Wednesday 1st July 2015

U.S West Coast: My Dream Drive

PHer Neil Srivastava details his epic road trip across California and Arizona

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Name: Neil Srivastava (fastgerman)
Route: Scottsdale, AZ-Scottsdale, AZ, via Sedona, Las Vegas, LA and La Jolla
Car used: Chevrolet Camaro, Audi Q5

Anyone for a burnout?

The route:
"Leaving Scottsdale early in the morning with the temperature already over 30 degrees, we embarked on our West Coast road trip.

"Beginning on Route 17 through the red rocks and vortexes of Sedona, past Flagstaff and onto our first stop: El Tovar, Grand Canyon. A large amount of cow was consumed before heading back south on the 180 and connecting to (Get Your Kicks On) Route 66. Route 93 was the last part of the Audi Q5's journey with a quick pic at the Hoover Dam and onto our second stop, Las Vegas.

"From here, it seemed a tremendous idea to opt for a convertible and motor west to classy San Diego by Chevrolet Camero. I won't lie, Vegas was crazy and I'm not entirely certain of the roads taken but Highway 5 was a very memorable coastal route and I highly recommend it."

Er, Neil, why is the roof up?

Why it's a dream drive:
"For me, the dream drive is a journey that offers breathtaking scenery and shouldn't necessarily rely on your car. Here we have a modest Audi Q5 for the trip to Vegas from Scottsdale and a Chevrolet Camaro Convertible onto California.

"The scenery is incredible; vast open spaces and beautiful views, stuff you just don't get over here.

"From 'drive-thru' Starbucks to the Grand Canyon, this route has something for everyone. Whether you want to feel like you're in a car chase at the Mexico border or George Clooney in Vegas, the choice is yours."

Weather presumably one of the highlights...

Highlights and lowlights:
"Highlights include driving through the desert at night into an illuminated Las Vegas, Calvin Harris on and pitching up at the Bellagio. This was equalled by the coastal drive alongside the Pacific and stopping in La Jolla.

"Lowlights were mainly fuel related. In America black is unleaded and green is diesel... the refuelling nightmare is compounded by having to pre-select how much you're going to pay on card before refuelling - very annoying. The unleaded is cheap but premium is 91RON filth."

Sights, stop-offs and diversions:
"Spoilt for choice on this one! On our trip we stopped at a rodeo in Flag Staff, watched a drag race at Wild Horse Raceway and also saw Sedona, the Grand Canyon, the Hoover Dam, Las Vegas and San Diego. A great trip!"

Follow the route here.

 

[Pics: Matt Downing]

 

[Otispunkmeyer]

Ahhh nice idea for a feature. Bit short though, would like to see longer articles detailing travels such as these. I bet some PH'ers have been on some epic road trips all across the world and I am sure lots of us here would love to hear about it! Much more interesting than details of how Porsche have made a Cayman GT4-GTS with special titanium wheel nuts as the only difference.

BTW The US use a slightly different octane rating scale to us. Their "91" at the pumps is pretty similar to what we call super here. Their system takes an average of, I think, RON and MON to get their numbers and it results in a lower number on the pump.

Edited by Otispunkmeyer on Wednesday 1st July 10:25

Edited by Otispunkmeyer on Wednesday 1st July 10:25

[Otispunkmeyer]

We drove San-Francisco -> Yosemite driving up to glacier point and then later leaving out the eastern side of Yosemite via Tioga Pass. -> Death Valley -> Vegas. Loved it.

Tioga pass is a beautiful piece of road if its open. Lovely lake somewhere at the top and its 10,000 ft! We then descended right down to - 290 ft odd as we dropped into Bad Water Basin salt flats somewhere near Furnace Creek.

Palm Springs next for all the cool 50s modernist houses.