48 States in 6 weeks.

Skinfull

Anyone have any ideas for the best route to take from NYC to San Francisco that would include ALL 48 States?

We have a general list of things we want to see (Mount Rushmore, Grand Canyon, Antelope Canyon, DC ...etc) but devising a route is proving more difficult than originally thought.

We're thinking of snaking north to south over and over rather than east to west to avoid crossing several time zones.

Suggections?

silja

Why?
I mean, it can be done (google "visit all continental states" or similar) if you drive all day most days but that means you will hardly see anything, and are unlikely to have time to really enjoy the locations you mention, especially places like Mount Rushmore which are a bit out of the way. I would suggest either taking more time or visiting less states...

Skinfull

Well thats part of it isn't it! The challenge!

This is the proposed routes we plan on taking
Route1a & Route 1b (its only in 2 parts because google maps wont let you add more than 21 destinations in a route.)

The "destinations" marked on our map are only a proposed route and not set in stone, we'll more than likely veer off course several times. It also includes a little jaunt through Canada.

Mileage is coming in at 11500 and we don't cross too many time zones in the one session. Any tips? Anything we're not thinking about? Anyone tried something similar?

All the google results are bringing up fastest, shortest route...not what we're looking for.

hfallada

My dads friend did 49 states when he lived in America for a few years and felt most them were ****. Like if you dont see most of the center of America you wont miss much. Someone a ones friend did a route 69 tour thought most the center of America was exactly like Napoleon dynamite. Boring places with absolutely nothing to see. Like if you drove from Chicago to new york to the deep south to california that would be fairly interesting.If you miss Nebraska, Kansas, etc you arent missing much

ProudDUB

Agree 100%. Why someone would want to spend any time driving thru the likes of Oklahoma, Kansas, Indiana, Nebraska etc etc (unless there was something specific in them that you really, really wanted to see) is beyond me. They - and about 10 other states just like them - are incredibly boring to drive through.

If I had 3 months to do the trip, yeah, it could be a bit of crack to be able to tell people about afterwards. You'd have time to see the sights along the way, and even take a few days off if you ever get sick of constant non, stop driving that you will have to do if you want to reach your target. But 48 states in 6 weeks is madness imo. You'll spend most of your times in the car, looking at incredibly dull scenery, and you won't really have all that much time to spend in the places of interest along the way, before you have to get back in the car and head to the next state.

If it were me, I'd plan on hitting the states, cities, attractions that you really, really want to visit for a particular reason, and then take it from there. You can easily hit at least 20-30 states by doing that.

Don't go north-south just to avoid time changes. That would be a real waste of time imo. There is only a 3 hr time difference between the east and west coasts. You won't ever cross over more than one hour at at time, so jet lag or confusion from losing/gaining time won't really be an issue for you.

nungesser

go for it! you can cross the country coast to coast in 7 days and thats taking it pretty handy, so 6 weeks will give you plenty of time to do what you want, I would suggest staying off the freeways, you'll just be looking at hedges, mcdonalds, and gas stations, the smaller two lane highways (one lane in each direction) are a lot more interesting with speed limits of 65mph but slow to 35mph when you go through the towns. Plus your meeting real people in these towns not just your "have a nice day" service station empolyee's. my suggestion is get yourself a good road atlas Rand Mcnally is a good publisher for US road maps. And i'm a take it as it comes guy, so I would not worry about a particular route just play it by ear, it can be a lot more fun and especially on a big trip like this long as your heading in the right direction your not going to get lost. I've driven across the states in a car a bunch of times and once on motorcycle and I can tell you the one thing I learned is Freeways are Boring!

Skinfull

ProudDUB wrote: »

...If it were me, I'd plan on hitting the states, cities, attractions that you really, really want to visit for a particular reason, and then take it from there...

But I've already done those. Been to all the places in the states that I want to go except for the likes of Mt Rushmore, which is actually in the middle of no where. So when we decided to go there, and more "out of the way" places, why not take the scenic route!

nungesser wrote: »

go for it! you can cross the country coast to coast in 7 days and thats taking it pretty handy, so 6 weeks will give you plenty of time to do what you want, I would suggest staying off the freeways, you'll just be looking at hedges, mcdonalds, and gas stations, the smaller two lane highways (one lane in each direction) are a lot more interesting with speed limits of 65mph but slow to 35mph when you go through the towns. Plus your meeting real people in these towns not just your "have a nice day" service station empolyee's. my suggestion is get yourself a good road atlas Rand Mcnally is a good publisher for US road maps. And i'm a take it as it comes guy, so I would not worry about a particular route just play it by ear, it can be a lot more fun and especially on a big trip like this long as your heading in the right direction your not going to get lost. I've driven across the states in a car a bunch of times and once on motorcycle and I can tell you the one thing I learned is Freeways are Boring!

This. Avoiding freeways is already on our route plans, and we're hoping to take "roadside america" route.

InTheTrees

Rest/Mix it up a bit by taking the train?

http://www.amtrak.com/home

InTheTrees

Skinfull wrote: »

Avoiding freeways is already on our route plans

Ummm. Good luck with that. I'd give it a few days...



And be careful of those small town cops and their speeding tickets.

InTheTrees

I like the north/south thing to minimize time zone confusion but maybe better to split it into quadrants and fly between?

:cool:

ProudDUB

Skinfull wrote: »

So when we decided to go there, and more "out of the way" places, why not take the scenic route!

But that's the very point OP, you are NOT going the scenic route. You are driving through some very, very dull and boring parts of the US for no other reason than just to say that you have been there. There is nothing scenic at all about a lot of the places that you'll be driving to and through.

Don't get me wrong, I think that getting off the beaten track and seeing some really cool parts of the US ( that the typical tourist does not get to see ) is a fabulous idea. I just don't see why someone would want to spend time driving thru the very unscenic and boring Oklahoma, Kansas, Iowa etc etc when they could be spending time in the very, very scenic and interesting Florida Keys, Rocky Mountains, Death Valley, desert south west, Gulf coast, Pacific Coast Highway, Yosemite, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon etc etc.

dave2pvd

^ He's right.

Your plan sounds like a huge missed opportunity.

Each to their own, I suppose.

MadsL

As someone living in the 'middle'. Go for it. And frankly f*ck those hating on Oklahoma etc. Middle of nowhere can be astonishing scenery. PM me if you want some ideas of places to see in NM.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkEvLjj_rqc