Road Trip

Anyone here do any big road trips, like traveling across the country? I've always wanted to do it, and if everything goes to plan I should maybe have time to do one within the next year. So yeah, looking for hints/tricks if anyone's got em. There are bunch of places that I'd like to hit (lots of National Parks) but not sure of the feasibility of doing so in like 2ish weeks there (to LA) and back (to Pittsburgh).

I'm actually planning on doing this with one of my best friends this summer. I wanna go through one of the Dakotas, Montana, Idaho, Washington and then swing back through Oregon, Utah, Colorado, etc.

I don't think two weeks is nearly enough time to hit more than a handful of spots. You're talking almost 4 days of driving if you just go straight to LA and back.

 

A couple of my friends mapped out almost this exact same trip, except it was from Rochester. They were stopping in Austin and the Grand Canyon on the way out, and then Colorado and I think Chicago on the way back. They had a full 13 days but really were only stopping overnight at places, except for LA.

I'm actually planning on doing this with one of my best friends this summer. I wanna go through one of the Dakotas, Montana, Idaho, Washington and then swing back through Oregon, Utah, Colorado, etc.

 

This was my plan on the way out. Day 1/2 will be in Chicago technically since I have a place to stay there (and also because theres not much worth stopping for between Pitt and there) and then head Northern route through to Seattle, then south down to LA. Take the Southern route back through Arizona, NM, Texas, up through Kentucky to home. Probably can't feasibly do both ways in 16 days though.

That sounds pretty awesome.

http://www.businessinsider.com/ultimate-cross-country-us-road-trip-every-state-2015-5

http://www.businessinsider.com/ultimate-cross-country-us-road-trip-every-state-2015-5

Haha, that's sweet

That sounds pretty awesome.

 

Yeah I think so too. Would be able to hit pretty much most of the places I've wanted to go and never been (and some I've been aching to go back to). I have it narrowed down to like 9-10 cities/sites I want to hit and stop at. http://www.roadtripper.com is a good site. Calculates distance, potential gas money (not sure how accurate it is based on other gas estimate sites), driving time, and more.

This is my potential trip for the way there. All the numbers are places I would stop overnight for at least one night, theoretically.

https://roadtrippers.com/map?lat=38.77122&lng=-109.53369&z=5&a2=t!10599244

When I was a kid we did a cross country trip. 2 weeks really isn't enough time though if you want to make numerous stops. How many people are you going with because if you have a couple of people, you can at least drive longer stretches in shifts. We just drove to Disney from Long Island last summer, and my wife and I drove straight through taking shifts, it was rough, but it was easier than stopping and wasting time.

 

If your looking for some places to go, I would suggest obviously the Grand Canyon, Vegas and Death Vally. It all depends on your route as well.

Yeah it would likely be me and one other person but I don't know exactly who haha. I've been to all 3 of those places already, and Grand Canyon is the only one I'm aching to get back to

I've driven cross country (Princeton, NJ to San Diego, CA) four times in the last 15 months. Twice West bound, twice East bound (did it two weeks ago). The drive is extremely tiring, and you won't see much along the way, and easily the quickest route from New York to Los Angeles takes you well over three days of safe driving. You are going to be fucking exhausted at the end. I can tell you all about the drive itself, plus I've driven from Philly to Wisconsin regularly and I've done the drive to Tampa, FL from New York as well in recent months. (The perks, if that's how you'd like to call it, of working at a sports organization with not very many staff members comfortable driving our 68ft trailer-truck combos.)

 

Basically, if you want to see amazing things along the way, such as the Getty Museum in LA, Joshua Tree National Park in the California desert, Meteor Crater and the Grand Canyon in Arizona, the Trinity Test Site valley in New Mexico, the OKC Bombing Memorial, etc. etc. If you want to hit Chicago AND Seattle AND Los Angeles in one trip, man, you need a minimum of three-four weeks. You'd be spending six actual days of just driving and there is so much to do.

 

Parts of the cross country drive are fantastic, and you have a head start not losing six hours on the PA Turnpike, so I guess Chicago is a morning's drive away for you, but crossing the Great Plains - pretty much the whole Texas to Ohio stretch - is fucking mind numbing. You need incredible playlists, lots of coffee and a good co-driver.

