Road Tripping in the USA!

Capt Doufos · 25 Jan 2017 at 20:57

Even if you aren't a JD fan it is an interesting tour run by enthusiastic people as well as being quite a pretty area. Passed through some really interesting small towns around there.

Joe T · 26 Jan 2017 at 07:52

Agreed, the JD tour is definitely worth doing.

Joe T · 26 Jan 2017 at 07:54

SoliD said:
Thinking of heading out to Texas for the GP in October and then week and a bit either side for just under 3 weeks total. Come up with this tentative route so far.

Atlanta
New Orleans
Houston
Austin
Dallas
Oklahoma
Memphis
Nashville
Atlanta

Obviously with some stops in between these places. Critique, suggestions etc all welcome.

Thanks

If you can take a detour up to Bowling Green, Kentucky the Corvette plant tour (and museum) are worth a visit.

rossk26 · 26 Jan 2017 at 08:22

shadow_boxer said:
Hi guys. After a little bit of advice please. We may have a short trip in the Summer to San Francisco to see family (they're based near Sacramento) and we're hoping to have some time to see a little of Northern California. Trip will be around 12 nights in total as detailed below (though we can be flexible):

Day 1-4: Staying with family in Sacramento
Day 5 ?
Day 6 ?
Day 7 ?
Day 8 ?
Day 9-12 : San Francisco

Looking for some ideas of what to do and we thought grab a hire car and head into Yosemite area for three or four days. (Probably 4 days). Any recommendations of routes or must see things/where to stay etc?

We're hoping to do a proper Southern California road trip in a couple of years (LA, San Diego, Death Valley, Vegas etc) so would be nice to see a little of the North now then we can avoid that in our itinerary next time. Travelling around mid May or early June (tbc)

Thanks

I would have recommended Monterrey and Carmel for a couple of night, but as you plan to go back, save these for the full trip. Heading north would be a good idea, Redwood National Park

Phemo · 26 Jan 2017 at 16:16

Ok, I'm confused. I'm going to Vegas soon and want to hire a car just for one day. I've done some quotes on USCarHire for a "standard convertible" which should hopefully be a Mustang.

What's confusing me is that I'm getting quotes from the same company for different prices. From Alamo for example, I see £54 for silver inclusive or £62 for silver inclusive with GPS. I get that. But what I don't get is that there are options for silver basic inclusive at £73 and silver basic inclusive with GPS at £79.

From what I understand, silver and silver basic are the same except that silver lets you add an additional driver, whereas silver basic doesn't. If that is the case then why is silver basic a fair bit more expensive? Is there something I'm missing? Everything looks identical otherwise.

SoliD · 26 Jan 2017 at 16:27

Joe T said:
If you can take a detour up to Bowling Green, Kentucky the Corvette plant tour (and museum) are worth a visit.

Got it on the list!

Should be booking flights next week, slight change of plan due to flight availability and time off probably going to go in and out of houston now pushing it back a week or so, but will give just over 3 weeks out there.

Any other gems around that route?

[TW]Fox · 26 Jan 2017 at 17:39

Phemo said:
Ok, I'm confused. I'm going to Vegas soon and want to hire a car just for one day. I've done some quotes on USCarHire for a "standard convertible" which should hopefully be a Mustang.

What's confusing me is that I'm getting quotes from the same company for different prices. From Alamo for example, I see £54 for silver inclusive or £62 for silver inclusive with GPS. I get that. But what I don't get is that there are options for silver basic inclusive at £73 and silver basic inclusive with GPS at £79.

From what I understand, silver and silver basic are the same except that silver lets you add an additional driver, whereas silver basic doesn't. If that is the case then why is silver basic a fair bit more expensive? Is there something I'm missing? Everything looks identical otherwise.

This is often the case with US Car hire.

btw, one day rental is a total ripoff. Longer term you pay half the daily rate!

Joe T · 27 Jan 2017 at 06:17

SoliD said:
Got it on the list! Should be booking flights next week, slight change of plan due to flight availability and time off probably going to go in and out of houston now pushing it back a week or so, but will give just over 3 weeks out there.

Any other gems around that route?

