First roadtrip (LA, SF, GrandC, LakeP, LasVegas)- July 1 --> Aug 1

[Sch0sler]

Greetings, and what a jolly good site you have here :)

My girlfriend and I will be departing Denmark at May 1 and have some fun in Thailand until we arrive in LAX July 1. Here we will stay 2-3 days and enjoy the city.
This will be our first vacation alone (Im 22, she's 19), and our first roadtrip aswell and after playing some arround on th e internet and with Streets & Trips I've come to the following route:

LA (July 1)
San Francisco (via route 1)
Yosemite
Death Valley
Las Vegas
Zion
Bryce
Needles Overlook
Lake Powell
Monument Valley
Grand Canyon NP
Grand Canyon Caverns
LAX (July 29-ish)

(5880 km - 63 hours driving time, aprox)

Two of the distances are pretty far (LA --> San francisco 750km) and (Grand Canyon Caverns --> LA - 1700 km)

Where to stop between those 2? I can't fnd something interesting between Caverns and LA :)

As mentioned earlier we are a couple traveling, and we have strongly considered getting a midsize SUV like Ford Edge, Saturn Vue etc.
You might ask why, and the reason is simple, we would like to sit high and get a good clear overview while driving comfertable.
Rental price and gas money (It's 1/4 price of Denmarks gas prices) isnt really a problem.
We also considered sleeping in it, but I believe we ditched that idea and went with a tent instead.
Any other car tips you can give?

Any other stops along the way we should plan for and what should we stop for in SW AZ / SE CA?

Best regards,
Jonas

[AZBuck]

Velkommen! Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

A month is a fairly good time span to see the area you'll be traveling through. As for specific places to stop between Los Angeles and San Francisco, if you're taking the Pacific Coast Highway, I'd recommend either San Luis Obispo if you get out of L.A. late in the day, or Cambria if you get going a little earlier. But Grand Canyon Caverns (Peach Springs) to Los Angeles is only 400 miles (640 km), so you should really be able to do that in a day unless you are going some really circuitous route. But if you are looking for stops in far southern California that would fit in with the general tenor of your RoadTrip, have a look at Joshua Tree National Park and Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, and spending a night either camping in one of them or at a hotel in Palm Springs.

AZBuck

[Sch0sler]

Hello AZBuck,
Thank you for your fast answer, and I now notice that there was an error on my route and the distance between GC Caverns and LA is a small 1000 km shorter, that makes a little less painful to endure :)

Seems to me that our route is pretty much set, but not in stone, since we will have no reservations except on July 4 and helicopter over grand canyon.

And now to the subject that I am not at all sure about, the car I will be driving. Any suggestions? As mentioned I would like the midsize SUV because of the sweet overview and ofcourse joy of driving a big car on the big roads.

Regards,
Sch

[Southwest Dave]

Hi,

Seems to me that our route is pretty much set, but not in stone, since we will have no reservations

If you are planning on staying in the National parks [which offer great campgrounds] you will need to book through nps.gov at the earliest opportunity to secure a spot. They can book out within hours of the booking window opening during summer months in the popular ones.

As mentioned earlier we are a couple traveling, and we have strongly considered getting a midsize SUV like Ford Edge, Saturn Vue etc.
You might ask why, and the reason is simple, we would like to sit high and get a good clear overview while driving comfertable

If this is what you want go for it, but a couple of points. It costs significantly more than a good size sedan and I doubt it will be more comfortable. Keep in mind that as you are under 25 years of age you will be facing hefty surcharges on top of what ever rental you decide upon. Also note that all the major rental companies quote "or similar" in their adds so you won't be able to secure a particular model, just the equivalent of.

We also considered sleeping in it, but I believe we ditched that idea and went with a tent instead.

Sensible choice.

Any other car tips you can give?

When deciding on how long to spend in Vegas, keep in mind that because of your girlfriends age you will be very restricted in what you can do. To enter a casino or have a drink you need to be over 21 years of age.

[Sch0sler]

Also thank you for your respons Dave, very appreciated.

And yay, we are getting closer. Getting the offer sometime next week with everything included, so we are kinda excited.

Keep in mind that as you are under 25 years of age you will be facing hefty surcharges on top of what ever rental you decide upon

Actually not, renting from Alamo through Kilroy in Denmark where they have special prices for young drivers, without extra surcharges (awsome).

For the SUV group I've been looking at, it's a grand total of 1700$ for 4 weeks (Perhaps even cheaper since we are buying flights from same company)
( http://www.kilroytravels.dk/files/pd...010_inside.pdf )

Maps

American Map 2008 United States Road Atlas: United States, Canada, Mexico would be my first choice. Can I buy it in Walmart since I'm going there anyway.

Is there such a thing as a "Lodging Map" where I can see all the lodging possibilities along our route?

[Sch0sler]

Added a small picture of our route.
Pointer 2-6 is not actual stops, just to get the program to create the correct route.

Mod note] Map can now be seen in post 10.

[Southwest Dave]

It's actually rather large, and makes viewing your thread difficult and would help if you could reduce it a little.

Your general route looks fine, but a couple of options are that you could go from Bryce canyon to Torrey on Scenic byway 12 [great drive] and then past Capitol Reef NP to Hanksville and up to I70 for Moab. The other one is that you are heading for the North rim of the Grand canyon but on your way South on 89 towards Flagstaff you could visit the South rim as well by turning off onto 64 through the East entrance and exiting on the 64 via the South entrance to Williams.

You could well find that the annual pass for the National parks which costs $80 is cheaper than buying individual entrance fees. It is available from the kiosk of the first park you visit.

Your journey down the 261 to Mexican hat will take you down the Moki dugway, a very interesting drive !

[Sch0sler]

Very nice inputs, thank you.

I guess I have to find some addresses @ all the stops in order to insert them into my gps, too bad I can't bring this map along on a PC :)

[Midwest Michael]

American Map 2008 United States Road Atlas: United States, Canada, Mexico would be my first choice. Can I buy it in Walmart since I'm going there anyway.

Is there such a thing as a "Lodging Map" where I can see all the lodging possibilities along our route?

I don't know if I've seen the American Map Atlas at Walmart, although its possible that they have. I can assure you that if they don't have it, they will have the latest edition of The Rand McNally atlas - which should still work just fine. The basic version only costs about $5. In either case, I'd expect any atlas to be on a 2010 - if not 2011 - version by now.

There is no such thing as a lodging map, simply because there are thousands upon thousands of motels and its just not possible to do something like that. Even my GPS, which is brand new, can't manage to know about every single motel possibility.

Most chains will have a directory telling where each of their locations are throughout the US, and motels do tend to bunch together, so if you got a few of those, you'd have a pretty good idea about what you can plan for.

I'll also add to Daves earlier request that you try to resize your map. It is really making it difficult to read this thread, and if you can't fix it or find another way to get it into the margins, we may have to take it down.

[Sch0sler]

Hello, and yes, Id love to change the image. But I simply can't edit my post from that day anymore, so you will have to take it down.



Above: A big picture (I have added Dave's suggestions to our route, but not uploaded the new map)