Road Trip USA- Coast 2 Coast in 21 Day?

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rory22

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Planning a road trip from San Fran to Orlando this summer and was wondering weather anybody else has done this trip? I am not really sure if 21 days is enough, it is about 4000 miles so just under 200 mile a day. A rough itinerary so far is as follows-
  • San Francisco
  • Lake Tahoe
  • Salt Lake City (Canyonlands of Utah)
  • Monument Valley (Arizona)
  • Colorado Rockies
  • Santa Fe (New Mexico)
  • El Paso (Texas)
  • Houston (Texas)
  • New Orleans
  • Biloxi (Mississippi)
  • Orlando
I'd love to hear the views of anybody who has done a similar trip.
Thanks in advance
 
200 miles a day is quite achievable. when i go to the states i usually drive from 8 - 11 in the morning ) about 150 miles then holiday for rest of the day. that holiday sounds unreal, ur very lucky
 
Thanks mickman. Really looking forward to it, just a little afraid of biting off more than I can chew and ending up wrecked from driving so much. What car rentals do you normally use?
 
if u get wrecked then just stop over for 2nites in a place rather than the scheduled one nite. i drove all around florida last year and believe me the driving is simple. onto the highway and put the shoe down, keep to your lane and no stress.
believe me the places you will enjoy the most are the places you never heard of and didnt expect. thats what happened me last year, on way from miami to orlando ,stopped over in a place called sarasota and stumbled onto a ms hawaiian tropic competition. the place was reallycool

always have used hertz, the americans over book everything so expect to wait for a car if its really busy. be ansolutely sure and certain you get GPS, take a crap car if u have to but if u dont get GPS u will waste so much time
 
spring break 2007. year b4 that went to LA, san fran, vegas etc. no GPS at first and spent a whole day around LA with a map and cudnt find anything. had a crash then and got a car with GPS, fantastic after that
 
rory22 said:
Planning a road trip from San Fran to Orlando this summer and was wondering weather anybody else has done this trip? I am not really sure if 21 days is enough, it is about 4000 miles so just under 200 mile a day.
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I think youre trying to do way too much.
Youre going to spend around 500 USD on petrol alone.
Youll spend all your time on the motorway, where theres not much to see.

If I were you Id just stick to either the West or Florida, but not both.
 
I hope you can find a car rental company that won't charge you a horrendous one way fee for picking a car up in San Fran and driving to Orlando. Some may (no idea) but I'd make very sure that you clarify any one way drop fees
 
I think youre trying to do way too much
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You maybe right there, although I have done 3000 miles in 2 weeks and didn't find the driving a problem. I have just always wanted to drive right the way from the Pacific to the Atlantic. I think it was Forrest Gump who put the idea in my head! I might adjust it to make it more direct.
 
If you are renting car for 21 days or more it may be cheaper to buy a sat nav in Walmart over there. Some car hire companies charge 10 or 11 usd per day. Check the net before you go and print a mapquest from the airport to the nearest Walmart and go straight there. Then you have it for future trips or buy Europe maps to add to it when you come home.
 
thats true from aidan actually, they do charge sat nav by the day. good idea indeed.
hertz and all them big car rental agencies dont charge anything from picking up in one office and dropping off in the other one.
maybe cut out a few places i.e. texas
 
Or if you have a Sat Nav here you could see if you can download US maps for it and then just use that - could be a cheaper option again.

Otherwise for a 21 day rental you'd certainly be cheaper buying a Sat Nav in WalMart/BestBuy or wherever.
 
Thanks all, the sat nav advise is spot on. I had considered buying one here with pre loaded US maps, I know it would be cheaper over there esp with exchange rates, but I'm not sure how easy they are to set up... does anybody know if they come ready to go or is there a certain amount of setting up to do? I am not very savvy when it comes to technology so I would rather I got one with Irish/euro maps as well as US (I imagine the Sat Nav's purchased in the US would not have Irish maps and I am pretty sure I would struggle to load them onto it after my hols).


I hope you can find a car rental company that won't charge you a horrendous one way fee for picking a car up in San Fran and driving to Orlando
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I've heard Alamo have good rates for one way trips but will look into that also, thanks again for the tips.
 
dont know anything about sat nav devices to be honest. im sure you can just hook it up to pc and download maps.
 
i need to stop reading this post now as im very jealous of ur trip
 
Sorry about that Mickman, I'll be thinking of you when I'm on the open road, top down, the biggest blue sky above me and open road in front, maybe some eagles on the CD player and a warm summer wind on my face reminding me that it truly is, as the song say's, 'a wonderful world'....:cool:
 
I done New Jersey to San Fran last year in 10 days! Was a bit of a rush, but had no choice cause of time constraints. We seen a bit, but not nearly as much as I would have liked. A lot of driving. 21 days seems ok to do all your list, but you might not have a lot of time in some places. You need to work out where's best and how long you want to spend there. SatNav is good, but AAA free state maps are excellent and all you need really. I'm gonna do Colorada, Arizona, Nevada & Cali next year in my own time!, as it was the best section of the road trip.

We avoided most big cities on the way, because a city is a city really. The National parks rock though, so plan some time for them if you like that sort of thing.
 
We avoided most big cities on the way, because a city is a city really. The National parks rock though, so plan some time for them if you like that sort of thing.
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Thanks myate, that's what we plan to do, what national parks did you visit if any in Utah? any recommendations?
 
Hi did a trip similar to yours a few years back (Miami to San Fran and back) took about 4 months though!
It could be done in 21 days but be prepared for some long days driving..... didn't use a sat nav, US road maps are great and easily followed, make sure you get a car with cruise control, long highway trips much easier when all you have to do is steer!
Not a lot in Salt Lake City, go to Moab in Utah - amazing. Highly recommend Santa Fe - make sure you go to Rio Grande Gorge and the Sangre de Cristo mountains - beautiful drive. Take as much of the coast road while in Mississippi, and make sure to take in outskirts (plantation lands) around New Orleans.
I would also recommend Flagstaff in Arizona and trip to the Grand Canyon if time permits.
Also do get of I40 sometimes, some really interesting towns to drive through e.g. Winslow Arizona (made famous by the Eagles) each day.
Each time you cross a state border there is a welcome centre - great for picking up brochures about the state and discounts for hotels/motels.
So jealous would love to do the trip again.
 
Hi

old but good. Try Yahoo maps , gives routes,distance and time. Was in Texas recently and reckon you should detour to San Antonio. Beautiful and its got the Alamo. There is also a riverside walk with restaurants in the centre of town. San Marcos outlet mall is about 20 mins north on the I35 (one of the largest outlet mall in the US). If your into nightlife , go up to Austin (6th street). Bands playing in every pub. I visited the space centre in Houston (good but expensive , think it was $25 in).
 
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