FL to NY to CA and back

[Jason]

Hello, this spring break I want to do my final hurrah before I graduate college and start my career.

I'll have two weeks. My friends are in NY the first week, and I wanted to catch them there (plus I've never been to NY). That will leavce me with approximately 9 days to go from NY to the Pacific (ocean is my goal, how and where I do not care) and back to Orlando.

The catch is, I'm going solo. I did a two week roadtrip with a friend last winter, but this one will be on my own.

I have the vehicle and financial means. Is that a reasonable timetable? I realize I wouldn't have too long at the Pacific, but I have always been the type of person who likes to just stick his flag in ground and move on.

[Robert Schaller]

It is 5282 miles from NYC to San Diego, CA, and back to Orlando. Rand McNally says you can drive this route (all superslab) in 89 hours. So, 10 hour days at 587 miles each, 9 of them, and you're there. Driving time.

You won't necessarily enjoy this after the first two or three days. Long distance driving on this kind of a schedule is grueling, and by the time you eat and stop for petrol, you won't have time to stop ANYWHERE else.

Are you determined it has to be the Pacific? Why not the Texas Gulf Coast instead? Then, at least you'd have a day or two to hit the beach and chase seagulls or other "critters." Bob

[Jason]

Yeah, you do make a point about it becoming boring after the first few days. I've never really driven constantly beyond three days.

Perhaps I'll just go with the mindset of getting as far west as I can seeing what I can along the way. I'll either get tired and turn back, or hit a point where I decide I've gone too far to turn back.

[Robert Schaller]

If you just had 2 or 3 more days to play with, you could be more comfortable with it -- by grueling, I mean the long hours, high miles and pressure would make it less than pleasant -- you'd get fatigued. With that tight a schedule, if anything at all happens that slows you down for an hour or a few, you're in trouble. And stuff like that ALWAYS happens!

Your idea to just see where the road takes you makes better sense -- that way you're not putting an artificial timetable on it and much less pressure. Just my opinion. Bob

[Captain McDub]

i wanna go but all i have is a week. can i do that? and what age?

[Katie]

I would suggest finding a buddy! It would make the time spent driving pass a lot quicker!