Author Topic: Planning: My Cross Country Road Trip  (Read 2745 times)

Offline Mordyk

  • Dansdeals Presidential Platinum Elite
  • ********
  • Join Date: May 2013
  • Posts: 4102
  • Total likes: 1015
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 3
  • Gender: Male
    • View Profile
  • Programs: Some of this and some of that.
Planning: My Cross Country Road Trip
« on: April 13, 2018, 10:40:00 AM »
My wife and I decided that we would like to do a cross country road trip this summer. Leaving East coast to west coast. obviously not only driving and sleeping, we want to explore places on the way. we want to leave beginning of the week and be on west coast for shabbos and fly back. we will take a one way car rental. from here on I have no clue where to begin. anyone have ideas and experiences to share? or specific stops to make on the way. TIA
#TYH

Online Something Fishy

  • Global Moderator
  • Dansdeals Lifetime Presidential Platinum Elite
  • **********
  • Join Date: Jan 2011
  • Posts: 8708
  • Total likes: 6077
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 44
    • View Profile
    • Kosher Horizons
  • Location: Iceland
Re: Planning: My Cross Country Road Trip
« Reply #1 on: April 13, 2018, 10:50:16 AM »
Paging @whYME
Check out my site for epic kosher adventures: Kosher Horizons

Offline whYME

  • Dansdeals Presidential Platinum Elite
  • ********
  • Join Date: May 2008
  • Posts: 3213
  • Total likes: 1241
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 3
  • Gender: Male
    • View Profile
Re: Planning: My Cross Country Road Trip
« Reply #2 on: April 13, 2018, 01:27:48 PM »
There should really be a cross-coutry road trip master thread...

1. Anywhere specific on the east/west coasts? For now I'll assume NYC-LAX.

2. Is leaving the beginning of the week necessary? Most of my trips I left towards the end of the week and spent shabbos in the midwest (usually MKE for me personally) then spent the next week getting to CA. (going West-East would be the opposite. Leave beginning of the week, spend Shabbos in the midwest then go home.)
The one time I did it all in one week I left NY Motzei Shabbos and didn't stop until late Sun night in SD, then spent the rest of the week getting to CA. My cheshbon was that anything between NY and ORD that I cared for I'd already seen. From ORD until western SD is empty farmland that I didn't want to waste time on.

IIRC it's something like 48 hours driving time from NYC to LAX if you drive direct. If you leave motzei shabbos and arrive Fri, that means on average 8 hours of driving per night/day. that doesn't leave much time for sightseeing.

3. IMO you want to get through the eastern half of the country as quickly as possible and spend your time out west.
(I'm working with the assumption that the primary goal/attraction is National Parks etc and smaller off-the-beaten-track type attractions. If you're looking for fancy hotels in big cities I can't really help you.)

The exception to this is if you take a southern route and go through AL, MS, TX etc but you might not have enough time for that.

4. I think what you need to do is figure out the main things you want to see and work around that. Of course if there's a specific city you want to end up in that'll effect it as well.
For example if you want to go to Mt Rushmore and Yellowstone you'll probably want to end in SFO or PDX or SEA. If you want to go Bryce Canyon and Zion you probably want to end in LAX. If you need to end in SAN you won't be going to Glacier National Park.
(of course this is all assuming a ~week time frame)

5. You might want to consider an RV. For example maybe Cruise America's rolling out of AZ special from PHX to VA. Of course one downside to this is that they're only available at most a few weeks in advance and if you have specific dates you need they won't necessarily have what you want available just then. IIRC @Galitzyaner did this a couple of years ago, although he did something more local, maybe PHX-SLC?


OK, I think this should be enough to get you started :)

Offline Mordyk

  • Dansdeals Presidential Platinum Elite
  • ********
  • Join Date: May 2013
  • Posts: 4102
  • Total likes: 1015
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 3
  • Gender: Male
    • View Profile
  • Programs: Some of this and some of that.
Re: Planning: My Cross Country Road Trip
« Reply #3 on: April 13, 2018, 01:50:55 PM »
There should really be a cross-coutry road trip master thread...

1. Anywhere specific on the east/west coasts? For now I'll assume NYC-LAX. Correct

2. Is leaving the beginning of the week necessary? not necessary, but preferably because of my work schedule Most of my trips I left towards the end of the week and spent shabbos in the midwest (usually MKE for me personally) then spent the next week getting to CA. (going West-East would be the opposite. Leave beginning of the week, spend Shabbos in the midwest then go home.)
The one time I did it all in one week I left NY Motzei Shabbos and didn't stop until late Sun night in SD, then spent the rest of the week getting to CA. My cheshbon was that anything between NY and ORD that I cared for I'd already seen. From ORD until western SD is empty farmland that I didn't want to waste time on.

