Road trip across southern US

[jckleiman]

Planning a winter road trip from WI to CA - San Francisco, Los Angeles and back in winter. Any recommendations on thing see/do or avoid on the way - cities on the route are Oklahoma City, Amarillo TX, Albuquerque, Grand Canyon, Phoenix, LA, San Francisco?

Thank you!

[Midwest Michael]

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

You're going to have to give us a little more information before people can offer much in the way of advice.

How much time do you have for this trip? What kinds of things are you interested in seeing and doing? Who is going on this trip (you, your family, a group of college kids, etc?) How did you pick that list of cities, and do you have your route for the return trip planned? Wisconsin is a big target so a better idea of your starting point would also be helpful.

There is no one size fits all roadtrip, so that's the kind of information we would need to start offering some suggestions.

[AZBuck]

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

From your description, it sounds as though you plan to follow what used to be the route of old US-66, now replaced by I-55/I-44/I-40/I-15 to Los Angeles. But even though US-66 has been decommissioned, there is a relatively recent revival of interest in it as 'Historic Route 66' and a simple web search on that term will take you to many on-line resources. While we certainly would have recommendations for you as well, we really don't have much to go on other than the route. Here at RoadTrip America, we don't believe in generic 'best' roads or attractions. What we would recommend depends on your interests, about which we know nothing (as yet).

The one thing I can tell you is that any winter travel, even along the southernmost cross-country Interstate I-10, is subject to winter weather and you will need to allow for occasional weather delays anywhere along your route. That means that rather than just allowing the 'normal' four days for a drive between Madison and Los Angeles (That's just the driving, stops at attractions are extra) you need to allow at least five days. And you'll need to allow for that flexibility as well by not making binding reservations, but stopping wherever you get each evening. In winter, you should not have a problem finding vacancies even at the last minute.

AZBuck