TN to Los Angeles in June - 7 days. Advice needed

[francz]

Hello!

I'll be moving from Knoxville, TN to Los Angeles in June and it would be great to do some sightseeing along the way. I have only 7-8 days to complete the road trip including a one-day stop at the Grand Canyon.

Is it doable?
Appreciate advice about the itinerary. This will be my first time on a long-distance road trip and I'm a foreigner. I have googled the plan but not sure it can work out.
Thank you in advance.

[AZBuck]

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

By the most direct, all-Interstate route, you're looking at around 2,100 miles. At a very maintainable pace of a little over 500 miles per driving day, that means you have two or three 'spare' days, even allowing for a full day at the Grand Canyon. The first general question you have to ask yourself (and answer) is: Would you rather send those days doing more driving to get to a few sites that really intrigue you but are a bit off that direct route (basically I-40) or would you rather just take it easy and see the best of what's along your direct route? There are arguments for both approaches, so I'm not going to try to tell you which approach you should take. But I will lay out those two basic options in a little more detail.

If you'd rather wander a bit and see fewer but 'bigger' attractions, then you might want to consider gong a bit farther north and coming through central Colorado and southern Utah where there are several worthwhile national parks, or going a bit farther south and seeing some of the Gulf Coast, the Alamo, Big Bend NP, etc. If you'd rather take a more relaxed approach and spend your time seeing what you'll be driving by anyway, there are certainly plenty of possibilities along I-40.

Once you make that first big decision, based on your own preferences for a travel style, we can certainly help you with the details, but that first decision is up to you and you alone.

AZBuck

[DonnaR57]

I have a slightly different question from AZBuck's: What are you driving? The reason I ask is that if you are driving a U-Haul truck, they only give you a certain amount of days (which include your loading day and unloading day) and a certain amount of mileage. If you're driving your own vehicle, you may have more leeway for sightseeing.


Donna

[francz]

Thanks for the helpful info.
I'm driving a RAV4.
The Colorado-Utah route looks interesting to me. Any suggestions about the specific attractions/itinerary would be highly appreciated.
Thanks again.

[AZBuck]

That's fine. With a couple of extra days, what you should be looking at is heading up to St. Louis using I-40/I-24/I-57/I-64, and then using I-70 west across the plains and into Colorado. Since you're probably familiar with the southern Appalachians and perhaps St. Louis as well, you will most likely want to mostly just cover ground the first couple of days and save your sight-seeing time for the Rockies and Intermountain West that you won't be able to get to easily/quickly from Los Angeles.

At Limon CO, leave I-70 and take US-24 to Colorado Springs, home of the US Air Force Academy, and a possible drive to the top of Pikes Peak. Be prepared to use good street maps or GPS to get through Colorado Springs to CO-115 down to Penrose CO and US-50 west, considering a side trip to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. US-50 rejoins I-70 at Gunnison CO near Colorado National Monument.

Continue west into Utah to US-191 which provides a side trip route to Arches National Park. Return to or continue on I-70 west to Sevier UT and take US-89 south. UT-12 east would then take you to Bryce Canyon National Park. Return to Us-89 and continue south to Mt. Carmel Junction and UT-9 west to Zion National Park.

Lastly, continue on UT-9 to I-15 south (past Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada) to Las Vegas, Mojave National Preserve and Los Angeles.

Now, you won't have time to do/see everything listed above, and the route described is a bit longer than absolutely necessary so as to stay on numbered highways. But that should give you a good starting point on figuring out what you want to spend your time exploring, and again you can forego some of the more western points of interest to do as weekend or week-long trips out of L.A.

AZBuck

[francz]

Thanks so much!