[US]Planning cross country trip. Need some good stops/roads to hit.

[Ulikefishsticks]

First off I must say. This car is made for these kind of trips. 12 hours in the cockpit and very little fatigue from sitting on a couple occasions. I am planning a cross country trip that I will probably take next year as the situation is still a little messed up with the pandemic. I would ideally like to hit all "must see" spots that are within reason of seeing on a trip. I would do a camp site every 2 days and hotel that third day and rotate through that to save on money. And I love camping so I would prefer it. I would like to hit all the cool stuff. Grand Canyon, hoover damn, Vegas(no gambling), drive a nice canyon road in California as well as that coastal cliff road. All the really cliche stuff really haha. I have a decent amount of time to plan it and I'll make sure to hit all the great stuff.

With all this knowledge on the forums, does anyone have any must drive roads or must see stuff?

This was me yesterday on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

 

[General_Vodka]

There are some nice mountain roads by echo lake.

 

[SafetyPilotCal]

If you're driving out west, see if you can detour to check out the Four Corners. It's nothing mindblowing, but it's a nice monument and it's worth seeing. Last summer my buddy and I flew into PHX, then drove to the Grand Canyon, then out to Gallup NM for the night, then up to the Four Corners and out to Las Vegas the next day. Hit up the Hoover Dam on the way back. It's a lot of driving, but I think the Stinger would be the perfect car for it. If you go that route, a lot of the roads from the FC to LV are two lane and have obnoxious trucks and slow pensioners in their RVs. Having the performance to pass these people would be a godsend. We did it in a VW Atlas and every pass was terrifying.

 

[MerlintheMad]

There are more National parks in Utah than packed into any other State. Knock yourself out.

Roads. We have lots of fun roads, most I have only heard about (had recommended), as yet. One very close short blast is Pine Canyon Drive between Midway and Guardsman Pass. For its length of c. 7 miles it's either scenery/vistas, twisty bits or both.

Look what I found:

 

[2Slo4u]

Tough to recommend places without better understanding your route. I’m biased and agree with Merlin. Lots of parks in Utah and Southern Utah. Zions National Park and Moab are great places to start. If you’re planning on California, I’d look at Northern California and the redwoods, then over to Crater Lake. Plenty of fun roads and camping around there. Northern Idaho has all kind of great camping and roads. Colorado as well. So many places, too little time

 

[Ulikefishsticks]

Right now I don't have any route, I will plan the route around good places to see. I will take probably 3 weeks or a month depending on what seems reasonable. Stay in one location for a night or 2. I'm going to just dot a map with great places/roads and then plan route around that. I live in North Carolina currently so there is my start point.

 

[Stinger GT SS]

First off I must say. This car is made for these kind of trips. 12 hours in the cockpit and very little fatigue from sitting on a couple occasions. I am planning a cross country trip that I will probably take next year as the situation is still a little messed up with the pandemic. I would ideally like to hit all "must see" spots that are within reason of seeing on a trip. I would do a camp site every 2 days and hotel that third day and rotate through that to save on money. And I love camping so I would prefer it. I would like to hit all the cool stuff. Grand Canyon, hoover damn, Vegas(no gambling), drive a nice canyon road in California as well as that coastal cliff road. All the really cliche stuff really haha. I have a decent amount of time to plan it and I'll make sure to hit all the great stuff.

With all this knowledge on the forums, does anyone have any must drive roads or must see stuff?

This was me yesterday on the Blue Ridge Parkway.
View attachment 41327

If you are going through Utah I would recommend driving from Cedar City to Bryce Canyon, its a good scenic drive with great views at the end.
Also the drive from Yosemite NP to Lake Tahoe through the Eldorado National Forest is also enjoyable.

 

[eflyguy]

You probably need to define how much you value the drive vs. the sights. We're somewhat spoiled for roads locally, but out West there can be a whole lot of nothing between interesting roads or worthwhile stops.

 

[westcoastGT]

You probably need to define how much you value the drive vs. the sights. We're somewhat spoiled for roads locally, but out West there can be a whole lot of nothing between interesting roads or worthwhile stops.

.......................are you crazy , better define "out West "

 

[eflyguy]

.......................are you crazy , better define "out West "

Generally, past the Mississippi. Hence the St. Louis arch..

I've driven E/W across most of OK, TX, NM, AZ, CO, NV, IA, WY, MT, KS. Yes, there are many thousands of miles of brilliant roads in CA, or anywhere across the rockies. I've also driven thousands of miles on them over the years. When you're planning a cross-country loop, however, there's a whole lot of nothing out there.

