

And as it says in the title, this is actually a moving trip
we will have a U-HAUL trailer towed behind our car. We just figured why not make it a road trip and stop at all the attractions along the way. I dont think the moving aspect really would affect much (in terms of it being a road trip) other than worse gas milage (hence more money for gas).

[Robert Schaller]

Friend, you couldn't hit "all" the stops along this route in TEN trips! Others will have other suggestions for you, but I picked my favorites and you can do these with reasonable amounts of time to stop and take a look at each place, in about 10 days.

Drive the most direct route you see between each point.

First stop, Valley Forge, PA. Then Gettysburg Battlefield, and on across US30 and I-70 to the Air Force Museum at Wright Patterson AFB, Dayton, OH.

Go on to Springfield, IL and see Abraham Lincoln's only real home, and his tomb. Then St Louis and see the Gateway Arch and the Westward Expansion Museum underneath it. Annheuser-Busch's brewery is nearby -- take the tour and see how they make our national beverage.

Follow the Missouri River west for awhile for the scenery and history -- Daniel Boone's home is near the little town of Defiance, MO. This was also the initial route of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

Pick up US54 across Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and into Tucumcari, NM. Visit Santa Fe, then for an out of the way treat, visit Chaco Canyon and see the culture of the ancestors of some of the earliest Native Americans in the southwest.

Head down to I-40, and west to Meteor Crater near Winslow, Sunset Crater north of Flagstaff, and then the Grand Canyon.

From there, down to Williams, and then drive old route 66 from Seligman, AZ to Kingman. If you aren't ready to get done on the fastest route yet, drive through the little town of Oatman on the way to I-40. Take I-40 west to I-15 at Barstow, and you can use that all the way into San Diego. Rest on the beach for several weeks! (Hey, it sounds GOOD to me...) Bob