OK THIS IS WIDE OPEN.....Arkansas to California and back

[RizingSoul]

My wife and I live in Arkansas and we were planning a trip to Cozumel, but it turns out my wife has a SERIOUS phobia of flying. So rather than have to go through planning a vacation and then possibly not being able to get her on the airplane (very possible), I thought maybe a great road trip could be just as exciting.

We live in Fort Smith Arkansas and neither of us have really ever been anywhere. I lived in Tampa FL for about 9 months once, but that's about it. My wife has never even seen a real beach!

So I'm thinking maybe we could drive to California, maybe San Fransisco area, Monterey, etc. for our beach destination. During the trip I'd like to see the Grand Canyon, Redwood National Forest, Joshua Tree, etc. But there may be things in between here and there I don't know about...

We could have 7 days from start to finish in the first week of August. Mapquest says from Ft. Smith to San Fransisco would be 26 hours and 1800 miles.

I'm open to any suggestions and would greatly appreciate any advice.

Thank you,

Justin and Karen