Driving Across the US (and back) - Suggestions

[Wulfgang]

Recently quit my 90 hour a week job and am going to spend the next month or so driving across the US to see friends, catch hockey games, and generally unwind. Would love some suggestions from people who have driven cross-country; even if you haven't, but recently went to a sweet national park or just live in one of the potential cities I've named, I'm open to anything you might have. Looking for a good blend of nature / scenery and fun cities to booze and hang out. Good local bars / restaurants / etc would also be nice.

My very rough itinerary is as follows:

Friday 1/13 - Charlotte, NC to New Orleans, LA for a bachelor party
Sunday 1/15 - New Orleans to Nashville, TN for friends and hockey
Tuesday 1/24 - Nashville to Chicago to watch the Hawks lose to the Preds
Thursday 1/26 - Either A) Chicago to an unspecified ski destination (Jackson Hole is the front runner) or B) Chicago to St. Louis for a night or two, then Kansas City for a night, then to said ski destination
Wednesday 2/1 - Ski mountain to Los Angeles, CA to party for a few days
Sunday 2/5 - LA to the Grand Canyon (feel like I should see this once in my life)
Tuesday 2/7 - Grand Canyon to some intermediate stop like Albuquerque, NM (doesn't seem to be a whole lot in between the GC and Austin, TX)
Wednesday 2/8 - Albuquerque to Austin, TX (have just heard Austin is a great, young city)
Sunday 2/12 - Austin, TX to Nashville, TN to watch the Blackhawks lose to the Preds again
Wednesday 2/15 - Nashville to Charlotte to end the trip

Doesn't just have to be destinations either; willing to go out of my way to drive on a sweet highway like Route 66 or something. Only thing is that I really don't want to go too far North and get caught in the next Ice Age.

Thanks for reading

[guartz]

Try to avoid driving on sundays.

[Cail]

dont have any suggestions but im jelly as fuck..wish i had the money/time to do this

[Zeb]

That's a lot of driving. I'd suggest AAA just for the peace of mind.

[isladar]

Tuesday 1/24 - Nashville to Chicago to watch the Hawks lose to the Preds

Bannable offense.

[vagus]

Sounds like a neat road trip. Going by yourself? If so, get a GPS and stay safe. Also, skip Texas.

[oldoldman]

Bring a girl.

[pogejr]

Don't bring a girl.
Stop at Dallas, TX (Park Cities) to see the greatest city in the U.S. It's as though it's not a part of Texas.

[Denchi]

Between Grand Cayon and Albuquerque.....

Flagstaff, AZ is a fun hippie town. Meteor Crater is a giant crater that's cool to see. Also you could see a petrified forest, all right off of I-40.

[Apelila]

Sunday 2/5 - LA to the Grand Canyon (feel like I should see this once in my life)
Tuesday 2/7 - Grand Canyon to some intermediate stop like Albuquerque, NM (doesn't seem to be a whole lot in between the GC and Austin, TX)
Wednesday 2/8 - Albuquerque to Austin, TX (have just heard Austin is a great, young city)
Sunday 2/12 - Austin, TX to Nashville, TN to watch the Blackhawks lose to the Preds again

Quoting on the parts that I've personally driven.

Obviously you're going to want to check the weather before hand. Snow on I-40 is serious business, there is god damn nothing between LA and the Grand Canyon. Just as much nothing between GC and Albuquerque.

There's less than nothing between Alb. and Austin.
If you take I40 across NM and then go down through the Texas pan handle and there's a blizzard you can get stuck for a day.
Go the south route down through Las Cruces and El Paso, then take I10 to San Antonio before going up to Austin to avoid snow. It bears repeating, after you leave Alb. no matter which way you go, you're looking at a long, boring drive full of scenery and not much else. If you do it at night then you loose the scenery. Both routes are about the same length FYI. The north router is longer in miles but shorter in that you can do 90 through most of NM because there's nothing fucking there.

Flagstaff is Awesome, I can recommend Big Foot BBQ if you stop there to eat. Meteor crater is fun, Monument Valley though is excellent. That requires good weather obviously, its well off I40 on the UT/AZ border. But its worth it, it's so worth it.

I would recommend stopping in Flag before going up to the Grand Canyon. Unless you're camping in the GC there aren't a lot of hotels up there, and the ones that are like to charge out a lot if you show up without reservations. Also the drive between Flag and the grand canyon is freaking beautiful. Just know that there's not a lot of services in between, so gas up before you head out. Also again, check the weather. The Rim of the GC is a lot colder than Flagstaff, it can be surprising to go from 30 to -10 if you're not prepared. The canyon charges by the car admittance, cash onry.

I can't say anything about Alb. except you'll know your almost there when you see the casino when coming from AZ. I did the AZ - TX trip back in August, there is some road work on I40 just outside of Alb. but that was it.

