Anyone Driven Cross Country?

[Luke_WO 11]

So I'm graduating college in May and I'm looking into different trips that I could take to different places right after I graduate. There are so many places I want to see, and roads I want to drive, that I figured why not knock off a huge chunk of them by driving cross country? I've always wanted to do it, and this is the perfect time for it.

 

Just wondering if any of you have ever done it before. More than anything, I'm just curious about your general experience. Are you glad you did it? How long did the entire trip take you, there and back? Was it a huge financial burden?

 

Feel free to include any specific places or roads that you feel are "must-sees," or specific bits of advice that you feel are critical to the trip being a success. I sort of have a tentative route worked out, but obviously I'm just in the beginning stage of planning so I'm all ears.

[JTQ911 2]

I did with my girlfriend after I graduated college in 2009. I had 35 days before I started work and had very little planning, 1 day to be precise. I had always wanted to, but didn't think I had time before starting work. Then I realized it might be 10 years before you accrue that much vacation in some jobs and will likely have kids.

 

Drove to Chicago straight through in 13 hours or so and then just stayed in major places of interest for 1-2 days, 3 if it was something like Vegas. We had stopped at AAA before leaving and got travel books for each state we planned on staying at and just called local hotels/motels and asked for their best rate an hour or two before we got tired of driving.

 

Believe it or not it was much less expensive than expected. Gas was around 3 bucks a gallon then and highway miles in a 4 cyl camry it was not bad. Hotels I stayed at were actually mostly motels with the outdoor room entrances, but hey, staying in hotels for 30 some days in a row while just realizing your a 100k in debt will tighten your wallet a bit.

 

Eating was the biggest expense in my trip. My gf loves to rationalize eating out on vacation at nice places, loves rationalizing you only live once you might as well have a few drinks with dinner etc. That gets expensive fast. If you eat fast food (or bring things like protein bars, dry cereal, lots of snacks) and just buy a (couple) bottles to keep in your luggage, you can save a LOT of money.

 

For me, it was a trip of my lifetime. Little disappointing in hindisght because I truly don't believe I will have a better vacation in my lifetime. In times I was in awe, shocked, genuinely scared for my life like I had never been before, happy etc etc. If you're on a budget, you should obviously try to minimize total trip time to save on food and hotels. If that's the case, be comfortable driving 3-5 hours a time and then driving 3-5 hours again after lunch/short sight seeing. Our trip was 9,000 miles which I estimate I did 75% of just because I love driving, but also because I'm a terrible/easily bored passenger.

 

I'm not a big partier, but I loved Vegas, the parks out West, San Francisco area, Nashville, Tucson, and Ashville NC area.

[Sandy 44]

I drove to California and stayed for about a year when I was 19 and 20. 80 is kind of boring until you get out of Ohio. Then there are a few interesting spots . Lots of corn. But once you get to Wyoming it is one beautiful scene after another . The Grand Teton mountains ..the High Sierras , Donner's pass , then the salt flats in Utah . You end up in a beautiful town called Aurora once you hit Cali. After that I say go North up to Ukiah , Ft. Bragg area. And stay a while . Go shucking for abalone and play with the otters . Sea lions on the beach just beyond the Redwoods, the whole thing was an awesome experience and I'm incredibly glad I did it before settling down.

[tommy3rd 132]

What's your budget like? it's like 6000 miles just back and forth from CA to NJ. Considering the price of gas is probably $4 a gallon once you leave NJ, you're looking at close to $1000 just on fuel alone. That's not even taking side trips to the other states, just staying on I-80 all the way.

I don't mean to discourage you, but you might be better off taking a trip to a specific destination and not just "cross country".

[Sandy 44]

Yes , you will easily spend that on fuel. I drove there in a 69 Pontiac Catalina . Even in 1990 I busted the bank on gas getting there . Gas was cheaper but cars guzzled way more.

[Luke_WO 11]

Not to sound like an a**, but money isn't a concern. I have a good amount myself, and my parents have also agreed to fund at least part of any trip I take as a graduation gift.

[Ray Ray 3,566]

Twice, by myself. What a beautiful country we live in.

[autoxnyc 4]

Yes gas price is a big concern but there's nothing like driving cross country. You have the freedom of stopping at any place you want and you get to see and experience a lot of places.

