Going around the states

[breezerat]

Hi everyone. I am new at this. I am starting to plan a road trip and I was just wondering if anyone has any information I could use. I live in Washington and want to go to New York, Florida and than hit Las Vegas. Wondering if anyone has done a similar road trip? Haven't really taken a long road trip, just wondering about how long everyone thinks it might take, excluding extra stops. Anything will help. Thanks

[GusterPhan]

Myself and my friend are pretty much doing the same thing this June. We planned to take the whole month off and made an itinerary of what cities we want to visit and about how much time we would like to spend in each. However, with the way we do things, we're pretty much just gonna wing it.....hopefully you and your friend are smarter than us and can share some info.

[Robert Schaller]

You need to figure out the mileages between your start and end points, decide how many miles each day you want to drive, and how much time you WANT to spend at the places you are going to, to get an idea of how much you can manage on your trip, and what you can fit in.

Start with an atlas or an online trip planner like MS Streets and Trips (or even Rand McNally's free online program is better than nothing). Plot things out day by day -- then you'll have an idea of what is possible even if you end up doing it differently when you're actually on your way.

See our RoadTrip Planning section (there's a link on the green banner menu bar at the top of this page). There's lots of great tips there for learning how to plan a trip.

Think about what your daily expenses will be for food, gas, lodging and spending money. All of these things can be easily planned (estimated).

You'll find that the planning is almost as much fun as the going -- even if you don't follow the plan later! Finally, don't worry about having to plan each and every little detail, or sticking to a plan once it is set -- approach it with the idea that things will work out no matter what -- be flexible -- and plan mostly on having a good time. You won't think about everything ahead of time and that's not a problem -- most anything can be dealt with "on the fly." It ain't rocket science. Bob

[Boston Wrangler]

BreezeRat, welcome to the forum!

I suggest you take a look at GusterPhan's original thread (click here) and another thread here (8500 mile route) because they are similar to what you are interesting in pursuing.

If this is your first long road trip AND first solo road trip, you may consider taking a few shorter long trips before you decide if trans-continental road trip is for you, if you know what I mean. Maybe take a weekend and drive from Washington to Northern California (some other current threads in this forum have discussed lots to see between British Columbia and California) to make sure that a long solo trip is the right thing for you. You'll also get an idea of how many miles you can/want to drive per day. Some people can barely handle 3 hours in a car and some people can drive for 14 hours straight and only make pit stops.

[Dan K]

Hi all,

This is my first post! I am replying to see if breezerat ever made it around the country. I had a similar trip 2 years ago and loved almost every single minute of it.

[Mark Sedenquist]

This is my first post! I am replying to see if breezerat ever made it around the country. I had a similar trip 2 years ago and loved almost every single minute of it.

Dan, Welcome to the Forum!

I am not sure if we ever heard from Breezerat, but I have been wandering around the continent (in a concerted way) since March, 1994 and I am still doing it. Will be driving from Las Vegas to Mendocino tomorrow. And, like you, I have enjoyed just about every single moment.

Mark