Chicago-LA Summer 24

[Midwest Michael]

My first impression of your plan is you are doing an incredible amount of zig-zagging and backtracking. The vast majority of that seems to be part of your goal to drive nearly all of Route 66.

If that's what you really want to do, it's certainly not wrong, but I'll tell you, it's not something I would do. While I appreciate the history of the long since decommissioned route, and there are lots of interesting little stops and towns along the way, it's ultimately just a road. I wonder if you aren't overstating the importance of sticking to that one route.

Alternatively, if sticking to Route 66 is something you are committed to, rather than doing the zigzagging of going to Albq, then all the way up to Aspen, back down to Gallup, back up to the Grand Canyon, over to Barstow, the back up to Reno via Nevada, etc - I think you'd be much better off doing a loop trip. Follow the path of Route 66 from Chicago to LA (with some small detours like to the Grand Canyon), then go up to SF, across to Yosemite, and then head back across Nevada, Utah, and Colorado. You could either go all the way back to Chicago, which likely would reduce your airfare and car rental costs, or finish and fly home from Denver.

[Mattyn1]

Food for thought there - thanks MM.

[Mattyn1]

I don't know how well this will attach but this is the route:

USA-R66-Road_Trip-24-Map.jpg

Have been looking at trying to generate a viable loop route - feasible but not convinced flights are actually cheaper - but admittedly am working on summer 23 prices on Skyscanner. difference between Lon-Chic-LA-Lon and Lon Chic-Chic-Lon is a couple cups of coffee. Mileage/hotels/food between the two would be remarkably similar.

Car hire - Nissan Pathfinder:
Chicago-LA = £2500.
Chicago-Chicago = £2600.
Chicago-Denver = £3100.

Flights (economy) (4 passengers):
Heathrow-Chicago/LA-Heathrow = £2800
Heathrow-Chicago/Chicago-Heathrow = £2710
Heathrow-Chicago/Denver-Heathrow = £2815

I am wondering if I am missing something. The bonus I see for the loop (Lon-Chic return) would be if I extend the holiday a couple of days (which I would rather not do!), I could get to Mt Rushmore.

We like the idea of ending in LA - Universal would be a fun end for the kids.

What would you do?

[Midwest Michael]

I'm actually most surprised by the car rental. I would have expected Chicago to LA to be the most expensive, by a pretty large margin. Having a one way rental, especially of this distance, be cheaper than a round trip rental is pretty much unheard of.

The airfare I'm not as shocked by, sometimes I see as good of deals point to point as I do round trip, but at least going the other way, Chicago is one of the cheaper spots to fly to Europe, and usually quite a bit less than anywhere on the west coast. Really, the prices you're finding for £700 per person for a summer trip are pretty good in the current travel environment, so hopefully you'll continue to find those good deals.

[Mattyn1]

I'm actually most surprised by the car rental. I would have expected Chicago to LA to be the most expensive, by a pretty large margin. Having a one way rental, especially of this distance, be cheaper than a round trip rental is pretty much unheard of.

The airfare I'm not as shocked by, sometimes I see as good of deals point to point as I do round trip, but at least going the other way, Chicago is one of the cheaper spots to fly to Europe, and usually quite a bit less than anywhere on the west coast. Really, the prices you're finding for £700 per person for a summer trip are pretty good in the current travel environment, so hopefully you'll continue to find those good deals.

Definitely time for a thread bump!

So it has been a while but having got the festive bit out of the way and finally got the youngest to decide yay or nay (surprisingly it was a yay), we are all systems go in the detailed planning phase. Committed now we have booked the flights!

We have shortened a bit and driven by a real want to do the PCH at the end we are minimising Death Valley to a sunset/sunrise, and avoiding the Area 51 -Reno - Tahoe loop, and instead going from DV to Yosemite. Some chunks of R66 missed too to take in Colorado and Bryce/Zion etc.

Some good driving routes I think, and really into the advice re Grand Canyon North Rim - seems a win of gigantic proportions.

Day
1 Heathrow T3 Hotel
2 Fly to Chicago (10:00 flight)
3 Chicago
4 Chicago-Springfield Il
5 Springfield-St Louis
6 St Louis-Springfield Mo
7 Springfield-Oklahoma City
8 Oklahoma City-Amarillo
9 Amarillo-Albuquerque
10 Albuquerque
11 Albuquerque-Canon City (Royal Gorge)
12 Canon City-Colorado Springs
13 Colorado Springs (Pikes Peak)
14 Colorado Springs-Glenwood Springs
15 Glenwood Springs-Durango (Million Dollar Highway)
16 Durango-Monument Valley (Moki Dugway)
17 Monument Valley-Holbrook
18 Holbrook -Grand Canyon South Rim
19 Grand Canyon South - Page
20 Page – Grand Canyon North Rim
21 Grand Canyon North - Las Vegas
22 Las Vegas
23 Las Vegas-Death Valley
24 Death Valley - Bishop
25 Bishop - Yosemite (Tioga Pass etc)
26 Yosemite
27 Yosemite-San Francisco
28 San Francisco
29 San Francisco-San Simeon
30 San Simeon-Los Angeles
31 Los Angeles
32 Los Angeles-Santa Monica Pier-LAX

[Midwest Michael]

The one thing that really sticks out to me is Holbrook - going from Monument Valley to Holbrook then back to the Grand Canyon seems like a really big detour. That almost doubles the distance.