 

I once drove from NJ all the way to Acapulco, Mexico with 2 of my buddies when I was in college. It was pretty stupid of us considering how shady some places were in Mexico but it was quite an experience. Cops were constantly pulling us over demanding money and we even had soldiers pointing rifles at us at check points LOL..

[SJ Mohican 0]

Got laid off 2 summers ago and drove around the country. I went out across the northern plains to Yellowstone and then south through Utah and Colorado. Then came east/south through Oklahoma & Tenn on the way back to Jersey.

 

Yellowstone is INCREDIBLE (if you go through there, stay at least a week. I couldn't see everything in 3 days). Saw Mt Rushmore & Little Bighorn Battlefield. Went to Mesa Verde in southern Colorado. Memphis has awesome BBQ places to eat and Elvis was a PIMP (in a good way). Ate at a steakhouse I saw on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives in OK City and had the best steak I've ever eaten.

 

I wish I'd gone with friends instead of family so it would have been more of a party

[Maksim 1,504]

Yes gas price is a big concern but there's nothing like driving cross country. You have the freedom of stopping at any place you want and you get to see and experience a lot of places.

 

I once drove from NJ all the way to Acapulco, Mexico with 2 of my buddies when I was in college. It was pretty stupid of us considering how shady some places were in Mexico but it was quite an experience. Cops were constantly pulling us over demanding money and we even had soldiers pointing rifles at us at check points LOL..

 

And now you would of been asking them...

 

"What brand AR is that? is that a Carbine gas or Mid Gas system? I got just like it... only with better parts."

 

I don't think I would be able to put on that many miles on a car, would just feel guilty of doing so... now in a Rental.... perhaps.

 

I start getting shit bored on a 5 hour flight to Vegas, and driving 10 hours in a day is about my limit.

[Maksim 1,504]

Honestly, just thinking about it... with the price of gas, a "Round the World" plane ticket is not far off. You can stop as much as you want, as long as you are going one direction.

[SW9racer 262]

Historic Route 66 is a nice drive. I have done sections of it in Arizona and California. There are a few tv shows that highlight what you can see, also check out the making of the Cars movie.

It would also be cheaper to get one of those little sleeper trailers to pull, would also make the trip more interesting.

[tommy3rd 132]

Not to sound like an a**, but money isn't a concern. I have a good amount myself, and my parents have also agreed to fund at least part of any trip I take as a graduation gift.

If money isn't a concern, then start planning and enjoy! Search all the tourist destination spots for each state. Zigzag across the country so you don't miss any states. You could even drive to Alaska!

[Luke_WO 11]

 

If money isn't a concern, then start planning and enjoy! Search all the tourist destination spots for each state. Zigzag across the country so you don't miss any states. You could even drive to Alaska!

 

Haha Alaska is a whole other animal for me. Another option I'm considering instead of driving cross country is spending a few days in Vancouver (anyone been there? I hear it's fantastic) and then driving from Vancouver up through British Columbia and the Yukon territory into Alaska. I spent an hour last night on Northtoalaska.com, where they give you routes and help you plan road trips up to Alaska from various starting points.

[Maksim 1,504]

Vlad G did a big trip to AK, I would ask him, send him a pm.

[JSF01 13]

I literally just finished a trip across country last week. I drove my truck pulling my mini all the way from Great Falls, MT to Hampton, VA. I highly, highly recomend it to any one, as long as you do not mind long distance driving. Lucky for me I love to just drive and driving does not tire me out, so I can drive for hours on end with little more than a bathroom break. Now on my trip I stopped at Mt Rushmore, the Badlands National Park, The Mall of America, Licolon's tomb, the Duesenberg Muesum, and the Wright Paterson Air Force Muesum (I had also wanted to go to the CMP but it would have been sunday). All of which are really cool. I have also been to Glacier national park, and Yellowstone before.

 

I do have some suggestions for you. If you have a girlfriend get her to go with you, I would expect it to make the trip twice as awsome. If you do not have a girlfriend then ask one or two very good friends to go with you (ones you would not mind hanging out weeks on end together with.) I did the entire trip by myself becuse I do not have a girlfriend currently and my friends could not because of work. Not a huge deal to me since I am a bit of a loner any way, but good company could have only made the trip better.(plus you can alway get them to split the cost of gas, hotels, ect..., making the trip cheeper for you.

