road trip usa

pirlo_21

Hi,

planning trip to the uSA in June, Planing on going form east to west coast by road in two weeks.

ANyone know of any good websites/books that could help with planning this trip

thank you

annie123

yahoo maps trip planner, hope the link below works:

http://maps.yahoo.com/broadband/#mvt=m&trf=0&lon=-98.393555&lat=37.405074&mag=14

useful trip planner
http://www.mapquest.com/

lonely planet chat rooms.

http://www.seeamerica.org/byways/html/site_html/usa_map.html

I nearly did this a few years ago..unexpected health problem popped up.

We allowed 3 weeks, and that was not enough to do the whole lot. Work out driving distances and route to see how long it takes you, you are not going to want to spend all your time on the road!!!

Any questions just ask. Good luck

annie123

http://completenorthamerica.com/

use the above site to get ideas:o)

krazykidskate

We did this about 4 years ago and it took about 5 weeks return but this was allowing plenty of time along the way. We mostly booked rooms in advance on the outward journey and just walked in places on the way back. We discovered that many stop off places along the way eg restaurants at services had stands with FREE travel magazines. These Mags listed lots of cheap motel chains and even gave maps and discount codes that you could use to save a fortune. We did this on the way back. I would definately recommend this to save $$$$s on your stay. If you google 'US motel discount coupons' you may find some online versions of the magazine. Different mags cover differents areas of the States

http://www.travelcoupons.com/

We found all the motels OK but I'd say Super 8 were always really reliable for being spacious and clean.

Craig_A

https://www.roadtripamerica.com should tell you everything you need to know. And there's a very good forum there too.

Major tip from my experience is to set yourself an itinerary but don't book any hotels or motels, just drive. Some days you'll want to stop and explore a National Park or some tacky tourist trap, others you'll just feel like 'getting there' and drive 600 miles. Booking a room ruins the spontinaity of the trip. You just have to make sure you keep an eye on where you're at and that you're not falling behind so far that you can't physically complete the journey in the time you have remaining!

Have a great trip!

lemontart

In many of the eateries you can pick up free booklets on hotels and motels in the local area many with special offers and coupons in so well worth picking up and they usually have a little map with reference numbers to hotels making them easy to link to your route.

May also be worth reading up on rules of the road in the states as they are a little different to ours here with things such as undertaking being legal, being able to turn at a junction if safe to do so even if lights are red - but you can only turn one way.

Have a great trip - and do visit a waffle house for some hash browns and eggs ...........yummy and treat yourselfs to a funnell cake and coffee ......................drooolllll

Elizabeth
xxx

reduceditem

Craig A is right. The best plan?....no plan. If you are adventurous enough just book the bare bones of the holiday (flights, car hire) and then whichever 'end' you start from go straight to a filling station or bookseller and buy the National Geographic Road Atlas...its all you need. Just figure out the rest as you go. IMO its much more interesting and fun this way though I appreciate not everyone's cup of tea. You can also get this road atlas in the UK at large bookstores, it really is fantastic. Make sure you pull in all your favours at work or whatever so you have the max possible number of days on the road...try to wangle four weeks, plenty of time for a few 'diversions'.
Have fun.

Oh and one more tip, if you are taking the trip with a spouse/partner....wait for them to take a shower in an out of the way run-down motel somewhere, arm yourself with a bottle of squeezy ketchup, then burst in and spray it all over them doing the 'Psycho screetch'...still makes me laugh just thinking about it...

moonrakerz

reduceditem wrote:

Oh and one more tip, if you are taking the trip with a spouse/partner....wait for them to take a shower in an out of the way run-down motel somewhere, arm yourself with a bottle of squeezy ketchup, then burst in and spray it all over them doing the 'Psycho screetch'...still makes me laugh just thinking about it...

Mmmmmm - Kinky !

Happy_saver_4

pirlo_21 wrote:

Hi,

planning trip to the uSA in June, Planing on going form east to west coast by road in two weeks.

ANyone know of any good websites/books that could help with planning this trip

thank you

It's roughly 3000 miles coast to coast. Slow down and enjoy the scenery and the welcoming people. Having driven across America 4 times ( taking 3 years ) I suggest you pick an area - tour and enjoy. The only state where there is no speed limit is Montana. There a police officer will decide wether you are driving at an excessive speed, taking into account the road/traffic conditions.

When an american tells you " drive to the dead end and hang a right " he's not being silly. A dead end to them is a T junction. Also the pavement is the road. lol's.

To help with crossing flashing red lights and filtering thru a red light, etc etc the following may be useful

http://freespace.virgin.net/john.cletheroe/usa_can/driving/essent.htm

gregdedman

https://www.randmcnally.com have a good road trip planning section on their website allowing you to plot and plan your route along with where to sleep eat and see.

Craig_A

Thanks for that link, Happy_saver, I've done thousands and thousands of miles of driving in the US but still learnt a lot from reading it!