Nice one. We went in-and-out of Houston too. We literally landed, slept, then left the city the next day. Similar coming home too. Comfort Suites by the airport did the job.

Graceland in Memphis is a good way to spend a day, even if you're not a big Elvis fan.

Gas Monkey Garage and Gas Monkey Bar and Grill are worth a look, but probably only if you're passing Dallas and are Fast n Loud fans.

Peerzy · 27 Jan 2017 at 08:47

So in light of the awful exchange rate at the moment and me struggling to get 3 weeks off in a row this summer our USA road trip is going to be held in.....

Italy

(Hotels picked on the map just to show the rough route).

We're going to do 2 nights in Venice, then pick up a car and head to Lake Como for 3 nights, 1 night near Stelvio Pass and finally 2 around Lake Garda before flying back out of Venice.

Ideally we had originally planned a 3 week trip starting at San Francisco but due to work I was going to have to cut it down to 2 weeks and I didn't feel like flying that far for less than 3 full weeks so we started looking at alternatives closer to home.

Bennie-Mac · 28 Jan 2017 at 21:20

Critique my West Coast USA holiday!

Hello

Have just booked some flights to LA for two weeks in August/September with the missus and was hoping for some feedback on my rough itinerary, plus any recommendations of things to do, places to eat etc etc. Will be renting a car (Mustang convertible cos im a basic bitch) and am open to any and all suggestions.

To cut it down into the basics: Edited to include driving times, each date is where we will spend the night.

22nd - Arrive LAX 8:30am Drive to San Diego (2hrs)
23rd - San Diego
24th - San Diego
25th - San Diego -> on to Vegas (5.5hrs)
26th - Vegas
27th - Vegas
28th - Vegas
29th - Vegas
30th - Vegas -> on to Mammoth Lakes via Death Valley (5.5hrs)
31st - Mammoth Lakes -> on to Modesto through Yosemite (4hrs)
1st - Modesto -> on to San Francisco (1.5hrs)
2nd - San Francisco
3rd - San Francisco -> on to Monteray (2.5hrs)
4th - Monteray -> on to Santa Barbara (4hrs)
5th - Santa Barbara -> on to LAX for flight at 11:00pm (1.5hrs)

Total driving roughly 25 hours over the two weeks, covering 1500miles. Route is mapped here

For some reason I am unable to select highway 1 as a route on google maps, am I missing something? It takes me down as far as Lucia but then its forcing me to double back. Obviously it would be the preferred route over the boring 101 highway.

I'm fully aware a lot of people will baulk at the 5 days in Vegas, but I love the place. We're looking to see two shows, do the South rim of Grand Canyon, a little partying, visit a gun range, hoover dam, a round of golf, shopping and a little teeny weeny bit of gambling. So there will be plenty to keep us occupied.

So what say you OcUK?

Edit - I'm aware its only January, but I'm excited god dammit!

Psycho Ned · 28 Jan 2017 at 23:08

I've done California twice on road trips (though haven't done San Diego either time so can't comment on that bit!) have done LA, Vegas, Death Valley, Yosemite, San Fran and the PCH (both up and down!) though.

Things I'd highlight:

Vegas-Yosemite via Death Valley - You need to have a stopover night booked in somewhere along the route there. That's 500+ miles and would take you like 10+ hours even if you don't stop in Death Valley at all! I stayed in Bishop which is 2-3 hours from Yosemite Valley.

Think you need another nights stopover around Yosemite really. If you stay an hour or 2 outside Yosemite after Death Valley it's going to take that long to get to the valley plus you've got a 4 hour drive to San Fran to do at the end of the day so you'll have 6-8 hours max in Yosemite. It definitely deserves more than that!

Again driving distance related, San Fran to Santa Barbara via PCH personally think that's too far down to do in one day there are a lot of good attractions on that stretch (Monterey and the aquarium, 17 mile drive, Big Sur, Hearst Castle to name a few) you'll have to skip most of them. Last time I did

San Fran - Monterey (1 night stay)
Monterey - San Luis Obispo (1 night stay)
San Luis Obispo - LA

It's a tricky balancing act with only 2 weeks. On one hand you want to do all the cool stuff in the cities (I love San Fran and Vegas so understand wanting all the days there!) on the other hand you're going to spend quite a few days just driving and driving past stuff without allocating any overnight stays.