 

[mandasol]

I crisscrossed the country for several months after graduating college in the 90's. Internet wasn't like it is now so I just woke up and drove without any particular destination. I stayed in motels/hotels, slept in my suv, and during college and foreign study I had met people people from all over so I crashed here and there a lot.

Couple of recommendations, hide some cash in your car for emergencies. Also, hide a spare key (with the battery removed so it doesn't unlock your car) duct taped under your car somewhere - this saved my ass more than once. Some parts of the country there is nothing forever (like Texas and Montana), so fill up whenever you get the chance. Buy a National Parks annual pass to get in all the national parks. Keep in mind even new cars can overheat driving constantly, my suv was only a year old (granted it was Range Rover which are notoriously unreliable) and it busted a hose and I had to patch it in the middle of the night so I could drive to civilization and then the next day I still had to get towed 4 hours to the closest dealer. This is common sense but when you're driving through a city you've never been, if gps takes you through an area looks even a little sketchy turn around immediately and head for the closest highway and take the long way.

Since you're on the east coast I would drive up to Maine then across the states on a northern arc, head out to the coast go all the way down, then out to the southwest where there is a lot to see, then up the rockies and out to St. Louis. Since you live in the Southeast you probably have seen everything in the Southeast and it all looks the same anyway (I grew up in the Southeast) so I would spend more time in places farther out. If you get a chance you really should to try to get up to Canada as well. Quebec is beautiful (keep in mind all the road signs are in french) and the Canadian Rockies are amazing and lots of it is still pristine and untouched (my wife is from Canada so we go up there a lot).

You probably already know that a lot of the famous places are tourist traps and aren't like what you see in movies and tv, but I would still recommend you go to as many as you can because who knows if you'll ever go see them again, but just temper your expectations.

A few other interesting places to see are the Badlands S.D., White Sands N.M., Death Valley, Glacier National Park.

 

[MerlintheMad]

If you are going through Utah I would recommend driving from Cedar City to Bryce Canyon, its a good scenic drive with great views at the end.
Also the drive from Yosemite NP to Lake Tahoe through the Eldorado National Forest is also enjoyable.

And the forest between Cedar city and US 89 will have grown back, largely, by now. A few years ago, EVERY tree was killed by some kind of boring beetle. When my wife and drove through there it was eerie, seeing the cabins through the dead trees but no sign of people. Nobody was allowed in there, for fear that someone would cause a fire. You could see the new baby trees, less than six feet high, springing up everywhere under the dead wood.

 

[Silvermanor]

I15 between mesquite and St George as you clip Arizona is crazy. Id also put another vote in for Bryce Canyon.

 

[MerlintheMad]

I15 between mesquite and St George as you clip Arizona is crazy. Id also put another vote in for Bryce Canyon.

I hope that the road construction on Virgin River Gorge section is done before then. I went through there in February and the speed limit had been lowered to 55 EVERYWHERE; and half of it was clogged with pylons. Bleh! Hopefully that wasn't the beginning of a long project.

 

[Aero2001]

If you're in the Northwest, do not miss the Oregon coast. It's spectacular.

 

[eflyguy]

If you're in the Northwest, do not miss the Oregon coast. It's spectacular.

The PCH from Seattle to San Diego is on my bucket list, although I've driven about half of it on various trips, including OR.

 

[Meckman]

There is an app called Roadside America. It’s a little pricey, but has a ton of cool stops with pictures and reviews. I picked it up for the Hot Rod Power Tour last year.

 

[eflyguy]

There is an app called Roadside America. It’s a little pricey, but has a ton of cool stops with pictures and reviews. I picked it up for the Hot Rod Power Tour last year.

Their website is free and works good on mobile, especially if you take a tablet with you on your trip. Doesn't help you, but for anyone else reading..

 

[Ulikefishsticks]

Thanks for all the great ideas guys. Over the next few months I will be using this website I found to plan the trip out. I love hiking so if I can hike a few miles of the triple crown (Appalachianl Trail, Pacific Crest Trail and the Continental Divide Trail) that would be awesome. Shouldn't be too difficult.

 

[Meckman]

Their website is free and works good on mobile, especially if you take a tablet with you on your trip. Doesn't help you, but for anyone else reading..

Good to know. With the Power Tour the route usually goes through rural America (BFE) and you lose cell service, so having the app on the phone is nice.