If the detour is for route 66, I might suggest instead to go from Monument Valley to the North Rim (via Lake Powell and/or Antelope Canyon?), then down to the South Rim, and focus on the section of Route 66 from Williams to Kingman through Peach Springs, on the way to Las Vegas. That section is a lot of what inspired what was depicted in the pixar movie "Cars."

Alternatively, if you're going to stick with your current plan, then it would be a shame to go from the North Rim to Las Vegas without giving yourself some time to see Zion National Park, as you'll basically have to go right through it!

For Colorado, personally, I think Royal Gorge is an overpriced, underwhelming tourist trap. I'd just head straight to Colorado Springs and use that time for Garden of the Gods. Another thought, if you're going to Glenwood Springs just for the hot springs, you could instead look at Ouray Hot Springs, which is already on your route at the start of the Million Dollar highway.

The only other thing I would say is that despite me offering some additional suggestions, I'll say your trip is pretty full. There's no single day that is a problem, but on the whole, you might want to be careful that you're not pushing yourself too hard.

[Mattyn1]

The one thing that really sticks out to me is Holbrook - going from Monument Valley to Holbrook then back to the Grand Canyon seems like a really big detour. That almost doubles the distance.

If the detour is for route 66, I might suggest instead to go from Monument Valley to the North Rim (via Lake Powell and/or Antelope Canyon?), then down to the South Rim, and focus on the section of Route 66 from Williams to Kingman through Peach Springs, on the way to Las Vegas. That section is a lot of what inspired what was depicted in the pixar movie "Cars."

Alternatively, if you're going to stick with your current plan, then it would be a shame to go from the North Rim to Las Vegas without giving yourself some time to see Zion National Park, as you'll basically have to go right through it!

For Colorado, personally, I think Royal Gorge is an overpriced, underwhelming tourist trap. I'd just head straight to Colorado Springs and use that time for Garden of the Gods. Another thought, if you're going to Glenwood Springs just for the hot springs, you could instead look at Ouray Hot Springs, which is already on your route at the start of the Million Dollar highway.

The only other thing I would say is that despite me offering some additional suggestions, I'll say your trip is pretty full. There's no single day that is a problem, but on the whole, you might want to be careful that you're not pushing yourself too hard.

Michael thank you for taking the time to reply. Have read a lot of your posts on here and really value your opinion.

Your suggestion was on my radar when we were looking at the options - it still is but I have lent the way I have because of the following.

Grand Canyon is pretty much the pinnacle of the trip - probably once in a lifetime for me and the wife, and so wanted it to be as spectacular as we can make it. Going from Holbrook (where incidentally we are planning staying in the wigwams) to Tusayan is to enable a helicopter ride into the canyon which will give us that first sight and impression from the air. Then we do it by car/on foot.

As for Zion - have been bringing that leg together - we are staying in Grand Canyon North Rim Lodge and will watch the sunrise there, then head off for Vegas, via Jacob Lake and Springdale - maybe taking in a hike but depends on how the mrs is feeling - she is petrified of heights!!). We want to arrive on Vegas strip after dark so we have all day to do this leg.

Understand your point re Royal Gorge - but high bridges are a particular thing for me. In fact no, its bridges in general - love the engineering that goes into them. So it might be a fleeting stop as I can't see us tackling the zip wire etc. There might be time for Garden of the Gods. Also intend to drive Skyline Drive in Canon City before heading off to Colorado Springs.

Why are we headed to Glenwood Springs? It looks a nice place but more specifically, I want to do Independence Pass and Aspen - and Glenwood Springs seems the best way to then head back to do the Million Dollar Highway. Long winded but have been looking at the maps apps over the winter and note that a lot of the passes are currently closed. More work is needed on this bit to see if I can cut across from Carbondale on the 133......

[UKCraig]

Flights (economy) (4 passengers):
Heathrow-Chicago/LA-Heathrow = £2800
Heathrow-Chicago/Chicago-Heathrow = £2710
Heathrow-Chicago/Denver-Heathrow = £2815

Wow those are good prices. What dates are you flying and with which airline? We have struggled over the past couple of years to find anything lower than +/- £1,000 pp (other than with Norse who offer less destinations and who are a little risky to commit to with such little infrastructure IMO)

The route looks great and I hope that you come back and give us updates as progress along the route! I am guessing, given your interest in impressive bridges, that you may be taking a little detour en route Albuquerque NM > Las vegas NM > Canon City CO to visit the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge? With the Las Vegas NM stop it will add around 90 minutes of driving time to the day so it may not be entirely feasible (although it doesn't look like you mind covering the miles) but it does look worthy of a visit.

[Mattyn1]

Ha - those prices were from last year and might have been me fudging the dates - I just paid £4k for three PE seats LHR-ORD and LAX-LHR via Skyscanner/WorldAirFares. Travelling summer 24.

Was not on my radar but just looked on the map - might be a little too much to take it in but will have to work out it all a little later. Might be a struggle though - unless I got to Santa Fe the night before to give me an hour head start........

[UKCraig]

Sounds like a good plan. Santa Fe looks like a good place to visit.

Also: https://www.breakingbad-locations.co.../train-bridge/
Just saying.