My First Road Trip

[RenegadeHunter3]

This is my first trip outside of south east united states (excluding St. Louis) and I am wondering if I could complete this family road trip in 1 to 1 and a half months. It is a round about trip only driving and hits every state west of the Mississippi. This is also for touring colleges in Colorado, Arizona, Missouri, and Washington. Please send feedback and alert me if there is anything that is worth viewing or not worth going to in these states. Also please tell me if this is doable in 1 to 2 months. Thank you and have a great day.

Maps:

There

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Harr...2095!3e0?hl=en

Back

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Seat...7936!3e0?hl=en

[DonnaR57]

Welcome to RTA!

Doable in a month? Only if you are constantly driving and not seeing anything except what is outside your windshield. Admittedly, that appeals to some. To stop and see the colleges along with anything else you want to see, you should have more time.

When I am trying to see how much time something will take, I use a few formulae. Take the total mileage and divide by 400 or so. That should give you a rough idea of driving days. (Don't use electronic mapping estimates. They don't include real life like eating, fuel, potty, and stretch breaks.). Then add up the number of days to allot for each place you want to explore. That would include the colleges, national parks, and more. You may start to realize that this trip could take a full year, or more. There are worthwhile things to see and do in every place!

It's at that point when I start to see that I can and should cut back. After cutting back, I start to make a day-to-day basic plan: drive XX number of miles from this place to that place, overnight there, any thought about a possible short stop along the way, etc.

Another thing you didn't mention was budget. The longer the trip, the more it's gonna cost. Another night of lodging, more food, even more gas if you're gonna spend time tooling around a national park.

I should add that my hubby and I have taken two trips in recent years that covered a lot of mileage and US real estate. One, in 2012, was almost 9000 miles, 7 weeks, and took us from San Diego to Orlando to Maine to Missouri to Arches in Utah, and back to San Diego. The other was in 2014, and took us from San Diego to Houston to Missouri, to Gettysburg, to Chicago to MN to ND to SD to Yellowstone and Grand Teton, and back to San Diego via the Bay Area. That was also around 9000 miles and took us 7-1/2 weeks.

Donna