the great american roadtrip

gerf wachoob · Post by **gerf wachoob** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 1:30 pm

I just moved from Montana. There's tons of scenery there. Glacier national park is the most incredible place I've ever seen in person. missoula is a pretty cool place. i think david lynch was born there. but if your looking for scenery, there's a lot of it up there.

Dohol · Post by **Dohol** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 1:44 pm

Once you get past Nebraska, Kansas and North Dakota, it's all good..

I've lost track of how many times I've been back and forth..Bus, car, thumb, train...OK, maybe five or six times on land...I don't count air travel..

MRS · Post by **MRS** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 1:54 pm

Spring Break '96 I drove from Lawrence up 29 to Sioux Falls, made a left on 90, traversed South Dakota (slept in Deadwood), cut through Wyoming and continued through Montana to Missoula where I stayed a week with friends. Departed south via 90/25 through Wyoming to Denver and made a left on 70 back home through Colorado and Kansas, roughly 24 hours each leg, and we hit wet snow in SD, ferocious ground blizzards with a clear blue sky throughout MT and thunderstorms peppering the vacant beauty that is Kansas.

Badlands were dope. Black Hills were eerie. Rushmore really surprised everyone. The tiny casinos in Deadwood were a trip. Devil's Tower was definitely worth it. So were all the diners. Eastern Montana is a somnambulant. Loved Missoula. The Cheyenne taverns were hilarious.

Dohol · Post by **Dohol** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 1:57 pm

MRS wrote:Spring Break '96 I drove from Lawrence up 29 to Sioux Falls, made a left on 90, traversed South Dakota (slept in Deadwood), cut through Wyoming and continued through Montana to Missoula where I stayed a week with friends. Departed south via 90/25 through Wyoming to Denver and made a left on 70 back home through Colorado and Kansas, roughly 24 hours each leg, and we hit wet snow in SD, ferocious ground blizzards with a clear blue sky throughout MT and thunderstorms peppering the vacant beauty that is Kansas.

Badlands were dope. Black Hills were eerie. Rushmore really surprised everyone. The tiny casinos in Deadwood were a trip. Devil's Tower was definitely worth it. So were all the diners. Eastern Montana is a somnambulant. Loved Missoula. The Cheyenne taverns were hilarious.

I think the Black Hills are one of the underrated gems ...

MRS · Post by **MRS** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 2:02 pm

Yeah, it was at night and snowing pretty hard, got totally lost in the Hills looking for a secluded place to camp, it was out of a movie. Some of the sparse, poor settlements there just added to the other-worldliness.

michael · Post by **michael** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 2:56 pm

oh yeah, anyone else who has done a roadtrip across america post your itinerary here

Dohol · Post by **Dohol** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 2:58 pm

Route 66..

( seriously )

michael · Post by **michael** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 3:10 pm

is there a particular stretch or segment thats better than others

the whole mid/west-northern states thing seems really intriguing

so does the southwest though

Dohol · Post by **Dohol** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 3:18 pm

Michael wrote:is there a particular stretch or segment thats better than others

the whole mid/west-northern states thing seems really intriguing

so does the southwest though

For visuals, the southwest is it..I'd avoid most of the Midwest except the northern great lakes.

Western Wyoming/Montana are really worth the trip.

But this is coming from someone who enjoys avoiding cities and who isn't averse to sleeping in ditches.

surfer · Post by **surfer** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 3:35 pm

I've driven Rt 70 and 40 across the US a couple of times each. Lived for several years in Durango, Flagstaff, Camp Verde, Tucson, four corners area. The most beautiful drive imo you can do in the southern Rockies / four corners area is

Flagstaff ->
Durango ->
Silverton ->
Ouray ->
Grand Junction (not much to recommend GJ) ->
Moab.

Among the sights you can see on this drive are: San Francisco Peaks, Navajo Reservation, Monument Valley, Mesa Verde, San Juans (the drive from Durango to Silverton is within sight of most of the 14,000 fters in the lower 48 ), historic Silverton, Arches National Park.

Plus Flag, Durango, Silverton, Ouray, and Moab are all realyl great towns as well. You are also within shouting distance of Sedona, Canyon de Chelly, Canyonlands, Telluride, Zion, Bryce, Grand Canyon, Havasupai Falls, if you choose to want to take side trips.

Good luck. 3 weeks is NOT a lot of time.

Dohol · Post by **Dohol** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 3:38 pm

Surfer wrote:I've driven Rt 70 and 40 across the US a couple of times each. Lived for several years in Durango, Flagstaff, Camp Verde, Tucson, four corners area. The most beautiful drive imo you can do in the southern Rockies / four corners area is

Flagstaff ->
Durango ->
Silverton ->
Ouray ->
Grand Junction (not much to recommend GJ) ->
Moab.