IIRC it's something like 48 hours driving time from NYC to LAX if you drive direct. If you leave motzei shabbos and arrive Fri, that means on average 8 hours of driving per night/day. that doesn't leave much time for sightseeing.

3. IMO you want to get through the eastern half of the country as quickly as possible and spend your time out west.
(I'm working with the assumption that the primary goal/attraction is National Parks etc and smaller off-the-beaten-track type attractions. If you're looking for fancy hotels in big cities I can't really help you.) not into national parks that much. besides the fameous ones. im looking for interesting places

The exception to this is if you take a southern route and go through AL, MS, TX etc but you might not have enough time for that.

4. I think what you need to do is figure out the main things you want to see and work around that. Of course if there's a specific city you want to end up in that'll effect it as well.
For example if you want to go to Mt Rushmore and Yellowstone you'll probably want to end in SFO or PDX or SEA. If you want to go Bryce Canyon and Zion you probably want to end in LAX. If you need to end in SAN you won't be going to Glacier National Park.
(of course this is all assuming a ~week time frame)  don't really know places. as of now only thing on list is grand canyon

5. You might want to consider an RV. For example maybe Cruise America's rolling out of AZ special from PHX to VA. Of course one downside to this is that they're only available at most a few weeks in advance and if you have specific dates you need they won't necessarily have what you want available just then. IIRC @Galitzyaner did this a couple of years ago, although he did something more local, maybe PHX-SLC? i dont like driving RV's


OK, I think this should be enough to get you started :)

Thanks for your insight. definitely enough to get me started!
#TYH

Offline Yammer

  • Dansdeals Presidential Platinum Elite
  • ********
  • Join Date: Aug 2015
  • Posts: 3695
  • Total likes: 217
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 1
    • View Profile
Re: Planning: My Cross Country Road Trip
« Reply #4 on: April 13, 2018, 02:14:47 PM »
My wife and I decided that we would like to do a cross country road trip this summer. Leaving East coast to west coast. obviously not only driving and sleeping, we want to explore places on the way. we want to leave beginning of the week and be on west coast for shabbos and fly back. we will take a one way car rental. from here on I have no clue where to begin. anyone have ideas and experiences to share? or specific stops to make on the way. TIA
It's something that I've been thinking about lately but I'm not ready for one now. I'd love too see the planning,routes etc.
There should really be a cross-coutry road trip master thread...

1. Anywhere specific on the east/west coasts? For now I'll assume NYC-LAX.

2. Is leaving the beginning of the week necessary? Most of my trips I left towards the end of the week and spent shabbos in the midwest (usually MKE for me personally) then spent the next week getting to CA. (going West-East would be the opposite. Leave beginning of the week, spend Shabbos in the midwest then go home.)
The one time I did it all in one week I left NY Motzei Shabbos and didn't stop until late Sun night in SD, then spent the rest of the week getting to CA. My cheshbon was that anything between NY and ORD that I cared for I'd already seen. From ORD until western SD is empty farmland that I didn't want to waste time on.

IIRC it's something like 48 hours driving time from NYC to LAX if you drive direct. If you leave motzei shabbos and arrive Fri, that means on average 8 hours of driving per night/day. that doesn't leave much time for sightseeing.

3. IMO you want to get through the eastern half of the country as quickly as possible and spend your time out west.
(I'm working with the assumption that the primary goal/attraction is National Parks etc and smaller off-the-beaten-track type attractions. If you're looking for fancy hotels in big cities I can't really help you.)

The exception to this is if you take a southern route and go through AL, MS, TX etc but you might not have enough time for that.

4. I think what you need to do is figure out the main things you want to see and work around that. Of course if there's a specific city you want to end up in that'll effect it as well.
For example if you want to go to Mt Rushmore and Yellowstone you'll probably want to end in SFO or PDX or SEA. If you want to go Bryce Canyon and Zion you probably want to end in LAX. If you need to end in SAN you won't be going to Glacier National Park.
(of course this is all assuming a ~week time frame)

5. You might want to consider an RV. For example maybe Cruise America's rolling out of AZ special from PHX to VA. Of course one downside to this is that they're only available at most a few weeks in advance and if you have specific dates you need they won't necessarily have what you want available just then. IIRC @Galitzyaner did this a couple of years ago, although he did something more local, maybe PHX-SLC?


OK, I think this should be enough to get you started :)
Was thinking the same about the timing. (While you've done it...) I would think that close to where weeks would be needed to cover the basics.

Offline whYME

  • Dansdeals Presidential Platinum Elite
  • ********
  • Join Date: May 2008
  • Posts: 3213
  • Total likes: 1241
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 3
  • Gender: Male
    • View Profile
Re: Planning: My Cross Country Road Trip
« Reply #5 on: April 13, 2018, 02:32:00 PM »
Thanks for your insight. definitely enough to get me started!
I'm definitely in the minority on this, but IMO Grand Canyon is the most overrated National Park. I think Bryce Canyon (while not actually a canyon FWIW) for example is far more interesting.

