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  1. Default Los Angeles to Wisconsin- leaving In a few days

    Okay newbie I looked though threads- I have got aaa ap not much help - we would like to see the Grand Canyon, Rocky Mountains, MT Rushmore, but we also don't want to miss anything unique but not add tones of hours as we have lil ones - our destination is outside Madison WI. Looking for anything awesome

  2. #2
    Join Date
    May 2011
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    Central Missouri
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    Welcome to RTA!

    How much time do you have? LA to WI is about a 4 day drive, roughly 2000 miles driving 500 miles per day. Start adding Grand Canyon, Mount Rushmore or other sites, and you will need to add both driving days and sightseeing days.

    Is this a round trip or one-way? If a round trip, consider going north first, through the Rockies and up to Mount Rushmore, then return via the southern way and the Grand Canyon, in a loop.


    Donna

  3. #3
    Join Date
    May 2003
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    Green County, Wisconsin
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    Time really is the big question here.

    You really could hit any one of the attractions you've listed on a pretty direct route between LA and Madison, but to get to all 3, you're basically going to need close to a full extra day, just for the driving - that's before factoring time to actually see these places.

    The other big question is what do you consider to be "awesome," because the list of potentially awesome and unique things between California and Wisconsin is in the millions.

  4. Default

    Quote Originally Posted by DonnaR57 View Post
    Welcome to RTA!

    How much time do you have? LA to WI is about a 4 day drive, roughly 2000 miles driving 500 miles per day. Start adding Grand Canyon, Mount Rushmore or other sites, and you will need to add both driving days and sightseeing days.

    Is this a round trip or one-way? If a round trip, consider going north first, through the Rockies and up to Mount Rushmore, then return via the southern way and the Grand Canyon, in a loop.


    Donna
    We planned for about that time frame - I will be staying a month maybe more in Wi to visit family
    So coming back we probably visit folks in VA and return a different route.

  5. Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Midwest Michael View Post
    Time really is the big question here.

    You really could hit any one of the attractions you've listed on a pretty direct route between LA and Madison, but to get to all 3, you're basically going to need close to a full extra day, just for the driving - that's before factoring time to actually see these places.

    The other big question is what do you consider to be "awesome," because the list of potentially awesome and unique things between California and Wisconsin is in the millions.
    Well the Grand Canyon is beautiful just looking for any hidden gems for us to see - like in Cali we have calico a ghost town things that most people wouldn't know about just looking on a map - also we have been looking at the maps and the route options to travel and looking for suggestions

  6. Default

    Thank you both!

  7. #7
    Join Date
    May 2003
    Location
    Green County, Wisconsin
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    If you're only planning 4 days for this trip, then that really doesn't give you enough time to see the 3 things you've already said are on your list. In fact, it will be tough to even visit one of them. You're basically only giving yourself enough time to cover the miles - with very little extra for "fun" stops along the way.

  8. Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Midwest Michael View Post
    If you're only planning 4 days for this trip, then that really doesn't give you enough time to see the 3 things you've already said are on your list. In fact, it will be tough to even visit one of them. You're basically only giving yourself enough time to cover the miles - with very little extra for "fun" stops along the way.
    We plan on camping so for us a few hours of sleep and hit the road - we are not trying to spend days at a location we just looking to see something while we drive. Thank for your help.

  9. #9
    Join Date
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    If you're driving I-70, you'll see a bit of the Rocky Mountains as that is about the most gorgeous interstate highway possible. Mount Rushmore is at least an hour off of I-90 (one way) and just getting to park and walk to see it will take another hour or so. Then another hour to get back to the interstate. Mount Rushmore is not on the most direct route, so you'd need to add a day of travel in order to include it. That's what Michael is trying to tell you.

    Camping takes a little bit of extra time, too -- first, to find the campsite, then to set it up, and then tear it down the next morning. When we were tent-campers, we tried not to travel more than 400 miles in a day.


    Donna

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
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    Melbourne, Australia
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    Quote Originally Posted by Cperry82 View Post
    We plan on camping so for us a few hours of sleep and hit the road ... .
    With little ones???

    Lifey

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