From San Francisco to Miami

[kaikauppinen]

Hi!

4 of my friends and I are planning a road trip to USA next December/January. We are school pals from Finland, and this Road trip has been dream of ours for a long time!

Our plan is to drive all the way from San Francisco (where we fly from Helsinki, Finland) to Miami, and visit the Keys before flying back home. The trip would last 28 days including two days of flying. We would have 18 driving days after taking out the days that we would spend in cities that we are most interested in (San Francisco, Las Vegas, New Orleans...) + 1 extra day in the end for some unexepted events.

We would be most grateful for any comments about the trip! Most concered we are about the time. Do we have enough time to see all the sights or would this be just hasty travelling from town to town? :) Any advice for making the trip better? Places and cities to see and places to avoid?


Below is the current trip plan with the places we have come up so far and the sleeping places & and the driving distances for every day.



DAY 1 Arrival to San Francisco

DAY 2 San Francisco

DAY 3 Santa Cruz, Monterey. Night: Monterey (116 mi, 186 km)

DAY 4 Big Sur, Hearst Castle, Cambria. Night: Cambria (144 mi, 232 km)

DAY 5 Santa Maria, Santa Barbara. Night: Santa Barbara(139 mi, 223km)

DAY 6 Los Angeles. Night: Los Angeles (95 mi, 153 km)

DAY 7 Los Angeles . Night: Los Angeles

DAY 8 Las Vegas. Night: Las Vegas (265 mi, 426 km)

DAY 9 Las Vegas. Night: Las Vegas

DAY 10 Grand Canyon. Night: Flagstaff (378 mi, 608 km)

DAY 11 Flagstaff. Night: Phoenix (147 mi, 236 km)

DAY 12 Tucson. Night: Tucson (116 mi, 187 km)

DAY 13 El Paso. Night: El Paso (317 mi, 510 km)

DAY 14 Forth Stockton. Night: Forth Stockton (240 mi, 387 km)

DAY 15 Austin. Night: Austin (336 mi, 541 km)

DAY 16 Houston. Night: Houston (163 mi, 262 km)

DAY 17 New Orleans. Night: New Orleans (532 mi, 566 km)

DAY 18 New Orleans, Louisiana. Night: New Orleans

DAY 19 Night: Panama City (326 mi, 525 km)

DAY 20 Panama City. Night: Panama City

DAY 21 Night: Orlando (358 ml, 576 km)

DAY 22 Disney World. Night: Orlando

DAY 23 Miami. Night: Miami (235 ml, 378 km)

DAY 24 Miami. Night: Miami

DAY 25 Key West. Night: Key West (162 mi, 260 km)

DAY 26 Everglades. Night: Miami (162 mi, 260 km)

DAY 27 Extra-day

DAY 28 Flight back

[Mass Tim]

Welcome to the RoadTrip America Forum!

On the surface, it looks okay, but in practice you'll probably find that you want more time in some of these areas - depending on just how much you wish to see. Having one extra day is nice, but you'll probably want to up that to two. After all - what if the unexpected event happens much earlier in your trip?

[kaikauppinen]

Hi!

We are planning a Road Trip that goes San Francisco - Los Angeles (road 1) - Las Vegas - Gran Canyon - Flagstaff - Tucson - Van Horn - Austin - Houston - New Orleans - Miami - Key West. The trips takes place from mid December to mid January. We would like to know about the possible bad driving conditions caused by the weather that time of year? Are we likely to have problems with snow for example? Are there any roads that we should avoid?

- Kai Kauppinen

Merged with previous thread. Please do not start multiple threads for the same trip. - Mod

[AZBuck]

The questions you ask are impossible to answer this far in advance. Weather predictions even 5 days ahead are notoriously inaccurate. But yes, you can expect to see bad weather, including the distinct possibility of snow, sleet, hail, etc. as you cross the Colorado Plateau and the western Great Plains. Note that I-40 around Flagstaff is at an elevation of around 7,000 feet and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon will be snow-bound and closed at this time of year. Your best plan is to stick to the Interstates wherever possible as they get first priority by the road crews to keep them open. But also build an extra day into your travel plans just in case you do encounter conditions that are beyond the crews' and/or your ability to handle.

AZBuck