Cross Country Road Trip Advice

[Conman]

My friend and I are planning out a road trip and as of now the game plan is to take this route cross country starting June of this year. We plan on taking between 3-4 weeks for the trip and have chosen these points of interest to see along the way. We are on a pretty tight budget so we will be camping out as much as we can. If a third ends up going we will take a mid size SUV but with two it will be a small car.

Basically I'm wondering if there are any must-see places along our route that we are missing, especially between Chicago and South Dakota and again between New Mexico and San Antonio. Also, if anyone has been to these destinations and has tips or comments (especially if they turned out to be super lame) please share.

We have relatives in Chicago, Portland, Santa Clara, and Wellington so even though they may be boring we still have to go.

1 Penn Yan
2 Chicago
3 Badlands national park
4 Mt Rushmore
5 Black hills national forest
6 Devils tower
7 Yellowstone
8 Jackson Hole
9 Glacier National Park
10 Tipsoo Lake (Mt Rainier National Park)
11 Seattle
12 Oneonta Gorge
13 Portland
14 Redwood National Park
15 San Fransisco
16 Yosemite
17 Hoover Dam
18 Zion National Park
19 Grand Canyon
20 Vermillion Cliffs
21 Antellope Canyon
22 Oljato-Monument Valley
23 Gila Cliff Dwellings
24 Krause Springs
25 The Narrows
26 Jacobs Well
27 The Alamo
28 Vacherie
29 Blue Mountain Beach
30 Crystal River
31 Wellington
32 Myrtle Beach
33 Outer Banks
34 Virginia Beach
35 Shenandoah National Park
36 Gettysburg
37 Penn Yan

 

[MtnMax/Magniac]

Between the Black Hills area and Yellowstone, I recommend trying to work in a trip over Beartooth Pass, connecting Montana and Wyoming.
While in the Seattle area, you might consider taking the ferry across to Victoria, on Vancouver Island, to see Buchart Gardens. Otherwise, I think you have it pretty well covered.

 

[Conman]

I was actually thinking about adding that in but wasn't sure if the scenery was worth the drive. I guess we will take that route.

 

[Conman]

I was also wondering specifically if anyone has been to those 3-4 swimming holes in Texas and if they could comment on whether or not any of them are better than the rest, or if any are worth cutting out of the trip.

 

[marsmax85]

I'm jealous would love to do this ..

 

[Miles Long]

How many actual miles does your proposed route include?
What would you say is the main interest of you and your friend(s)?
Scenic, historical, otherwise? Everyone agree on this?
What is the age bracket of your group?

 

[Conman]

How many actual miles does your proposed route include?
What would you say is the main interest of you and your friend(s)?
Scenic, historical, otherwise? Everyone agree on this?
What is the age bracket of your group?

~10,900mi

Scenery/hiking/outdoor activities and some historical stuff (NOT museums). We all agree on this with the exception of a few cities included in the trip (mostly because they're where the relatives live). Basically we are looking for the "cant see/do it anywhere else but here" stuff.

We are all 20..... gotta do it before we get real jobs haha

 

[MikeB252]

Come further east. No place like New York City.

 

[Conman]

Come further east. No place like New York City.

We've actually all been there already. As i said we aren't really in this for the cities. On top of that we are travelling on a budget so while places like Vegas, NYC, Nashville, etc could be cool, we decided they wouldn't be much fun for free.

We are however debating coming up the east coast more inland as we feel like we might be "beached out" by that point. The only thing we really want to see on the east coast is the naval base in virginia.

 

[Fire-medic]

Yosemite is a good place to visit, I suggest a couple of days there at least. A great place to hike of course. They have primitive camping inside the park, but beware the warnings about the bears. Use the lock-ups for all foodstuffs. They even suggest it for things like deodorant and anything w/a scent. Leaving anything like food or scented items in your car will result in a worst-case scenario w/the bears destroying your car to seek-out the item. At least that was the story when we went last spring to see Yosemite, and were there for the spring snow-melt waterfalls, supposedly some of the tallest in the world. There are many accomodations in the park, it's probably well-advised to make reservations because you are going to be there at peak season.

