Need your kind and experienced assistance

[Themarcus]

Hello fellow travellers,

I need your kind help with my future road trip. I am taking a big roadtrip, from December 20th to January 10th, from San Francisco to the east coast and back. I'm taking it with my beloved girlfriend, and hope to discover the beauty of American trails. We hope to stick to the south side, to avoid harsh winter roads. Any recommendations on good roads to take? What's the best route there and back? (we'll probably end up in New Orleans as an end destination). Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
And even more importantly, we were hoping to rent an RV, but the cheapest quote we found was from CruiseAmerica, and only the RV would cost us around $3300 (without gas, food, and others). In total it comes up to around $7500.

If you have any recomendations on how to create a more budget itenerary, we would really really (really) appreciate it.

Thank you very much,

Eyal Marcus

[Midwest Michael]

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

First of all, I'm a little confused about the trip you are planning. You say you want to go from SF to the east coast and back, but then you talk about New Orleans as an end destination. You should know that you need to figure 5 days to a week for each direction cross country at a quick pace, so if you've only got 20 days, you could be a little rushed. You'll be able to see lots of things, but you won't have much time to linger on a round trip. It should also be noted that you could see snow or ice over about 90% of the US during the time of your travel. Certainly, the odds of seeing it are higher in some places than others, but there are few places in the US that never see winter weather.

I'm also not really clear about your goals. Discovering the Beauty of America is a pretty broad target, so it would help if you would focus a little more on what you hope to see.

It also won't really be possible to talk much about a budget until we know more about your travel style. Are you planning to rent that RV, stay in motels and rent a car, what do you like to do for fun, how will you eat, etc.

[Themarcus]

Hi Michael, and thanks for the willingness to help.

First and for most, by "beauty of the States" I mean that we hope to investigate more into the culural, culinary and human nature of America. The ones that reside outside the big coastal cities. We want to see the wilderness, small towns (and a few big towns) and enjoy local food.
We have no choice but to take it during 20th of December to 10th of January.
We are a bit afraid of driving through snow storms (and I also think that it might be a bit tedious). That's why we hope to stick to a southern route, hoping to avoid bad weather. Any recommendations you have for a route will be more than welcomed. We will either end up on the coast (probably in Florida) or end it in New Orleans and head back (in a different route, of course). We're figuring it'll be around 6500 miles in total. I'd love to hear your opinion on it.

As for budget: we're pretty limited. We're thinking about an RV, but it's expensive for two people (around $3400 for 20 days). We've started to think about a van (but don't know if the cold will allow us to sleep in it). Motels might cost us about $60 a night (sometimes more, sometimes less) and we'd love to save on it. We're the adventurous types, and welcome things like sleeping in a van and cooking on a portable stove. Goess it all depends on where we are and the weather there.

Please help. We've done a small roadtrip a few months ago - San Francisco-Grand Canyon-Death Valley-San Francisco (in 4.5 days), and it sparked our desire to do a long roadtrip.

[Southwest Dave]

The other day I was doing some research and I came across this company that's right in your home town. I just looked and with unlimited mileage it came out around $1700 for your trip, add to that the cheaper fuel costs and you could treat yourselves to some nights in the "luxury" of a Motel room. I would think you would need some extra blankets at that time of year though. However they do offer an electric heater so I presume when in campsites you will be able to hook up to the mains. Just thought I would mention it as a possibility.

There is certainly no shortage of places of interest to see that will be of interest to you. Get out the maps and have a search of the forums for inspiration and get a rough itinerary sorted out, post it up and then we can help you piece your trip together.

[Themarcus]

Thanks Dave, and funny you should mention them. I just hung up the phone with them, and received your thread.
It'll come out to be around 2100$ (insurances and all), and that is cheaper than an RV. We just hope that we could sleep in the van if it's really cold (never did it).

Would you recommend taking I10 and I40? Are they safe to travel during winter?

Thanks a whole lot.

Eyal

[Southwest Dave]

That is a coincidence. If you are O.K with "roughing it" a little you should be fine. I spent a lot of time sleeping in a truck cab on long hauls during the winter months here in the U.K. and it was O.K. If the van is warm and you wrap up well when you get your heads down it should be fine. [I say "should be" as we are all different, LOL]

Would you recommend taking I10 and I40? Are they safe to travel during winter?

Depends on your goals but the Interstates carry the main transport system and are kept clear as a priority. However anywhere is subject to winter weather and you best keep updating the weather, although at worst you may be subject to a delay for a few hours. The only thing predictable about the weather is it is that it's unpredictable.

You might find this Route 66 link of interest. And here's Buck's great list of stops just of the Interstates.

[Mark Sedenquist]

Would you recommend taking I10 and I40? Are they safe to travel during winter?

Both of those routes are safe -- but they are likely to have ice and snow on them in places. I would recommend I-70, it has snow and ice too -- but the beauty of the Rockies in Winter should not be missed. Here are some winter driving tips.

Mark