 

This is my potential trip for the way there. All the numbers are places I would stop overnight for at least one night, theoretically.

https://roadtrippers.com/map?lat=38.77122&lng=-109.53369&z=5&a2=t!10599244

 

If it isn't hockey season, the Twin Cities are underwhelming. There's a big mall, a big stadium, but the downtowns are really bland. I would not waste much time on that, really. Can't say much about the Northwest part there. In the Bay Area, it's the city of San Francisco that's fantastic and also don't miss the Muir Woods just north of the Golden Gate Bridge. Spectacular, truly amazing. The shore drive down on Highway 1 is fantastic. I find LA kinda... meh. It's big, but if not for specific locations, it's not a fantastic city to visit. By all means, go to Disneyland and California Adventure or go check out the new Harry Potter land at Universal Studios. The Getty Museum is amazing and it's where Starfleet HQ was filmed for recent Star Trek movies and the view of the LA sprawl and hills is beyond amazing (museum is free, parking is $15 per car, go do it, really). I'd try and add San Diego, which is an awesome city. Go see a baseball game, check out Coronado Island, ride the historic Big Dipper on Mission Beach, get drunk in the Gaslamp Quarter. The I-8 highway from San Diego to El Centro is really fucking cool and then you can cut north and see the Salton Sea region.

I've done Toronto-Calgary and back in 72 hours. It can be done. I let my co-driver drive for an hour in Northern Ontario and I'd seen enough to not let him drive again.

 

Jules is right, the prairies, great plains, whatever are the most boring thing you've ever seen. He preferred music and coffee, I used a well known herbal remedy to pass the time. Either way, be prepared.

Jules--thanks, I picked Minneapolis mainly to break up the trip from Chicago to Mt. Rushmore. I drove Pitt to Chicago in like 6.5 hours last summer, so I'm not too concerned about that. I would basically leave Pitt early, spend day in Chicago, get some rest and hit the road early and then go as far as I feel before getting exhausted (which is probably Minneapolis). Also my end point is LA because I have close friends there for a place to crash. Don't need to spend much time there as I pretty much have an open invitation to go there whenever feasible. I've been to San Fran before too, but the Cali goal of this is to drive the PCH (which I have not done) and Joshua Tree. I've already done San Fran/Redwoods/Yosemite/San Diego. Hell, I really didn't even like San Fran all that much and I wouldnt go out of my way to go back.

 

Dunny--yeah I'm expecting it to be boring. But at least its a different kind of boring! I can't imagine it being worse than Ohio and Indiana. And my main reservation about this northern route is its pretty much limited to doing it in the Summer, so I either have to make this come together by August/September or wait another year.

--Also is it quicker to do Toronto to Calgary through Canada or the US?

 

This country is too big lol. It's more feasible money and timing wise to travel to another country right now with the cheap airfare than it is to drive cross country.

...(The perks, if that's how you'd like to call it, of working at a sports organization with not very many staff members comfortable driving our 68ft trailer-truck combos.)...

 

If you don't mind me asking, what do you do?

If you don't mind me asking, what do you do?

 

I work for USRowing, the national governing body for the sport of rowing in America. I mainly work in the membership department, which means I travel to a lot of events and make sure regattas and their competitors are properly registered (insurance, permits, etc.). Occasionally I get to assist with national team logistics, such as driving our boat trailers (carrying up to 40 shells at once on a lightweight aluminum frame) and other tasks.

 

It's been a really cool job and with my wife being an Olympic rowing hopeful for Rio 2016, we are around the sport pretty much 24/7.

 

Anyway, here's the setup we drive. It's fully legal at just under 70ft and still well under 25,000lbs. Within the length limit by mere inches, width down to the inch and weight also just within range. Picture is taken not too far from the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

 

Cool, good luck to your wife!

Big rigger!

Big rigger!

 

As close to king of the road as I'll ever be without a CDL. :D

I assume the boats are designed to be really light?

 

Towing light stuff actually sucks, and the longer the trailer the easier it is.

Farthest I've driven is Orlando from South Jersey. My wife and I switched off about halfway. That was a long ass trip itself. Had we wanted to stop anywhere, it would have taken over a day to view the sites.

I gotta be pretty fuckin drunk to let my wife drive.

I assume the boats are designed to be really light?

 

Towing light stuff actually sucks, and the longer the trailer the easier it is.

 

The boats weigh very little. They are made of honeycomb frame carbon fiber and the eights (a boat for eight rowers and a coxswain) weighs maybe 200lbs with all the materials included. The smaller boats are even more lightweight, because they get narrower and shorter.

 

The total load of boats, oars, riggers, seats, etc. is maybe half of the total weight of the trailer. The rest is the trailer itself. So it's a huge trailer, but the weight is somewhat limited and the wind can move through it quite well. We have sway bars mounted and definitely an industrial hitch too, so it's alright to drive. Especially when we pull it with the dualie, it's pretty nice. I'd pull over in 30mph winds, but anything under 20mph we just keep trucking along.