Atlanta to Grand Canyon with 10 days
My wife and I are celebrating 30 years of marriage on December 1. We would like to take a memorable trip, and would like some assistance from those who have made this trip before with the planning (i....
Forum Discussion
We did an 11,000 mile trip this time last fall and our average rate was a very reliable 50 mph. That's from camp to camp, including gas and breaks.
If I were looking at your 1,800 mile legs and the number of days in your budget, I would consider putting in two 600 mile days each way. Those would be twelve hour days, and the amount you'll spend on fuel in twelve hours will make the strongest men cry. But at least that would chip away at your mileage debt and you'd have two days to make it those last 600 miles. Or you could mix it up: 600, 300, 600, 300, depending on where you make your stops.
It's a heck of a trip though. After 29.75 years, you should know better than anyone else whether that's doable for you two as a couple. If you could squeeze in even one or two more days, it would make a huge difference for the trip.
It's not so much that you won't have enough time to see the Grand Canyon, because a lot of people only spend two days there. It's that you'll be tortured by all the places that you didn't have time to stop along the way. It would be great to blast out there and make note of all the places you'd like to stop along the way back home, and then gift yourself with another day or two to stop along the return.
If you can deal with the long driving days, a trip like that is still way better than no trip at all.
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Just to mix up the discussion a little bit, what if you changed the focus and cut it short a little instead of going to the GC? What if you picked some destinations in New Mexico as your endpoint instead of Arizona? Have you two ever been to Chaco or any of the other ancient tribal sites? Atlanta to Albuquerque would cut 800 miles off your trip and give you a lot of time to make day trips to so many of the incredible tribal sites in NM.
If I were looking at your 1,800 mile legs and the number of days in your budget, I would consider putting in two 600 mile days each way. Those would be twelve hour days, and the amount you'll spend on fuel in twelve hours will make the strongest men cry. But at least that would chip away at your mileage debt and you'd have two days to make it those last 600 miles. Or you could mix it up: 600, 300, 600, 300, depending on where you make your stops.
It's a heck of a trip though. After 29.75 years, you should know better than anyone else whether that's doable for you two as a couple. If you could squeeze in even one or two more days, it would make a huge difference for the trip.
It's not so much that you won't have enough time to see the Grand Canyon, because a lot of people only spend two days there. It's that you'll be tortured by all the places that you didn't have time to stop along the way. It would be great to blast out there and make note of all the places you'd like to stop along the way back home, and then gift yourself with another day or two to stop along the return.
If you can deal with the long driving days, a trip like that is still way better than no trip at all.
...
Just to mix up the discussion a little bit, what if you changed the focus and cut it short a little instead of going to the GC? What if you picked some destinations in New Mexico as your endpoint instead of Arizona? Have you two ever been to Chaco or any of the other ancient tribal sites? Atlanta to Albuquerque would cut 800 miles off your trip and give you a lot of time to make day trips to so many of the incredible tribal sites in NM.