In San Francisco, head to Zeitgeist, a bar which is heavy on motorcycling influence. Not a H-D 1%'er type bar though. Golden Gate Park is worth a trip and there are many places to see and traverse by foot or bicycle in it. The Marin Headlands on the west side of the Golden Gate Bridge is a very popular place to hike or ride your bicycle. You can ride bikes across and back from SF on the bridge, and it's a great place to get spectacular views of the city and the Bay, and the ocean.

If you like history, I suggest a trip to Alcatraz Island, for me, it was well-worth the trip/cost. Be sure to watch Birdman of Alcatraz and The Rock movies so you can recognize some of the movie sights during the trip. The tour is well-run, and worh the $.

The age of your group is young, so you probably don't know "Have Gun, Will Travel" starring Richard Boone as Paladin, a western troubleshooter which was a popular 1960's tv western. His business card said, "Wire Paladin, Palace Hotel, San Francisco." Each show would begin with Paladin beating-up some bad guy, and then he would proffer his businesscard to the person saved from the bad guy. The Palace Hotel is still there, and it has an incredible high-ceiling glass roof room off the lobby where they serve brunch, probably more than you would want to spend, but the room itself and the ceiling is Old San Francisco, and worth a look, it doesn't cost anything to look. Be aware that you have to pay high rates to park in SF lots.

I expect you are spending plenty of time researching things online. If you intend to camp-out, it would be advisable to have places to stay bookmarked, and to call-ahead for reservations as you travel from place to place. That will save you the frustration of spending hours traveling around a strange city trying to find a place to crash. Hostels are another good alternative, cheap, safe, and you can ask advice about things to see/do from other residents and the staff. Look online for their locations and particulars, and have a spreadsheet or something similar for your data.

A ddedicated GPS w/a screen bigger than your smartphone will be handy in navigating and if you don't have one, you should consider getting one. That, and a decent digital camera w/spare memory cards for all your pics.

Have fun, be safe, and don't bring anything w/you that couldn't pass a search by the local police. Out-of-state auto tags are reasons to stop/search cars, especially when the people are young males. Such operations are revenue streams especially in some small communities. AAA and other places have lists of speed traps. A radar detector is illegal in some states, and why do you think that is? So they can catch/fine you easier.

 

[Lew L]

Very cool list!!! Have fun...... Bring lots of MONEY:biglaugh:

Lew

 

[Conman]

Thanks for that awesome post fire medic. I personally am not too keen on SF but I'd definately like to check out Alcatraz.

 

[1st Shirt Maxer]

I just finished a road trip with the family from Los Angeles to Florida then to Oklahoma. The only advice I can give you is choose just a couple of must see things then just take your time on the trip. Try not to schedule a bunch of stuff as you might miss those rare finds. I planned the trip and only planned 5 hours of driving each day. That way we could stop if we saw something worth stopping for. We took 8 days to cross the country and it was great. The best part was getting lost in the Mojave desert and spending an hour on a dirt trail rated for a 4X4. Luckily it was dry so no 4 wheeling needed(i was in my dodge 4x4 so I wasn't worried). Remember it is the trip that is the fun part not the destination. Relax and have fun and don't over schedule yourself

 

[Fire-medic]

Don't think San Francisco is all weird people, yes, there are alternative lifestyle people there, but there are plenty of normal people too. FYI, you may have weird people in Wellington FL too. One of my best friends is there, but he's pretty-normal. We hit Daytona Bike Week most years.

Here's an incentive to spend some time in SF: http://zeitgeistsf.com/
Their motto (tongue-in-cheek, of course) is 'warm beer + cold women.' Be sure to see the site content.

Thanks for that awesome post fire medic. I personally am not too keen on SF but I'd definately like to check out Alcatraz.

 

[MtnMax/Magniac]

My only problem with San Francisco is that it seems like no matter where I want to go, it's on a one-way street going the wrong way. I hate driving there.

 

[lawman504]

When you hit the northern end of the Shenandoah National Park you'll be in my neck of the woods. I could help with food and camping spots if ya needed it. If you have never been to a caverns, i would jump off the drive in Luray, VA and go to Luray Caverns. It wont take too long and its cool as hell if youve never been.