Hedge · 29 Jan 2017 at 00:15

We did San Francisco - Yosemite - LA- San Diego - Palm Springs - Grand Canyon and then Finished and flew home from Vegas.

That was over the course of 2 weeks also. Yosemite and San Francisco are the highlights.

I enjoyed the drive. Hired our Mustang convertible from Virgin Holidays even though I wasn't flying with them.

Bennie-Mac · 29 Jan 2017 at 01:11

Psycho Ned said:
I've done California twice on road trips (though haven't done San Diego either time so can't comment on that bit!) have done LA, Vegas, Death Valley, Yosemite, San Fran and the PCH (both up and down!) though.

Things I'd highlight:

Vegas-Yosemite via Death Valley - You need to have a stopover night booked in somewhere along the route there. That's 500+ miles and would take you like 10+ hours even if you don't stop in Death Valley at all! I stayed in Bishop which is 2-3 hours from Yosemite Valley.

Think you need another nights stopover around Yosemite really. If you stay an hour or 2 outside Yosemite after Death Valley it's going to take that long to get to the valley plus you've got a 4 hour drive to San Fran to do at the end of the day so you'll have 6-8 hours max in Yosemite. It definitely deserves more than that!

Again driving distance related, San Fran to Santa Barbara via PCH personally think that's too far down to do in one day there are a lot of good attractions on that stretch (Monterey and the aquarium, 17 mile drive, Big Sur, Hearst Castle to name a few) you'll have to skip most of them. Last time I did

San Fran - Monterey (1 night stay)
Monterey - San Luis Obispo (1 night stay)
San Luis Obispo - LA

It's a tricky balancing act with only 2 weeks. On one hand you want to do all the cool stuff in the cities (I love San Fran and Vegas so understand wanting all the days there!) on the other hand you're going to spend quite a few days just driving and driving past stuff without allocating any overnight stays.

Some good points there thanks! Yosemite from Vegas via Death valley is 330miles going by google maps, taking the 395 up from the south east. We can stay in Mammoth Lakes for a reasonable rate, and from there to San Francisco is 260miles through Yosemite.

I get that its a lot of driving still, but both those days are solely for the purpose of travelling and seeing the parks, so I dont think it'll be an issue. Yes we may collapse into our hotel in SF late at night but we can take an easy day of wandering around afterwords to relax a bit.

Your point about Santa Barbara being a bit of a stretch and missing out on some good stuff is probably very correct, i'll look into staying somewhere a bit further from LA (maybe and take some time to stop at other places along the way! I really don't want to cut time from SF though, its amazing.

Ill need to do a lot more research as I hadnt even considered that there was must see things on the way from SF to LA

Hedge said:
We did San Francisco - Yosemite - LA- San Diego - Palm Springs - Grand Canyon and then Finished and flew home from Vegas.

That was over the course of 2 weeks also. Yosemite and San Francisco are the highlights.

I enjoyed the drive. Hired our Mustang convertible from Virgin Holidays even though I wasn't flying with them.

Hmm Virgin are coming out at £617 for the two weeks, ive seen better prices recently but not by much. Im looking forward to the driving, long open roads with the top down in the sun is fine in my book!

Flights were very cheap to LA, otherwise I probably would have flown in to Vegas and done the same sort of loop.

D.P. · 29 Jan 2017 at 02:07

Even if you want to stay 5 nights in vegas your timings for the rest of the trip are a joke consider travel time and the numbers of things to do. Those are long days driving and wont leave you any time to see anything so would be a complete waste of time. 3 days minimum for Yosemite, 2 days minimum SF to SB.

a1ex2001 · 29 Jan 2017 at 09:34

D.P. said:
Even if you want to stay 5 nights in vegas your timings for the rest of the trip are a joke consider travel time and the numbers of things to do. Those are long days driving and wont leave you any time to see anything so would be a complete waste of time. 3 days minimum for Yosemite, 2 days minimum SF to SB.

