NYC driving to Seattle

[cross county traveler]

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I plan on driving on May 8th around 8pm and flying out of Seattle on May 18th. Is this worth the drive, what do I have to stop and see along the way? Any suggestions for stops for sleeping along the way?

>> Car gets 12 city and 15/16 highway as far as MPG goes.
>> I'm expecting to pay around $900 in fuel on the way there.

Current Planned Stops
- Chicago
- Yellowstone
- Missoula

[Southwest Dave]

Hello and welcome to the RTA forums !

I'm not sure how to answer your question, is it worth it ? It depends on what your goals are, whether you like driving, what you want to see and whether or not you have a budget to meet the costs. It's almost as though you have put the cart before the horse and chosen a route before deciding what you want to see. Only you can decide whether it's worth it to you, but asking if a roadtrip is worth it to a bunch of roadtrip enthusiasts there is only going to be one answer, hell yeah !

The first thing I am confused by is why would you leave at 8pm ? The idea of a roadtrip is to see things not drive in the dark. If it's because you have been working all day then it's a really bad decision, you will be exhausted the following day and your body clock will be out all trip. In this circumstance you would be better off getting an early night and be on the road at 5-6 am. You would have the option of driving out of NY for a couple of hours though and then settle into a Motel for a good nights sleep. Chicago is close to a day and a half's drive and Chicago to Yellowstone is close to a 3 day drive. Missoula and Seattle can be reached in under a day in the road. Basically it all adds up to about 5.5 days of driving plus sight seeing time. If you took I90 you would be near Badlands NP and you could cut down to Mt Rushmore, Custer State Park and Wind Cave NP, Thunder Basin National Grassland and into Yellowstone via the Grand Tetons. Note that you should check conditions in Yellowstone as it will still be in winter mode and some of the park may not yet be open to traffic. Just up the road from Missoula is the National Bison Range. These are just a few of the options but you should get out a good map of the USA and take a look to see what appeals to your tastes and decide what's worth it.

[cross county traveler]

Sorry for my vagueness. I am wondering if anyone has experience with driving 8 hours a day for almost 5 days in a row. Tips on what to do when I stop (i.e. jog around, push ups?)

[glc]

If you are getting your drive times from a computer, add 20%. If you only want to drive 8 hours a day, it's going to take you considerably longer than 5 days.

[cross county traveler]

yes, I realize this and am trying to estimate if I do this in 10 days if I will have time to enjoy myself outside of the carseat. Thanks for the 20% * expected computer time function.

[Southwest Dave]

If you consider a day to be 10 hours on the road then your trip would be split roughly 50/50 with being in the carseat and being out of it and then you have the evenings to unwind of course. That's not a bad split in my opinion but then I love to drive. If you study a good map as I suggested earlier you will have many opportunities to get out of the car and explore, whether it be a State park, National Park, Forest, or City park/City centre. Once you have found things of interest you [we] can work on how to fit it in, but the more research you do the more reward you will get. For example one day you might drive for 10 or 11 hours with the briefest of stops for food, exercise and gas and another day not spend anytime in the car. So until we know what you plan to do it's hard to say where to stop.

s on what to do when I stop (i.e. jog around, push ups?)

The 'Chicken dance' can stretch and ease the muscles and attract attention at the same time ! ;-)

[AZBuck]

Recognizing that you've come to a site called RoadTrip America where the people giving advice are all experienced and enthusiastic RoadTripers, the answer you're going to get to your first question, "Is this worth the drive?", is obviously: Yes. There is much to see along any route crossing an entire continent, especially one that goes through the Black Hills and Yellowstone, crosses the Rockies, and ends up on Puget Sound.

As far as how long it will take, you would need to devote six full days to driving roughly 500 miles a day. That is an eminently sustainable pace that you can keep up day after day after day and allows for two or three short stops each day to break up the workload. That leaves you four full days that you can devote to longer stops such as Yellowstone. So all in all, this a trip that can easily be done in ten days.

Other sites to "stop and see along the way" will depend on your interests and how far off your path you're willing to travel, but some that you should be considering would include Cleveland's Cuyahoga Valley National Park/Rock and Roll Hall of Fame/Natural History Museum; a sop on one of the Great Lakes such as the Bass Islands or Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore; Wisconsin Dells for the Dells, not the water parks; Badlands National Park; Devils Tower; the Little Bighorn Battlefield; and some of the many scenic byways in northern Idaho.

AZBuck

[cross county traveler]

4 days of longer stops is worth the trip to me. Sorry if I offended you or anyone when I asked about the value of the drive in relation to the time spent traveling. I just want to be able to stop and take in the beauty and meet some interesting people along the way.

I am not looking to check things off of a bucket list, I'm trying to seeing and learning new perspectives from the short trip (if that short statement makes sense to anyone).

Thanks for the breakdown and stop suggestions Mr. Buck ! Greatly appreciated !

[Lifemagician]

4 days of longer stops is worth the trip to me. Sorry if I offended you or anyone when I asked about the value of the drive in relation to the time spent traveling. I just want to be able to stop and take in the beauty and meet some interesting people along the way.

I am not looking to check things off of a bucket list, I'm trying to seeing and learning new perspectives from the short trip (if that short statement makes sense to anyone).

You might get a lot out of this journal page. It seems to answer all your questions.

Sounds to me that we have a roadtrip enthusiast in the making. Safe travels.

The 'Chicken dance' can stretch and ease the muscles and attract attention at the same time! ;-)

Very funny! Must try it.

Lifey

[Southwest Dave]

Sorry if I offended you or anyone when I asked about the value of the drive in relation to the time spent traveling.

Most definitely not :-) It's a fair enough question, but one that has not got a definitive answer, as each road trip is an individual affair and it has to be worth it to you, that's all that matters and is what we are trying to say.

Buck and I have given some suggestions as to what you could see, but again it's ultimately your choice to make.