Cross Country Road trip from Northern California and back

[surfgrrl76]

Hi my name is Heather and my best friend and I are planning to take a cross country roadtrip in the future. We are both new to this and any information would be great. I'm not sure how long we should plan for? Which route to take, Southern across Texas, Louisiana, etc. and then go North and East back tp Cali. About how many miles would it be? I see that for cost wise, its good to camp out or cheap hotels.
Once again, any suggestions you have would be greatly appeciated!
Thanks,
Heather

[vermilye]

Well, you need to make some choices... How much time do you want to spend? I have friends that drive from Leadville, CO to Oswego, NY every summer, usually in about 30 hours or so. They never stop, just switch back & forth every 4 hours hitting the bathrooms when they need gas. On the other hand, we have taken trips from here (upstate NY) to the West taking 14 days - 4026 miles, 62 days - 12,020 miles, 25 days - 5930 miles , and last time 42 days - 10,389 miles.

I prefer getting off the interstates & taking my time - I really do believe the trip is just as important as the destination. If that is what you want to do, get a copy of the Reader's Digest's "The Most Scenic Drives in America," check some of the information on this website as well as America's Byways and Road Trip USA. If you have AAA, get maps for all the states you plan to travel through & check what they list as scenic routes. They also can supply camping books as well as tour books listing things to do & places to stay.

If you have a laptop, and can afford around $100.00 you can buy a GPS & Microsoft's Streets & Trips software & always know exactly where you are. Although there is better GPS devices & software available, Microsoft's is about the least expensive and it works. You can even plan the route for your entire trip & let it guide you.

As for specifics, I enjoyed crossing on both US 2 & US 20, making dips South to see some of the SouthWest National & State Parks. US 212 East of Yellowstone is one of the most beautiful roads in the country, US 50 is nice in the West, but gets a bit boring mid country. We crossed the country in the South in late June & July - too hot!

I think the best trips were those where we each picked places that interested us & then choose as many scenic drives as we could find to connect them. If we found ourselves getting too far behind schedule, we found the nearest interstate & made up the time.

Good luck & have a great trip!

[observatory2]

Hey... If You Went South.. Then North, California would then be WEST...

Whatever direction, may I offer my Two Cents: Stay the Heck out of North Texas/ Southern Oklahoms...Nothing to do and Strange Folks out on them Roads, yessirree..

Instead, Head South 1-25 (say, From Denver) to New Mexico's Pecos Valley ( turn off Freeway before/ North of Albequerque ), then Take the
SE- Easterly ride through the INCREDIBLY BIZZARE, Tr-p-ip-ip-ip-ppy and Beautiful Humongous Rock Formations only the locals know about along the NM Texas Border and then cruise into " Southern Texas" all features P;lenty Good Camping and Incredible Scenery, then catch the I-10 and head for Wherever... Good Luck !

[vagabond]

Hi Heather, my friend and I did a road trip for a year and a half back in 2003 and we hit almost every state in the US. We started in Santa Barbara California and went up the coast of california into Oregon Washington and then into Canada. Canada was I think my favorite part of the road trip. We stayed at the awsome Hostel on Jaricho Beach I think it was called in Vancouver then we after exploring Vancouver drove through BC to a super cool artsy hippy town called Nelson which is located on a gorgeous lake. After that we drove about an hour to my favorite part of the road trip to a town called Nakusp where there you will find the most amazing natural hot spring where you will only get to through the most beautiful hiking ever. From there we drove down into (directly on the boarder) Glacier National park and then into Yellowstone (my second favorite place on the road trip). The other favorite part of my trip was Key West Florida of course. Its a great time and the water is amazing. Austin Texas is a great place to visit but I really would never suggest driving through Texas ever unless you really want to go to Austin. Its the longest most miserable time ever. If your going as far as Maine, Bar Harbour is a gorgeous fun fun place. Good luck if you have anymore questions about other places in the US I could probably help.

[glc]

Vagabond, this thread is 5 years old and the original poster never replied, so I think the trip was probably completed a long time ago!