Thread: New Bucket List

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.

...the US is too big for just one visit: you might want to focus on one or two areas to avoid frantic exhaustion...

Originally Posted by bsnub

If you are planning on hitting the national parks then you really should watch this film;

The National Parks: America's Best Idea: | PBS


Since you plan on visiting Seattle stops at Olympic national park, Mount Ranier national park and Mount Saint Helens would all be must visits as well as possibly the San Juan Islands and a day trip to Vancouver island.

If you decide to go to Alaska you can catch the ferry and cruise up via the inland passage.

https://www.dot.state.ak.us/amhs/comm/bellingham.shtml

Yeah, I left out the northwest.
It's also a great part of the US.
I love the Olympic Peninsula and there's a GREAT hike out there on the coast.
The Rialto Beach trail.
I've hiked it 4 times and once I caught REI doing their catalog shoot out there, it's very picturesque.
I saw bears, eagles, whales, seals in the coastal rainforest and beach hiking there.
Also Idaho is a great state.
So many good ones.
A few shitty ones though.

Originally Posted by fiddler

A few shitty ones though.

...perhaps you could be more specific...

Originally Posted by tomcat

...the US is too big for just one visit: you might want to focus on one or two areas to avoid frantic exhaustion...

That's what we did.

NYC...Boston...Brattleboro...Vermont...New Hampshire.. NYC

In something like that order.

Highlights were NYC and Stowe. We stayed in a chalet in Vermont for two weeks. Some rain, but it was a great trip.

Never seen so many trees.

Originally Posted by tomcat

...the US is too big for just one visit: you might want to focus on one or two areas to avoid frantic exhaustion...

Agree. Culture and geography variations in 3 areas. Each worth a few week look. Northeast, southeast and west coast would be my choice. Achieved my goal of visiting every state years ago on motorcycle. Exception being Hawaii.

Middle America is frankly boring.

Chula vista is nice

Originally Posted by beerlaodrinker

Chula vista is nice

..... My son lives there.

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.

Brilliant post. Exactly the kind of trip I’m looking for, with a few personal modifications, but that’s just me being fussy.
Seriously excellent idea with all the ingredients I’m looking for.
Thank you for so much detail.

I don’t suppose you were blogging your trips back then by any chance?

So much brilliant advice on here. Thanks to all concerned for your contributions, esp Snub, Landreth, Norts and Fiddler.

Originally Posted by tomcat

...unless, of course, you want to avoid soulful Christian areas in Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska and, more generally, the fly-over states...I suggest a focus on the northeast (early autumn), the southwest (mid-autumn) and the west coast (anytime)...

Yes, there is that. I was thinking when I typed that, you get more of a flavor of the towns etc. when you get off the interstates. But then again many of the towns etc. bypassed by the interstates are dead or dying now. fiddler's Route 2 suggestion is along the lines of what I had in mind. US Route 40 is another but it ends in Utah I think...and doesn't make it all the way to the west coast.

Interstates are good for making better time between two points...normally.

Originally Posted by Norton

Middle America is frankly boring.

All east and west coasters...Please heed this wise advice and avoid us. We are very boring.

Originally Posted by SKkin

All east and west coasters...Please heed this wise advice and avoid us. We are very boring.

Well there is some truth to it but I will say that in my own experience it is true. Flat farms as far as the eye can see is overwhelming to some. Many of the cities (with a few exceptions of course) are devoid of much nightlife and there are not many natural attractions to be had. When you couple that in with lots of religious wack jobs it can come off as unappealing. That said the people are very kind and welcoming this is true just not much to do aside from the local Walmart or all you can eat Buffet.

Originally Posted by bsnub

the people are very kind

...that depends on what you look like, what you believe in, how you dress and what toilet you use...

^...indeed...

Originally Posted by Switch

I’m a country boy at heart,

Having read that Switch, I think there are parts of middle America you might actually like. I know I'll probably miss some good ones, but here are my suggestions:

fiddler already mentioned UP of Michigan, Door County Wisconsin. Great Smoky Mountains Nt'l Park, Cumberland Gap area, the Great Lakes region in general(especially NW Wisconsin around Lake Superior), Amish country(three areas to choose from: Lancaster, PA, Holmes County, OH, Nappanee, IN). Holmes County Ohio area is where Storekeeper and I hail from originally btw. Lancaster PA is pretty much a tourist trap now.

There's the Bluegrass(racing horses) and Bourbon Trail region of Kentucky, up and down the Mississippi River and the Delta region. As for the boring flatness and cornfield thing, actually the southern parts of Ohio, Indiana and portions of Illinois are a much different topography, covered in forests and lots of State Parks. Great Serpent Mound in southern Ohio is an interesting place.

Citys I would hit...Music City, Queen City, and the Windy City. Give a miss to Cleveland and Detroit...although the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is in Cleveland. Then there's Memphis, the birthplace of Elvis and Graceland...with which I was underwhelmed. But Memphis BBQ...gotta try it. (not my pics)



Bourbon Trail:



Holmes County Ohio Amish Country:



Great Smokies:



Cumberland Gap National Historical Park area:




Door County Wisconsin:




Bourbon, Bridles and Bluegrass...Kentucky:

Originally Posted by tomcat

what toilet you use...

Is mine acceptable?

Originally Posted by SKkin

Is mine acceptable?

...certainly, except for the huge butt plug...

Originally Posted by Switch

I was thinking of buying that oldsmobile that the Fish pictured. lol

That would work.

Wisconsin, the Dells. A bit touristy but the river view is amazing. Ride the Ducks. You'll never forget it.
If out west the badlands are bad ass.

The Huron mountains to the north. Water, cool clear water.

If your into scuba Superior is it. Need a dry suit as it is cold. Seriously cold. Your body will not let you swim freely it's that cold.