Originally Posted by
fiddler
I've driven across the US 9 times. More if you count coming back to Pennsylvania after going to the Pacific coast.
A few years ago, I took my family (Thai) there and did it again.
Here's what we considered the best way from San Fransisco to Pennsylvania. (near Philadelphia and not far from New York City)
Bought a mini-van in San Fran. actually my brother had already picked it up and had it waiting. I spent a week at his house outfitting it and putting a bed in it with storage underneath.
Drove from San Fran to Lake Tahoe on the Nevada border. Then south to Yosemite (in California) and went in the back way (Tuollume pass), then Death Valley, lowest point in the USA and least rainfall (it rained when we drove through there)
On to Vegas (turned out to be my 9 year old son's favorite place in the USA to this day)
From Vegas, Hoover dam and the Grand Canyon are very close.
Then we drove through Navajo country across northern AZ to Moab. Beautiful place. Luckily we have friends who live there.
From there, up to CO by way of Durango and through the Rockies to Golden (where Coors beer comes from and also I have friends who live there)
Stayed there a few days and followed the Rockies up to South Dakota and Mt Rushmore.
There's so much to see around this area of Mt Rushmore: Many buffalo running wild, we toured a fire tower, then on to Deadwood where my son got to participate in a shootout reenactment. Then on to Sturgis which is the site of one of the biggest Bike Week's in the USA (think Harleys and a loud rumble from 40 miles away) but it wasn't on so, it's a bit like a ghost town. From there we camped at Buffalo Grassland State park where we got to witness the northern lights.
Then on to Minneapolis and the "Mall of America" which is pretty impressive, especially for a 9 year old.
Lots of rides in the middle. We visited his old kindergarten teacher who now lives there and then headed north and west and went up to route 2 (great road all the way from Bellingham WA to Michigan)
Where we traveled across the upper peninsula of Michigan. I love this part of the USA and going that route allows you to skip all the bad traffic in Chicago, Indianapolis etc.
After crossing the bridge to the lower part of MIchigan, we drove through the campus of Michigan university and then also Notre Dame on the same day (they are close to each other.
From there, down to the Ohio turnpike and across PA on I80 to my home.
But you could stay on I80 and go to New York city.
After New York, I highly suggest you also visit New England
Especially the real New England which I consider to be New Hampshire, Vermont and especially Maine. (Connecticut I consider a suburb of NY and Mass is full of mass-holes! LOL.
Anyway, that's what I would suggest.
You do miss a few highlights of the US on this (above) route, like Glacier National Park in Montana and Yellowstone, which are two of the top 5 NP in the states.
And you won't see the arch in St Louis, or Memphis, and Nashville in TN.
But you'll miss driving across the mid-west which is really boring with states like Nebraska and Kansas that are 500 miles across with roads straight and flat as can be. No fun there. Just cornfields.
And Texas. I hope to never have to drive across Texas again.
The only thing wrong with Texas is that it's full of Texans!
Having a van with a bed allows you to legally camp or sleep in your van in any National Forest.
If you buy one of those large magazine type Road Atlas of the whole country, you'll see the green shaded areas out west.
They are National Forests.
You can camp anywhere there is not a "No Camping" sign in these parks legally.
WE used them most of the nights, until we got east anyway, because there are a lot less of them in the east.
You can also pull into Walmart parking lots and sleep.
Most are open 24 hours and there's a bathroom inside.
We only paid for hotels in 3 places: Vegas, Minneapolis, and Ohio.
Good luck and let me know if you need any specific pointers on these places.
We used Craigslist to buy the van and I still have it. (although it sits in my yard in PA and is not doing so well anymore, I'd offer it to you cheap but it's not so reliable now (transmission bucks)
That drive across took us 3 weeks. We did stay at friend's houses a few days twice and at my brother's for almost a week in California.
I would think 4 to 5 weeks to include New England and longer if you want to cut down through Kentucky (from Ohio) and see Nashville if you're into music. It's a great music town as is New Orleans but THAT is too close to Texas! LOL.