San Francisco loop.

[Jantomo]

Thanks Gommy
Just planning a trip for next autumn for my husband and myself, flying out from UK to San Francisco and taking in many of the places you visited. Have read all your report and cant thank you enough for sharing it. Cant wait to get on with the planning and booking now !!
Jantomo

[Southwest Dave]

Hi Jantomo,

I am glad you enjoyed it.

Like yourselves we started planning long in advance and thoroughly enjoyed doing so, it's a big part of the whole experience. Although it seems a long way of at the moment it soon comes around and, Oh boy, it doesn't dissapoint.

Your in the right place to get some great help, as we did.

Happy planning, Dave.

[ChipButty]

Just thought I'd chime in and add my experience of following in Daves footsteps,

We've just completed our 3week roadtrip which was heavily influenced by Daves loop however we took the motel option and added a few diversions, our route -

02 - 04 San Francisco - Fishermans Wharf, Alcatraz night tour
04 - 06 Mariposa/Yosemite - Stunning B&B and I'll never forget Yosemite.. achingly beautiful
06 - 07 Tonopah - Underestimated time for Tioga Pass, Tenaya Lake is stunning. Found snow near Tuolumne Meadows too... had to press on so no time to hike - big regret. Couldn't find Woah Nellies so ate Nicely's.. good little diner. Arrived late in Tonopah so ate chips and drank in rough saloon bar at Tonopah with great locals.
07 - 09 Springdale/Zion - Angels Landing & Hidden Canyon hikes.. Awesome. Did Valley of Fire on way, ET Hwy, Lil Ale inn at Rachel
09 - 10 Bryce - Beautiful but freezing at sunrise, did Navajo & Queens walk
10 - 11 Torrey - Drive Hanksville & Sth for Muley point, Mokee, Goosenecks & Monument Valley off road loop. Long day but worth every minute.
11 - 12 Page - Antelope Canyon & Horseshoe bend
12 - 13 Grand Canyon - Drive East rim, stay Bright Angel Lodge for sunset
13 - 16 Las Vegas - Call at Seligman for R66. Had blowout on I-40 near Kingman, Jeep ended up in middle scrub of Interstate, very scary. Fit spacesaver & limp Jeep to Vegas airport for replacement. No time at Hoover dam but saw last year.
16 - 17 Death Valley - ATM ate my Debit card at Pahrump - not good day. Artists drive at sunset, Dante's and Zabrieske for sunrise. Swimming at 10pm!
17 - 18 Kern Valley - North to Sequoia, Trial of 100 giants & Pinnacle view
18 - 19 Morro Bay - Good start for Hwy1, beautiful place & great locals
19 - 20 Monterey - Aquarium, vist Carmel, drive Pebble beach
20 - 23 San Francisco - cycle over to Sausalito, eat, drink & reminisce :o)

Even though we had a few disasters along the way we covered just short of 3500miles, there was a few long drives but I was aware of them and we started early, paced ourselves and felt comfortable with the schedule.
The only thing I'd change was our time in Vegas, we spent a week there last year and thought it'd be fun to return since we were passing.. mistake, I hated almost every minute and wished I'd taken a day off our return to San Fran and booked more time in Yosemite and added a day for a visit to Arches NP.
One big mistake I made was that that I fell for the apparently well known upgrade trick at the Dollar desk at SFO - the supervisor guy said he'd upgrade us to a medium SUV, refund my original payment of £300 and just charge me the new price of $670 and I naively trusted him and agreed... signed the new contract, stupidly got nothing in writing about the refund. Therefore my original payment of £300 has yet to be returned and as yet I've no response from Dollar helpdesk, it appears I unwittingly paid an additional $670 for an upgrade.

Now back in the UK I'm surprised how odd it feels being home, we sunk into the nomadic lifestyle very easy and this normality feels weird. I'd better start planning next years trip & sort through the 10gig's worth of pics I took.

Cheers Dave for the inspiration :o)

[Mark Sedenquist]

Sorry to hear about the expensive "free upgrade" but enjoyed reading your trip report. That blow-out in the jeep sounds a bit dicey but you certainly saw a lot of beautiful country and did a lot of miles!

I'm sorry you didn't enjoy Las Vegas -- there is a lot of cool stuff here -- both on and off the strip. After nearly nine years living and working here, I have seen about 10% of what there is to find here. (And I publish three articles a week about living here)...

Mark

[ChipButty]

Just realised I never put Coral Pink Sand Dunes in our itinerary, if your heading up to Bryce Canyon from Zion look out for the Dunes near the Mount Carmel Junction a worthy diversion and worth exploring.
Also I forgot to add that we did the 5mile round walk to lower Calf Creek Falls on the way to Torrey which was absolutley stunning and worth every minute.

Regarding Vegas, we had a week there last year and loved it. This year my heart just wasn't in it, I can't put my finger on why but the majority of the time there I wished I was back on the road. I did enjoy CarrotTop at the Luxor and won a few dollars on the slots at Binnions but 3nights was enough.

[Mark Sedenquist]

This year my heart just wasn't in it, I can't put my finger on why but the majority of the time there I wished I was back on the road.

On your next visit, I suggest you alternate between the pleasures of the Strip and using Las Vegas as road trip hub -- some truly awesome country can be had in day trips. Here are some short range options and here is Grapevine Canyon -- where petroglyphs are in such abundance that they actually appear as graffiti over successive generations! (I regret that I never re-loaded the images -- they are awesome!)

Mark

[Southwest Dave]

Just thought I'd chime in and add my experience of following in Daves footsteps,

We've just completed our 3week roadtrip which was heavily influenced by Daves loop however we took the motel option and added a few diversions

Hi Paul,

Thanks for checking back in and letting us know how it went, I'm really pleased you enjoyed it.
All your added diversions were on our original itinerary, such as Antelope canyon, Horseshoe Bend,Calf creek falls and heading for the coast [Along with loads more] but we had to cut back and didn't have as long as you to do it.

Now back in the UK I'm surprised how odd it feels being home, we sunk into the nomadic lifestyle very easy and this normality feels weird. I'd better start planning next years trip & sort through the 10gig's worth of pics I took.

I know that exact feeling, but once you start sorting those photo's a lot of "new" memory's will come flooding back of all those "little things" along the way. I have already started planning our next trip which will cover a lot of the places that were "so near, yet so far."

Cheers Dave for the inspiration :o)

A pleasure, I'm glad it helped and thanks for your P.M, much appreciated.

Don't forget to look in when planning your next trip ;-)

Dave.

[ChipButty]

One big mistake I made was that that I fell for the apparently well known upgrade trick at the Dollar desk at SFO - the supervisor guy said he'd upgrade us to a medium SUV, refund my original payment of £300 and just charge me the new price of $670 and I naively trusted him and agreed... signed the new contract, stupidly got nothing in writing about the refund. Therefore my original payment of £300 has yet to be returned and as yet I've no response from Dollar helpdesk, it appears I unwittingly paid an additional $670 for an upgrade.

I have just had a response to my complaint regarding the above from Dollar Customer Care stating that I may have been misled by the desk clerk at SFO and although I signed for the Jeep they have refunded the $670 to my credit card as a goodwill gesture. Due to this issue being resolved so quickly and satisfactorily I may book with them again for next year as they dealt with the blowout incident efficiently.

Paul

[Mark Sedenquist]

Paul,

Very glad to hear that worked out well for you! Thanks for the update!

Mark

[Southwest Dave]

Hi Paul,

I am pleased for you, great news. It's nice to hear of a company that has decided to do the right thing for a change, especially as it seems they could have not bothered and probably would of got away with it, brilliant !