SF to Yosemite To Death Valley To LA to SF

[Southwest Dave]

Your drives are all doable but you are right to add plenty of time to Google estimates that are just not 'real world'. A computer thinks us mere humans can drive at the speed limit all day without facing traffic congestion and construction delays never mind having to fill with fuel, use the bathroom, eat and actually rest. Fort example Fish camp to Lone Pine will take closer to 6.5 hours with the brief stops mentioned above, plus any extra time if you plan to sight see. LA is LA and once you hit the area there is no telling how much time it may take to get across the city especially in peak periods, but you are in good shape.

[Midwest Michael]

- Thinking of renting a car from Alamo. Mostly because they are slightly more affordable than Avis and also because they responded faster than Avis and Hertz to my email queries (I still haven't heard from Avis and Hertz). Anything to keep in mind/be aware of while renting a car? I want to buy insurance as well.

I've been happy with Alamo when I've used them. When I've used them, they've had a kiosk to check in available, which can be faster than waiting in line, and they let you pick any car they have, in the class of car you've reserved, which is nice.

I would make sure you figure out what insurance you want and need before you start out on this trip. Buying insurance at the rental counter is usually the most expensive way to do it, and you can easily be pressured into buying coverage you don't need. Typically, between your personal insurance for the car you own and your credit card, you really don't need any extra insurance. If you do need extra insurance, you might want to look around at 3rd parties that offer insurance on rental cars that might be cheaper than through the rental company.

[theloststory]

Hi everyone! Thanks for all the wonderful advice! I successfully completed my trip and am back home in Mumbai.

I rented a Ford Explorer 2017 and loved it. The inbuilt Navigation Software was awesome. Is it Garmin? It was pretty thirsty though, consuming about 19.5 miles to the gallon. I wanted to drive a Grand Cherokee but it wasn't available on my dates.

We drove from SF to Death Valley to LA to Yosemite to Sequoia National Park to SF again (had to push Yosemite because of weather). I used the routes suggested by the car navigation. The trip was kind of hectic and I didn't have enough time or good working internet to find alternate, more scenic routes, though I would have loved to.

In Death Valley we stayed at Lone Pine and loved it. We drove up to Alabama Hills on Whiteny Portal Road and it was awesome.

What I found kind of weird was I couldn't find a tyre inflators with a built in pressure meter. Back home in India, we have digital machines (all of them) where you can preset your required tyre PSI and it fills only that much and auto shuts. I couldn't find that in the US.

Thanks again for all the help! These are awesome forums.

[Midwest Michael]

Thanks for stopping back and letting us know how things went.

I used the routes suggested by the car navigation. The trip was kind of hectic and I didn't have enough time or good working internet to find alternate, more scenic routes, though I would have loved to.

I'm glad everything worked out, but next time, hopefully you look at real (paper, no internet required) maps when plotting out your adventure. Blindly doing what a GPS tells you to do can quickly cause you to run into problems - especially when you're dealing with trips around mountains in winter!

What I found kind of weird was I couldn't find a tyre inflators with a built in pressure meter. Back home in India, we have digital machines (all of them) where you can preset your required tyre PSI and it fills only that much and auto shuts. I couldn't find that in the US.

I've seen them around at a few places, but they aren't very common. Air pumps aren't exactly a high profit area for gas stations, so as long as what they've got is working, they aren't really motivated to update them!

[theloststory]

Reopening an old thread, but I wanted to share pictures from gorgeous Lone Pine.

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