Iy"H I'll post some routes after Shabbos

Offline Sport

  • Dansdeals Lifetime Platinum Elite
  • *******
  • Join Date: Dec 2013
  • Posts: 2332
  • Total likes: 103
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 1
    • View Profile
Re: Planning: My Cross Country Road Trip
« Reply #6 on: April 13, 2018, 03:11:35 PM »
I'm definitely in the minority on this, but IMO Grand Canyon is the most overrated National Park. I think Bryce Canyon (while not actually a canyon FWIW) for example is far more interesting.

Iy"H I'll post some routes after Shabbos
Agree.

Offline Sport

  • Dansdeals Lifetime Platinum Elite
  • *******
  • Join Date: Dec 2013
  • Posts: 2332
  • Total likes: 103
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 1
    • View Profile
Re: Planning: My Cross Country Road Trip
« Reply #7 on: April 13, 2018, 03:15:53 PM »
A week is a very short time frame to really do cross country right.  If you're only able to go for a week perhaps consider flying half way, somewhere like Jackson hole and drive from there to lax. Giving you an entire week to actually drive through places of interest. This is what I did on one of my trips, and spent 3 weeks traveling from Wyoming to lax. And I still felt like we rushed  many of the parks.

Online nafnaf12

  • Dansdeals Presidential Platinum Elite
  • ********
  • Join Date: Jan 2012
  • Posts: 4192
  • Total likes: 251
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 79
    • View Profile
Re: Planning: My Cross Country Road Trip
« Reply #8 on: April 14, 2018, 10:50:35 PM »
I'm definitely in the minority on this, but IMO Grand Canyon is the most overrated National Park. I think Bryce Canyon (while not actually a canyon FWIW) for example is far more interesting.

Iy"H I'll post some routes after Shabbos
agreed, also Zion is very nice
same area
A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor.

Online yitzgar

  • Dansdeals Presidential Platinum Elite
  • ********
  • Join Date: Dec 2016
  • Posts: 3078
  • Total likes: 1277
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 1
    • View Profile
Re: Planning: My Cross Country Road Trip
« Reply #9 on: April 14, 2018, 11:04:55 PM »
A week is a very short time frame to really do cross country right.  If you're only able to go for a week perhaps consider flying half way, somewhere like Jackson hole and drive from there to lax. Giving you an entire week to actually drive through places of interest. This is what I did on one of my trips, and spent 3 weeks traveling from Wyoming to lax. And I still felt like we rushed  many of the parks.
+1000 so much to do, not worth rushing through everything imo

Offline mordechain

  • Dansdeals Platinum Elite + Lifetime Silver Elite
  • *****
  • Join Date: Nov 2014
  • Posts: 668
  • Total likes: 69
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 0
  • Gender: Male
    • View Profile
Re: Planning: My Cross Country Road Trip
« Reply #10 on: April 15, 2018, 12:37:51 AM »
I'm definitely in the minority on this, but IMO Grand Canyon is the most overrated National Park. I think Bryce Canyon (while not actually a canyon FWIW) for example is far more interesting.

Iy"H I'll post some routes after Shabbos
+1

Offline mmgfarb

  • Dansdeals Lifetime Presidential Platinum Elite
  • *********
  • Join Date: Dec 2015
  • Posts: 8355
  • Total likes: 1110
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 4
    • View Profile
Re: Planning: My Cross Country Road Trip
« Reply #11 on: April 15, 2018, 02:07:49 AM »
I'm definitely in the minority on this, but IMO Grand Canyon is the most overrated National Park. I think Bryce Canyon (while not actually a canyon FWIW) for example is far more interesting.

Iy"H I'll post some routes after Shabbos
+1, you could really spend the entire week just in Utah and still not be finished with everything worth seeing.
"JS [is] a fetid cesspool of unvarnished linguistic manure, with lots of useless drivel and post-padding." -Moishebatchy

Offline Yammer

  • Dansdeals Presidential Platinum Elite
  • ********
  • Join Date: Aug 2015
  • Posts: 3695
  • Total likes: 217
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 1
    • View Profile
Re: Planning: My Cross Country Road Trip
« Reply #12 on: April 15, 2018, 02:17:47 AM »
I'm definitely in the minority on this, but IMO Grand Canyon is the most overrated National Park. I think Bryce Canyon (while not actually a canyon FWIW) for example is far more interesting.

Iy"H I'll post some routes after Shabbos
Well it seems that your definitely NOT in the Minority..

I haven't been to either but it seems to be the consensus here.

