Hey everyone, I stumbled across these forums when I was doing some research for the trip and it looks like you guys really know your road trips, and as someone who's very rarely driven somewhere it takes more than a day to get to I figured I could use some advice. So, here's what I'm planning with some friends right now. We'd be leaving sometime in late July and driving to Anaheim, CA for Vidcon 2013 which is August 1st-4th next year. Google is telling me it's about a 33 hour trip to get there on the I-40 W route (https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=B...t=h&mra=ls&z=5)
Unless anyone has a better suggestion than that we'll probably be taking Google's advice most of the way there. On the return trip we were thinking of going up through Colorado and checking out some of the national parks there. So I guess we might do something like the I-70 E route. I'd say we can probably spare about two weeks counting the time spent at Vidcon for the trip so that bares the questions of how to use that time. The goal is to get there relatively quickly but not really take it to the extreme of trying to get there as fast as possible and neglecting the roadside attraction/landmark/random cool stuff part of the road trip. After Vidcon on the return journey we'll probably be more open towards lingering and taking in various places, but again, we do want some of that on the way there.
The next big question would be where and when to sleep. We'll definitely have a hotel in Anaheim, but en route what would you recommend? Camping? Finding somewhere to park and sleeping in the car? Hotel(s)? Simply trading off between sleeping and driving all night (there will be 3 or 4 of us going)? In a related note, assuming we don't keep going all night, how much driving would you recommend for a day on the road?
If there's anything I should have asked but didn't or any general advice feel free to add that in too, it will all be extremely helpful. One last note, what with gas and hotel costs in Anaheim it would be good to keep additional costs down wherever possible with exceptions like being willing to pay extra for a hotel if it means no bed bugs and a bit more for dinner so it's a local restaurant instead of fast food.
Thanks!