Second have a general plan on what places you would like to visit, but do not plan the when you want to get there. For example don't go well if I leave site X at this time and drive Y amout of miles on sunday I can drive for B more hours monday and make it to site Z by 1400 hrs giving me 3 hours before they close to look around. This causes two problems. A) there may be days where you get a late start or traffic delays may slow you down which throws every thing off time wise. B) some things you might realize that a place is bigger than you expected and or you just will want to spend more time there, which again will throw your times off for other things or cause you to cut a vist shorter than you would have liked.

Third, If you do not get to a site at least 5 hours before they close wait to the next day to see. Reason being if you want to spend more time than you originally thought it would take you can't because the closed on you. Then because you already saw most of the stuff you are not interested in paying the enterance fee again to see the last bit and would rather start on your way to your next destionation any way. The Duesenberg Muesum is a perfect example of this for me. I got there with three hours left till they closed. I had thought that would be enough time but as time passed I felt more and more rushed to see every thing and therefore while I manged to see every thing by the time they closed, there was a lot of things I never really got to actually look at. (if that makes sense)

Fourth, Plan on seeing side atractions. Along the road you will see advertisements to all sorts of places that you would not have thought to see if they were even there in the first place. You should go stop and see at least some of them, as that has always been part of the spirit of making a road trip. This is one of my biggest regrets from my trip. While I wanted to stop and see some of them I was too busy trying to keep my schedule in order to see the next place I planned to see, since my time was a bit limited in total. If you would like I could post some pictures?

[Luke_WO 11]

Feel free to post pictures. I'd love to see them. I'm especially interested in the northern route, since I wouldn't just go straight out and back. I'd probably come back through Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota, etc.

[lunker 274]

The American Southwest should be seen by everyone. It gives you a feel for the scope and size of our country when you can drive for hours and just have expanses of space. Arizona and New Mexico were my two favorites. The Western spirit of free wheeling libertarianism is alive there and a refreshing change from the Northeast's stifling statism. If you drive through north Texas or New Mexico, make a point of seeing the Carlsbad Caverns in southern New Mexico. They were spectacular.

Almost twenty years ago, my friends and I drove cross country and through Mexico for over a month in a 3 speed 77 Chevy van. Our back seat was a couch from the basement of our fraternity house. At least half the trip we slept in that van, cutting down costs and increasing our general grunginess.

We all bought reverend licenses from the World Christianship Ministries (in the back of Rolling Stone back then, nowadays at www.wcm.org) and had a friend paint our van with a cross and the name of the church. You would be amazed how much better you get treated in a church van when you're a bunch of scraggly long-haired kids, especially in Mexico. We drove the southerly route through the Gulf states and Texas, all the way down the baja in Mexico, up through California. I ended up having to get back to work so I didn't lose my job, and I flew back from Phoenix. My buddies kept it going another month. What a blast.

[dgstinner 11]

Historic Route 66 is a nice drive.

Route 66 is on my bucket list. I would recommend driving it if you want to drive cross country.

 

 

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[this_is_nascar 162]

Last summer, my wife and I were going to do a coast-to-coast drive via Route-50, but some things surfaced that stopped us from taking that trip.

 

http://www.route50.com/

[Malsua 1,422]

Just to echo what Lunker said above, I did a trip from Reno to Vegas, along through California around Mono Lake and Yosemite and then across and around Arizona to see the Canyon/Sedona/Meteor Crater. On the way back to Vegas to fly out, we did historic 66. The south west is just fantastic.

 

It's was such a GREAT trip! That area of the country is just such a departure from around here, I loved it. I've driven all over the country east of the Mississippi and it can be pretty but man, out west is just amazing. We were planning a trip through South Dakota/Wyoming but haven't made it yet.

[JSF01 13]

Well here are some pictures( I am using a spoiler tag because I am posting quite a few.)

 

 

 

it was like 55 out and people were on the ice

 

 

As far as gas prices go they seemed pretty consistant along the highways at major stops. I was paying about $4 a gallon for diesel the whole way plus or minus 3 cents unless you stop at some minior little town. Than I saw prices around $4.15 to $4.20 a gallon. Also if your in one of the smaller stops don't go for the first gas station you see somtimes a gas station a block down the road would be 5 cents cheeper at least in those small town stops.

[JSF01 13]

more pictures

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Vlad G 345]

If money is no object, rent a car with unlimited millage. It should run you around $100 per day or so, maybe less if you shop around but not having to worry about the wear on it, or paying for repairs in the middle of nowhere if it breaks down might be worth it. And yes, I put 2000 miles on a rental in 10 days in Alaska.