Tallahassee to Grand Canyons?

[jmadigan]

So I'm trying to get a group together to go on a 7-8 day road trip. We live in Tallahassee. Would it be too ambitious to set the Grand Canyon as an end goal and then make it back to Tally in that short of time? My plan is to camp the whole way. Are there any good state parks along the way?

[AZBuck]

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

Yes, your plan is just feasible, and you can probably even take an hour or so out of each day for some short walks during the day to relieve the endless hours of sitting. But the fact is that in order to pull this off, you are going to have to endure each other's company for every minute of every hour of those 7-8 days. You may be the best of friends now, but I can guarantee you that by about the third day this trip will take on the tone of a forced march rather than an adventure and that by the end of it you will not want anything more than to get away from each other and never meet up again. Sp I guess my question is why would you subject yourselves to this? It will not be fun. I think you'd be much better served, and have a much better time by picking a destination significantly closer to home where you can have at least some useful amount of time out of the car and away from each other.

AZBuck

[jmadigan]

Thanks AZBuck. That was very helpful. Could you suggest any alternatives? I'm not dead set on the Grand Canyons. Really I just want a road trip that has these qualities.

-A cool destination to give us a goal
-Fun places along the way
-Fun places on the way back
-places to camp along the way
-7-8 days

[AZBuck]

As I pointed out before, whatever destination you and your group chooses, it should be at most a couple of days from Tallahassee. That gives you some time to explore a few sights along the way as well as have ample time at your ultimate goal. Such a restriction isn't all that restrictive. Reachable targets include anywhere out to central Texas, up through all of Missouri and the southern Great Lakes and over to New York City. Within that area are such possible destinations as Niagara Falls, the Appalachian Mountains including Great Smoky Mountain and Shenandoah National Parks, The Upper Mississippi and the Great River Road, and the Ozarks, not to mention all the coast line as far west as Corpus Christie, or as far north as New Jersey. There's simply too much 'on the way' to start offering suggestions until you've picked a direction, at least.

AZBuck