Ideas for Fly Drive USA

[ls3steve]

Have been wanting to do a fly drive in america for a while now, one of my friends works at "the Flight Center" so can sort me out with some cheap deals.
My only problem is, where !

What is realistic to cover in a 2 week holiday ? I dont want to rush too much but then i dont just want to see 2 towns/cities.

I was thinking areas in the south around May/June time. Memphis - Texas - New Orleans
mainly for the food, music and general "vibe"

anyone done this sort of thing ?

[ChrisBMW]

I would start in Vegas spend a couple of days there and do a few drives out to some of the national parks (scenery is stunning) then head out towards LA, plenty to see and do out this direction.

[chrismcg1]

^^ totally agree. I did San Fran - down to Carmel (very pricey) then over to Yosemite which was breathtaking, then on to Death Valley and finally Vegas. Driving is sooooo easy over there and fuel stupidly cheap. We did all of this in 8 days - would have loved to stay in San Francisco an extra day but found it quite comfortable fitting it all in.

[Matt..]

ls3steve said:

I was thinking areas in the south around May/June time. Memphis - Texas - New Orleans
mainly for the food, music and general "vibe"

If you want to go for music, what kind of music are you interested in?

[Rollin]

New York to New Orleans. Take in all the cities you mentioned and see the changes from north to south. I have done that trip in 2 weeks including 4 nights in New Orleans for Mardi Gras.

[ls3steve]

Matt - Music for me is all Blues, Rock and some Banjo lol. So those areas really appeal.

Good shout about NYC down, could be pretty interisting but i wouldnt want to rush anything. Was your route a pretty relaxed one or just LOADS of driving ?

Cheers for comments guys

[Matt Harper]

My suggestion is a little 'esoteric' and far less predictable than yawn-inducing Vegas and stty LA.

Arrive in Atlanta GA
Proceed to Memphis TN, home of the blues, via Birmingham AL
From Memphis, head to Kansas City MO - best barbeque on earth
From Kansas City head north to Omaha NE - historical frontier city
From Omaha, go east to Chicago IL
From Chicago, short hop south to Indianapolis IN (be sure to be here for Memorial Day Weekend)
From Indy head south to Nashville TN, via Bowling Green KY (Corvette Museum and plant tour is essential)
From Nashville to Greenville SC via Deals Gap (the most spectacular road in the USA)
Finally Greenville back to Atlanta

All do-able, if you enjoy driving and want to see a big chunk of real USA, versus desert and plastic casinos. Plus you get to see one of the greatest automotive spectacles on the planet (Indy 500).

Edited by Matt Harper on Thursday 5th January 21:01

[h0b0]

2 weeks you say?

NY to LA in 32 hours

Plenty of time to see the sights a couple of times

[ls3steve]

Matt Harper said:

My suggestion is a little 'esoteric' and far less predictable than yawn-inducing Vegas and stty LA.

Arrive in Atlanta GA
Proceed to Memphis TN, home of the blues, via Birmingham AL
From Memphis, head to Kansas City MO - best barbeque on earth
From Kansas City head north to Omaha NE - historical frontier city
From Omaha, go east to Chicago IL
From Chicago, short hop south to Indianapolis IN (be sure to be here for Memorial Day Weekend)
From Indy head south to Nashville TN, via Bowling Green KY (Corvette Museum and plant tour is essential)
From Nashville to Greenville SC via Deals Gap (the most spectacular road in the USA)
Finally Greenville back to Atlanta

All do-able, if you enjoy driving and want to see a big chunk of real USA, versus desert and plastic casinos. Plus you get to see one of the greatest automotive spectacles on the planet (Indy 500).

Edited by Matt Harper on Thursday 5th January 21:01

That sounds fantasitc.. Thanks very much, thats the sort of trip i would really enjoy

[Kenty]

ChrisBMW said:

I would start in Vegas spend a couple of days there and do a few drives out to some of the national parks (scenery is stunning) then head out towards LA, plenty to see and do out this direction.

This, but head North, the Utah parks, then either on to Yellowstone or Moab and then Denver, rockies, Durango, grand canyon, Vegas.
Vegas is great for two days adjusting to time difference and then setting off on a road trip in any direction!

[Big E 118]

chrismcg1 said:

^^ totally agree. I did San Fran - down to Carmel (very pricey) then over to Yosemite which was breathtaking, then on to Death Valley and finally Vegas. Driving is sooooo easy over there and fuel stupidly cheap. We did all of this in 8 days - would have loved to stay in San Francisco an extra day but found it quite comfortable fitting it all in.

Did the same route as this but over 2 weeks. Had a couple of days in SF first then on the road. Carmel/Monterey have a lot of car events so look out for those and Laguna Seca is there as well.

Yosemite is amazing and well worth a couple of days then onto Death Valley and Vegas.

If you've got the time take a few days to head to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon (about 6 hours from LV via Hoover Dam) but you'll want to spend at least a full day at the GC.

I pre booked the hotels in SF, Yosemite and Vegas, apart form that we just stayed at motels wherever we felt like stopping. It was so easy and cheap to travel in the US.

[Matt..]

Kenty said:

This, but head North, the Utah parks, then either on to Yellowstone or Moab and then Denver, rockies, Durango, grand canyon, Vegas.
Vegas is great for two days adjusting to time difference and then setting off on a road trip in any direction!

This would be good, but i wouldn't say it fits the music request.

I love the parks in the US though. They are most definitely worth the trip, and are so much more varied than the cities.

I did Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Capitol Reef, Grand Escalante, Bryce Canyon, Zion, Death Valley, Devils Postpile, and Yosemite last year and would strongly recommend it to anyone who's vaguely into the outdoors

[andrew311]

You could do a 'lap' of Calfornia I've done something similar to what you suggest above but the distances are much greater so you'll need flights or longer than 2 weeks. I've done self drive around CA several times at differnt times of the year for a relatively small area the diversity of what you can see is unreal.

Some pics:



San Francisco



Sonoma Valley



South Lake Tahoe



Entering Yosemite



El Capitan- Yosemite Valley



Death Valley



Devils Golf Course- Death Valley



Santa Monica



Highway 1 near Big Sur



Elephant Seals outside Cambria



Whale watching at Monterey



The big red chariot, 3 weeks and 2800 miles=awesome.