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We're trying to see if it's viable to combine two trips into one driving trip in early May.
Driving from Orange County to Houston to see relatives for a few days... most straight driving with an overnight would be from OC to San Antonio to see the Alamo, a quick visit to Austin on the way to Houston, then on to New Orleans. From there, a sightseeing road trip through parts of the Smokey Mountains (maybe visit Nashville?) to Washington DC to attend a wedding.
As far as the trip back... not sure, but looking at go up to Philadelphia, New York City, Niagra Falls, then drive back via Chicago and Denver to stop and visit a friend.
Do you think it could be done in 3-4 weeks?
Anyone do a coast to coast trip and back?
Any experiences welcome!
BTW, we do love road trips, and this would be our most ambitious for sure!
We're film music junkies and love driving to our massive obsessive collection of soundtracks!
Yes. I wouldn't want to do it in less time and still expect to see any of the sights though.
Your trip will close to 4000 miles EACH way.
8000 miles / 60mph net = 133 driving hours /8hour days = 16 very long boring days.
You'll need the other 12 days to "recover" (you can call it sightseeing).
Last edited by MrRational; 01-12-2013 at 05:45 PM..
Yes. I wouldn't want to do it in less time and still expect to see any of the sights though.
Your trip will close to 4000 miles EACH way.
8000 miles / 60mph net = 133 driving hours /8hour days = 16 very long boring days.
You'll need the other 12 days to "recover" (you can call it sightseeing).
Iron Butt Association! Gotta love it!
Hmmmm... will be thinking about this, that IS a lot of driving! Thanks for pointing out the rational, Mr. Rational!
We did more than a dozen round trips between Laguna Beach and Boston when one daughter went to undergrad at BU, and then when another daughter went to Columbia Law, we made more trips from OC to NYC and back. We took different route with each trip, so after a while, we ended up covering (stopping, sleeping in, or seeing the sights of) all 48 contiguous states.
We also did several round trips between Charleston, SC and OC. The longest one was from Charleston to OC, then up to Alberta (Canada), across to Manitoba, down to PA, then back to SC, stopping at more-than-I-can-remember cities along the way. It was an eight-and-a-half-week trip, that time, and in a Mini Cooper, no less. We also drove a 16 ft moving truck from coastal FL back to OC just last year, but that's only one way. Gosh, I would say we clocked in a lot more than a hundred thousand miles in all of our road trips.
Last edited by Ol' Wanderer; 01-12-2013 at 08:13 PM..
We did more than a dozen round trips between Laguna Beach and Boston when one daughter went to undergrad at BU, and then when another daughter went to Columbia Law, we made more trips from OC to NYC and back. We took different route with each trip, so after a while, we ended up covering (stopping, sleeping in, or seeing the sights of) all 48 contiguous states.
We also did several round trips between Charleston, SC and OC. The longest one was from Charleston to OC, then up to Alberta (Canada), across to Manitoba, down to PA, then back to SC, stopping at more-than-I-can-remember cities along the way. It was an eight-and-a-half-week trip, that time, and in a Mini Cooper, no less. We also drove a 16 ft moving truck from coastal FL back to OC just last year, but that's only one way. Gosh, I would say we clocked in a lot more than a hundred thousand miles in all of our road trips.
All 48! Wow, that's wonderful!
What was the shortest time you gave your self? Ever do it in 2 weeks? Now that would be a grind huh?
What was your favorite time of year to do this? Fall would be my ideal... kids back in school, starting to cool down, leaves starting to change. Although I hear its convention time in many cites!
Hubby and I are discussing and he thinks he would only be able to get 3 weeks off. 2 more years, and he should have a 4 week paid holiday.
What was the shortest time you gave your self? Ever do it in 2 weeks? Now that would be a grind huh?
What was your favorite time of year to do this? Fall would be my ideal... kids back in school, starting to cool down, leaves starting to change. Although I hear its convention time in many cites!
Two weeks? We did it once or twice when there was no choice, but it was not a good thing. Still fun, but rush.
Half of the college-related trips between OC and Boston, we had to do at the beginning and the end of semesters; the other half, we took during school years. The other trips, we did anytime we could take off from work. All the trips after retirement, we have always done at spur of the moment. So, yes, we have travelled in the heat of summer and the cold of winter, in the spring and autumn, before, during, and after the holidays.
It has been much easier in retirement, with time on our hands, we have been able to incorporate the driving and stopping with local events, even if it meant going out of our way for a few days. For instance, we took a long way round so we could be in SD during bison round-up weekend (an experience not to be missed, IMO), in Banff (Canada) during Snow Days, in VT during foliage weeks, in KY during Derby, etc.
I think this trip could be easily done in 3-4 weeks, absolutely no problem! I'm a road warrior so I'm thinking the OC to Houston would be a week (5-6 days depending how much driving you want to do each day) with the stops you want to make and then after Houston moving on to your other stops.
Houston to New Orleans is about 7-8 hours straight through. Tennessee and onto DC is another 3-4 days depending on what your iteniary is. Driving back through some of the New England States and then stopping back through Chicago and Denver can be done all together safely in 2 1/2 weeks in my view and the rest is gravy time.
I'd give myself 4-5 days at least to get back home and rest up before getting back to regular life.
Do so, but make a point to NEVER enter the interstate highway system as you formulate your travels, unless you are driving through the intermontaine west and there are no other alternative roads. In this case, those roads are worth traveling anyways. (Think I-84 through Columbia River Gorge in Oregon, or I-70 through the Glenwood Gap in Colorado)
So after some discussion and debate, we've decided not to combine the trips and take them separately.
We've narrowed down what our main objectives will be and decided in this case flying out will be the most practical. We wont need a car in Houston as we'll be given the grand tour provided by my aunt and uncle, and we'll take the train into New Orleans and stay in and close to the French Quarter where again we won't need a car.
The main point of going to DC, is to attend a dear friend's wedding, and we'll rent a car to do some local touring. We've been to the area before, but there's always something to see, and we'll have the opportunity to drive down to the B&B we stayed in when we first got married near Charlottesville, Va.
Still would love to do a cross country trip some day, and we’d probably do that one in the fall of hopefully some not too distant year. We'd also want a good 4 weeks to do it!
He he…I know this sounds silly, but we actually talked about how much we'd miss our CATS if we were gone so long!
My son would come over and take good care of them, but 4 weeks is a long time without them curled up at our feet! LOL!
Well shucks, thanks anyway, you've all given me some good tips when we do take that ultimate road trip!
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Oh well...