Among the sights you can see on this drive are: San Francisco Peaks, Navajo Reservation, Monument Valley, Mesa Verde, San Juans (the drive from Durango to Silverton is within sight of most of the 14,000 fters in the lower 48 ), historic Silverton, Arches National Park.

Plus Flag, Durango, Silverton, Ouray, and Moab are all realyl great towns as well. You are also within shouting distance of Sedona, Canyon de Chelly, Canyonlands, Telluride, Zion, Bryce, Grand Canyon, Havasupai Falls, if you choose to want to take side trips.

Good luck. 3 weeks is NOT a lot of time.

YEAH!!

surfer · Post by **surfer** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 3:41 pm

Essential reading for the Great American SW Roadtrip:

michael · Post by **michael** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 3:53 pm

Surfer wrote:
3 weeks is NOT a lot of time.

: (

surfer · Post by **surfer** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 4:43 pm

are you in ATL Michael?

Here is a possible itinerary, but it is very rushed, not sure you could pull it off, but here goes.

From ATL, you could floor it on rt40 and make to Albuqueque or Tucumcari (bring your Little Feat 8 track) in 2 days, stopping just long enough in Amarillo to eat 72oz of prime sirloin at The Big Texan Steakhouse (you eat it, its free)

Trust me, you'll need this fuel later on. Get to Albuquerque, another half day to Flagstaff. Maybe do a day trip to Sedona, buy some crystals, meditate for 6.3 minutes, swim in Oak Creek Canyon,

back to Flag, drive up to the top of San Francisco Peaks, back down to the Beaver Street Brewery and Flagstaff Brewing Co for some refreshment. Pitch a tent in Lockett Meadow. Next day drive up 89, make a right at Tuba City (unfortunately not known for its tubas), take some mescaline, drive through Monument Valley,

sleep under the stars. Next day to Mesa Verde, into Durango. Grab a beer at the El Rancho. Buy a bike and enter the Iron Horse Bike Race.

Next day bike to Silverton, wear an adult diaper when crossing Molas Pass (10,910ft) , which has no guard railing, and sheer drops on one side. This is where the 72oz sirloin is kicking in.

Collapse from exhaustion. Stay in Silverton. Recover. Take three aspirin. Take three rolls of film.

Do a hike out of Silverton, possibly to Ice Lakes (14,000ft), which is one of the best hikes I've ever done. Sleep at Ice Lakes and take a swim. Natural birth control.

Hike down, drive to Ouray. Spend the night.

Drive to Grand Junction, do not stop, make a left, to Moab. Spend the night. Next day do a hike in Arches.

Sleep under the stars. Do a dawn hike. Back to Moab. Hit Moab Brewery. Next day to SLC. Two days to Tahoe. Spend night in Tahoe City / Truckee. 1/2 day to Davis.

That gives you a few extra days to do side trips or sleep. Its a lot of driving.

faster · Post by **faster** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 7:19 pm

I've done roundtrips on the northerly and southerly routes, always around three weeks.

Strongly recommend just doing the NO->TX->Southwest->CA->OR->WA->BC trip.

That west coast drive is stunning, and there is a lot of super high quality nature along the way.

michael · Post by **michael** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 8:53 pm

yeah im in atlanta

i suppose the southwest route sounds pretty good, maybe after hit up vancouver area i can make a little loop around montana/utah/idaho on my way back to davis/seattle

faster · Post by **faster** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 9:44 pm

Michael wrote:yeah im in atlanta

i suppose the southwest route sounds pretty good, maybe after hit up vancouver area i can make a little loop around montana/utah/idaho on my way back to davis/seattle

There ya go

user_486 · Post by **user_486** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 12:40 pm

What I have found from my dozen plus crosscountry trips is that it made no difference where I was as long as I was not on an interstate.You can map all kinds of fairly efficient routes using secondary roads and as boring as the area might seem the little towns and crossroads and farms etc are great imo.
You can find great old graveyards, dead drive in theatres, almost unused parks, great diners, dead end dirt roads
also way off the highways you can still find little old motels charging 20 dollars a nite, or just crash in a park.

user_5144 · Post by **user_5144** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 1:28 pm

Some of these places look amazing. The size always blows me away. Great Scottish roadtrip - go from one side of the country to the other and back and still be home in time for lunch.

surfer · Post by **surfer** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 3:36 pm

timmiller wrote:What I have found from my dozen plus crosscountry trips is that it made no difference where I was as long as I was not on an interstate.You can map all kinds of fairly efficient routes using secondary roads and as boring as the area might seem the little towns and crossroads and farms etc are great imo.
You can find great old graveyards, dead drive in theatres, almost unused parks, great diners, dead end dirt roads
also way off the highways you can still find little old motels charging 20 dollars a nite, or just crash in a park.