Totally agree, looks more like a three week itinerary squashed into two weeks! You really can't afford that long in Vegas and San Fran if you want to do anything more than drive past a lot of the worlds most amazing scenery.

Barham2016 · 29 Jan 2017 at 09:57

between death valley and Yosemite stay in Bishop, the views are amazing.

b0rn2sk8 · 29 Jan 2017 at 11:37

Bennie-Mac said:
To cut it down into the basics:

Arrive in LAX for 8:30am, rent car
Drive to San Diego
3 Nights in San Diego
Drive to Vegas through San Bernardino National Forest
5 Days (heavens no!) in Vegas (Fri/Sat/Sun in off strip cheap hotel, Mon/Tue in luxury full cheese mode casino hotel)
Drive through Death Valley
Head towards Yosemite, stay 1 night nearby
Experience Yosemite and drive to San Francisco
4 nights in San Francisco
Drive Pacific Coast Highway down to Santa Barbara
1 Night in Santa Barbara
Explore LA and surrounding Area
Fly home late evening.

I would cut one night from San Diego or San Fran and add it between Yosemite and SF suggest Modesto.

I would also cut one night from Vegas and stop somewhere between SF and and Santa Barbara either Monteray or somewhere near Pismo.

Why would you switch hotels in Vegas, just stay on strip for all the days it just saves so much hassle changing hotels half way through.

Santa Barbara is expensive, I would push past and stay closer to LA especially if you want to go into LA the next day, perhaps Oxnard/Ventura.

That should sort out the days that are a bit ambitious, your still going to have some really long days.

Bennie-Mac · 29 Jan 2017 at 14:41

D.P. said:
Even if you want to stay 5 nights in vegas your timings for the rest of the trip are a joke consider travel time and the numbers of things to do. Those are long days driving and wont leave you any time to see anything so would be a complete waste of time. 3 days minimum for Yosemite, 2 days minimum SF to SB.

a1ex2001 said:
Totally agree, looks more like a three week itinerary squashed into two weeks! You really can't afford that long in Vegas and San Fran if you want to do anything more than drive past a lot of the worlds most amazing scenery.

Perhaps it is a 3 week itinerary crammed into two weeks, i'll clearly have to look at what I expect to get out of this holiday and what is achievable.

Can I ask what would your 3 days in Yosemite look like? I just want to see the sights really, not go on day long hikes and wrestle with bears, the missus isnt a particularly outdoorsy type.

Barham2016 said:
between death valley and Yosemite stay in Bishop, the views are amazing.

Bishop does crop up quite often, I think the vegas to sf side of this is the big potential problem so i'll have to rejig that by the sound of things.

b0rn2sk8 said:
I would cut one night from San Diego or San Fran and add it between Yosemite and SF suggest Modesto.

I would also cut one night from Vegas and stop somewhere between SF and and Santa Barbara either Monteray or somewhere near Pismo.

Why would you switch hotels in Vegas, just stay on strip for all the days it just saves so much hassle changing hotels half way through.

Santa Barbara is expensive, I would push past and stay closer to LA especially if you want to go into LA the next day, perhaps Oxnard/Ventura.

That should sort out the days that are a bit ambitious, your still going to have some really long days.

Modesto is a good shout, closer to Yosemite so there isnt as big a rush to get from there to SF, plus its close enough to SF that we could spend pretty much a full day in SF before actually staying over.

The hotel switch in Vegas is purely down to cost, I can stay off strip for peanuts over the weekend in a nice hotel and drive into the strip or whatever each day, and then when the weekend is over the big casino hotels stop charging silly money and can get a very nice hotel for bugger all. Its a difference of about £350 which I'm more than happy to add a bit of hassle to claw back.

As per Psycho Ned's recommendation, ill probably be looking at stopping well before Santa Barbara to take in a bit more of the good stuff on the way down. We have a full day on departure day before we need to be at the airport so plenty of time to get where I need to go.

Bennie-Mac · 29 Jan 2017 at 14:44

Can a mod move this thread back into motors?

I feel bad that the merging of the two has caused one of the most popular motors threads to be shifted to GD.

Kol · 29 Jan 2017 at 14:45

Done - it was a mistake it appears, back where it belongs.