If you skip the north route in New Mexico and want some pretty scenery go down through PHX and take US 60 across NM. Hell, take any East/west US route (60 runs into I10, 70 goes through Roswell, 80 doesn't exist anymore west of Dallas) I can recommend some offroad/trails in southern Arizona, but given the time if year I don't know if they'd be closed or crazy to attempt. Given that you've roughly allocated 5 days from the grand canyon to Austin, theres a whole lot of really pretty scenery in Arizona/New Mexico thats unfortunately stuck in the middle of no where that you could have the time to investigate.

Edit: And music/podcasts/something to listen to that wont make you fall asleep. Night driving in the desert is like LFG in FFXI in the old days - it will drive you mad.

[Syntex]

Thought about doing something similar but visiting all the places they show on Man v Food or Diners Drive-ins and Dives along with some general vacation stuff.

Wouldn't be a bad idea as you gotta eat somewhere and what better places then top notch restaurants.

[greenhills]

sleep on top of, not in, the beds in the 40$ motels

[Byrd]

Wednesday 2/8 - Albuquerque to Austin, TX (have just heard Austin is a great, young city)

Carlsbad Caverns is awesome, and Mapquest drives you right by it on this leg of the trip. We did a road trip from Dallas to Las Vegas last year, stopping at Carlsbad on the way, and it was my favorite part of the trip. It's something you don't need a group to enjoy, and very affordable. Obviously, if you're claustrophobic, this isn't the place for you, but otherwise, it's a fantastic experience.
If you know the day you're going to be there, go to the website and sign up for some of the smaller tours in advance, because they fill up in advance. You can always get into the larger tours same day, but the smaller ones feel like caving and exploring rather than a guided tour with a roof. We were only there for one day, and I want to go back for a few more.

[Greatguardian]

Don't drink and drive. If you get tired on the open road, or just mentally fatigued from all the driving, pull the fuck over to the shoulder and take a nap. Driving cross country is mentally exhausting, especially if you're doing it solo. Also make sure to get your car tuned up, oil changed, and have everything given a once over by a mechanic you trust before heading out.

Oh yeah, and never, ever speed even a little bit in the shitty little small towns that sit on major highways. They drop from 70mph to 30 almost instantly, and have cops sitting out there 24/7 just waiting for tourists to get nabbed for speeding. Most of those small towns have cops working on commission for tickets, so they have a real motive to pull you over for anything. They also know that you won't give two shits about coming back or mailing in testimony to fight a speeding ticket in their courts, considering they're in bodunk nowhere, so they'll try to stick you with as much as they can.

[NynJa]

Tuesday 1/24 - Nashville to Chicago to watch the Hawks lose to the Preds
...
Only thing is that I really don't want to go too far North and get caught in the next Ice Age.

http://images.huffingtonpost.com/201...-Picture13.png
Sure you want to go to chigago?

[bechyni]

Thought about doing something similar but visiting all the places they show on Man v Food or Diners Drive-ins and Dives along with some general vacation stuff.

Wouldn't be a bad idea as you gotta eat somewhere and what better places then top notch restaurants.

Was literally planning on doing this, this coming up summer before grad school.

[Alolbont]

Stop by bowling green ky on way to chicago and check out the corvette museum/ plant.

[Sonomaa]

I can confirm the asshole cops who fuck you hard on tickets, they set it up purposefully and know they are being super shady so watch it, even ignore the smaller towns if you can, they change speed limits multiple times on purpose to catch you, even in a town only a few miles long

[Xantavia]

http://images.huffingtonpost.com/201...-Picture13.png
Sure you want to go to chigago?

That looks like last year. We've had maybe 2 inches total the whole winter so far, and none of it has stuck on the ground. And years ago, we took a car trip from Chicago to Phoenix. Only real stops we did were typical tourist stuff of Dodge City, and a small detour to the Hoover Dam and Vegas.

[Ketna]

Why does everyone hate on Albuquerque so much.

But yeah, its a pretty empty city. But we have fun stuff at different times of the year, but nothing really in February.

When you do stop in Albuquerque make sure you get some green chile anything. Be it a burger, or some GC stew, pizza, or in some enchiladas. I know green chile is spreading around the country more in recent years, but it is awesome here. I have family that we send frozen gc to because they cannot get it in Seattle. Anyway, lots of good food near UNM which is right off of I-25, look for the Frontier right across from campus, its pretty much the "sample" of NM food place to go.

I suggest going down I-25 to I-10 to get to Austin, if you have a day to lose stop at the Caverns in Carlsbad, its worth a trip. There is a hiking trail near the edge of down where you can see some drawings from some of the native american tribes that used to live here, Petroglyph National Monument, and someone also mentioned the Petrified forest between Flagstaff and ABQ, it doesnt seem like much, but its crazy to me that it exists.

Anyway, enjoy your trip, the drive from ABQ to Austin is mostly ass. And yeah watch out for cops near smaller towns.