Offline Galitzyaner

  • Dansdeals Presidential Platinum Elite
  • ********
  • Join Date: Aug 2011
  • Posts: 2961
  • Total likes: 119
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 13
    • View Profile
Re: Planning: My Cross Country Road Trip
« Reply #13 on: April 19, 2018, 02:29:28 AM »
My wife and I decided that we would like to do a cross country road trip this summer. Leaving East coast to west coast. obviously not only driving and sleeping, we want to explore places on the way. we want to leave beginning of the week and be on west coast for shabbos and fly back. we will take a one way car rental. from here on I have no clue where to begin. anyone have ideas and experiences to share? or specific stops to make on the way. TIA
Haven't been active for a while, but @whYME tagged me here, so I figured I'll contribute my two cents.
It would be helpful if you'd specify, but as others assumed, I also presume you'e going to see nature (not rock'n roll museums etc).
If that's the case, I second what others here wrote; don't bother driving coast to coast.
From the road-tripping research I've done the past few summers, it seems pretty clear that the prettiest sights are all located 'west of the rockies'.
I say, fly to the west and do a one way rental across the west, and fly back from there. Don't bother driving the eastern section, waste of time.
It sounds like whyMe has done it, so he'd know much better, but it seems he concurs.
Do this and you'll have memories to last you a lifetime.

I'm definitely in the minority on this, but IMO Grand Canyon is the most overrated National Park. I think Bryce Canyon (while not actually a canyon FWIW) for example is far more interesting.
I have to disagree slightly on this one. A. Seems you're actually in the majority :D .
B. So far been to GC twice, and Bryce once. I don't think GC is overrated, and definitely not nearly the "most overrated" (there are so many NPs which most people don't know or care about - for good reason).
I think Bryce and GC are both absolutely breathtaking, and I'm looking forward to revisit both iy"H some day.

agreed, also Zion is very nice
same area
True, worth going since in the same area, but IMHO doesn't hold a candle to the aforementioned sights.


Offline saw50st8

  • Dansdeals Platinum Elite
  • ****
  • Join Date: Aug 2015
  • Posts: 334
  • Total likes: 130
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 0
    • View Profile
Re: Planning: My Cross Country Road Trip
« Reply #14 on: April 19, 2018, 08:20:46 AM »
I love the Grand Canyon but unless you plan to do a really long hike that's you can't just stop in the middle, the Utah parks are more user friendly so to speak.

I think you do not have enough time to see much. If you want to do a road trip, consider doing something like driving down the east coast and looping back north through Tennessee/WV/PA. Or fly somewhere out west and road trip out there. It's almost 2800 miles from NY to LA driving the most direct route - that's nearly 500 miles a day of driving (I assume by East Coast you were referring to the North East - If you are leaving from Atlanta, you shave off 600 miles)

Offline whYME

  • Dansdeals Presidential Platinum Elite
  • ********
  • Join Date: May 2008
  • Posts: 3213
  • Total likes: 1241
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 3
  • Gender: Male
    • View Profile
Re: Planning: My Cross Country Road Trip
« Reply #15 on: April 19, 2018, 10:33:26 AM »
it seems pretty clear that the prettiest sights are all located 'west of the rockies'.
I say, fly to the west and do a one way rental across the west, and fly back from there. Don't bother driving the eastern section, waste of time.
I would give that a +1/2
1. There is something to say for doing the full cross-country drive, even if the first half is basically boring.
2. There's plenty to see and do in the east if you want, (although the best and nicest is out west,) it's the great plains where there's really nothing.
Regardless, with only one week to work with you'll want to spend as much of it out west as possible.


A. Seems you're actually in the majority :D .
B. So far been to GC twice, and Bryce once. I don't think GC is overrated, and definitely not nearly the "most overrated" (there are so many NPs which most people don't know or care about - for good reason).
A. So it seems. Although IIRC last time I posted that here it seemed everyone was disagreeing with me.
B. "most overrated" =/= worst/least interesting etc. Of course there are many that nobody knows or cares about but you don't hear anybody say that Teddy Roosevelt NP or Cuyahoga Valley NP (sorry @Dan :P ) are at the top of their bucket list.
I wouldn't say GC is a total waste of time, but I wouldn't put it before Bryce Canyon or even Sedona. (hmmm, maybe that's actually what everyone disagreed with me, whether Sedona > GC)

Offline Galitzyaner

  • Dansdeals Presidential Platinum Elite
  • ********
  • Join Date: Aug 2011
  • Posts: 2961
  • Total likes: 119
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 13
    • View Profile
Re: Planning: My Cross Country Road Trip
« Reply #16 on: April 19, 2018, 11:07:37 PM »
(hmmm, maybe that's actually what everyone disagreed with me, whether Sedona > GC)
Yeah, that definitely sounds heretical :D .