Spring Roadtrip New York To L.A

[Dee Walsh]

Hi Guys,

I'm new to this forum, but I've found it very helpful so far. It's got me very excited about my future adventure. I'm hoping that you can give me a few suggestions for my road trip. Myself and my friend are going on a road trip in February, We're two girls aged 25. I've travelled and backpacked before but this was across Europe and by train, so road tripping is new to both of us. I and my friend are leaving New York in the second week of February and we're travelling across country and must be in L.A by the 7th of April. A brief idea of the states we're hoping to see are, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California.

We've broken our trip into three sections. The first is New York to New Orleans (20days), second is New Orleans to Albuquerque (10 days) and the third is Albuquerque to L.A. (22 days)

At the moment I'm working on planning the first section on the East Coast. So we have twenty days from when we leave New York till we get to New Orleans. We're planning on staying in Philadelphia and Washington D.C; we also want to see Nashville and Memphis.
I'm concerned about the weather at this time of year, I would love to see the mountains and take in allot a scenery. So where do you think is best to see, we've got exactly 15 days to travel between Washington D.C and New Orleans. We're quite adventurous and have no problems with camping (Weather permitting). We're also willing to stray from our plan as the only fixed dates we have are when we must arrive in New Orleans!!!

We've budgeted $6000 dollars each for the whole trip, this is including car rental, gas, food and accommodation and everything else! (Taking into account that we have free accommodation in some places and no car rental fee from New Orleans to Albuquerque). Is this a realistic budget, I'm use to budgeting for travelling but as I said Road Tripping is all new to me, so I'm unaware of extra costs that are involved!

If hope you can help me out with a few suggestions and input, I'd appreciate it so much.
Thanks a million!!! :)

[AZBuck]

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

New York to New Orleans is a great way to start a coast to coast to coast RoadTrip, and 20 days or so is quite a bit of time. Yes, there is a distinct possibility that you will see snow anywhere along that route in February, in the mountains in particular. But it is not a certainty and in any event you have plenty of time to just sit out any storm that may cross your path. Besides the obvious urban areas you list, you might also be interested in Monticello in Charlottesville, VA; Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Gatlinburg, TN; the Natchez Trace Parkway, the Great River Road and the antebellum homes and battlefield in Vicksburg. But those are just a few of the more popular attractions near your route. If you have other speci9fic interests, speak up.

Your budget should be adequate for your trip but it's not overly generous, so you will have to keep an eye on expenses. Just keep a running tally on how much you've spent and how many more days you still have to stretch out what's still left. And try to hold a little in reserve for unexpected expenses.

AZBuck

[RoadDog]

Think about doing some cruising on Route 66 for part of the way.

[Dee Walsh]

Thanks for the suggestions guys! Well after alot of planning and with Christmas and New years it's been hard to sit down and organise this. We've decided on a general route. From New York we're going to:

Philadelphia (1 Night)
Washington D.C ( 3 Nights, staying with friends)
Charlottesville ( 1 Night)

Then down the Blue Ridge Parkway (Weather permitting) 1-2 night stop over.

Great Smokey Mountains and Gatlinberg for 3-4 nights, (We really want to do some hiking and camping)

Nashville ( 2 nights)
Memphis ( 2 nights)

Then on to the Natchez Trace Parkway from Tupelo to Natchez( one night stop over)

Taking the great river road through Batonrouge (thinking of one night stop over? Would it be worth it?)

Then on to New Orleans (4 Nights)
Houston for Rodeo and Livestock Festival (2 nights)
Austin (1 Night)
Hoping to see some ghosttowns along the way!
Del Rio (1 Night)
Alpine and The Big Bend Natinal Park (2 Nights)
White Sands National park (1 Night)
Roswell,
Albequerque, ( 4 Nights)
Grand Canyon, ( 2 nights)
Las Vegas, (2 nights)

Then on to California, I haven't got this far on my planning, but hopefully have that done in the next week or so. Do you think this is a good route? I'm really concerned about the weather on the east, but I've kept a night or two free, just incase! Any suggestions on other places or things to do, will be much appreciated!

Dee...

[Foy]

Hello Dee,

It seems you're aware of the possibility of sections of the Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP) being closed due to snow and ice from time to time. There is a distinct possibility of parts of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park being closed due to snow and ice in late February/early March, as well. I can imagine camping might be particularly uncomfortable and hiking difficult due to cold temps and accumulated snow and ice.

So just be flexible and keep in mind the many scenic attractions on each side of the mountains. One need not be in the heart of the Blue Ridge to find hiking, camping, and scenery.

Foy

[Dee Walsh]

Hey,

Thanks for your comment Foy. I've been reading that there may be closures on the BRP, we've left ourselves a day or two free, just incase of storms or road closures. I'm a bit worried about the nights that we haven't booked anywhere to stay, this is because I can't know for certain where we'll be. Will it cost much more to get somewhere without reservation?
This is our first roadtrip, so should I be worried that we have nights without places to stay! It just seems impossible to know where we'll be, I'm also accounting for other excursions along the way.

"keep in mind the many scenic attractions on each side of the mountains. One need not be in the heart of the Blue Ridge to find hiking, camping, and scenery"

Could you suggest any places along the way of interest?

I know that it is going to be quite rough camping and hiking in this weather, we are not experienced in either! But we really want to do it! We do not have a massive budget so we're also taking into account that it will save us on accomadation costs! Does anyone know of any nice cheap cabins along the BRP or in Gatlinberg?

Thanks for all the help.

Dee