Newbie needing advice

tatest wrote:
That's about two weeks worth of driving for a 5-6 week trip, which is pretty reasonable if you don't have plans for long stays at your stops, and allows for interesting stops you haven't planned.

I ran my planner with your "necessary" stops in order using an old Streets and Trips set for optimal travel time (favors Interstate highways even if they add distance) and came up with 6700 miles, 13 days + 6 hours moving. I routed through Billings to come into Yellowstone from the north. S&T took my through Las Vegas on the way from Zion to Grand Canyon (I didn't do that) and that is probably a good idea, since you've driven that far you should maybe see Las Vegas at least once in your life, plan at least one night there.

S&T wanted to take me back east through Tulsa and St Louis (the Old 66 Route) then across I-70 through Indianapolis. I tossed in Nashville to keep the return further south (and you should really let the kids see Nashville) so my routing went I-81 up through Virginia rather than across Indiana, Ohio and southern Pennsylvania and back down to Annapolis. This added only 60 miles or two hours to the whole trip.

There is a lot of stuff to see on the way, or coming back, that can involve 1-2 hours per stop, 1-2 stops per day, that could fit into your schedule if you aren't expecting to have several days at each of your major stops (e.g. for our family in 1961 Mt Rushmore was a two hour stop and Yellowstone a one day drive through, and in the 80's the Grand Canyon was a day trip from Phoenix). It is all a matter of how you approach the trip, because some people like 2-3 weeks at just Yellowstone, so from the East Coast it would be just Yellowstone plus the driving time. Your trip idea sounds more like the way my family did trips when I was a 7-16 years old, and I did the same with mine in that age range.

I suggest you work out some alternative loops to do this (particularly the coming back part you haven't planned with as much stop detail). Go over those alternatives with the boys, see if there are places to go through where there is something they want to see. When my the oldest of my younger brothers and I were in the 10-12 age range, we did most of the trip planning for our 2-3 week family road trips, then I navigated for my dad and mom driving. Your boys are old enough to be involved, and this can make them more enthusiastic about the trip, more tolerant of the driving time.

You would likely be surprised for cross country loops like this, just how little the size of the loop matters on time and distance. Taking your return trip through New Orleans, for example (and that comes back through Nashville) adds only 300 miles distance, 1/2 day driving time, compared to the shortest/fastest route.

Add San Antonio as a stop, along with Houston and New Orleans, and the trip becomes only 500 miles, and just one full driving day, longer than the shortest route (that went through Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania). But this adds Phoenix, Tuscon, Tombstone (as a side trip), El Paso as additional potential places of interest.

This more southern route can come back through the Smoky Mountains without back tracking, while any west to east Interstate north of I-20 hits the Appalachians well north of the park. Putting Gatlinburg on the Phoenix-San Antonio-Houston-New Orleans return makes the trip 15 driving days (instead of 14 1/2) and 7300 miles, goes through Birmingham and Huntsville (Space Center) instead of Nashville to Knoxville.

Going through the national park from Tennessee to North Carolina, then across North Carolina to go up I-85/95 through Virgina makes it 7400 miles, 15 1/2 driving days.

Then the question will be, including Houston and New Orleans stops, and all the interesting places along the way, will your three weeks (five weeks less the driving days) be enough for all the stops you want to make. The reason I've always liked the early version of Streets and Trips for planning is that I could put in durations for all the stops I wanted to make, for a really good estimate of total trip time, and for getting my overnight stops well located for what I wanted to see (e.g. the night before a tour/visit day, near the location, or at the end of a tour day, at the location or not far beyond).

WOW - thanks for the great advice! I love the idea of different options. I'm picking up a new road atlas for Christmas and the boys are going to be navigators. We will have PS3 time onboard, but we will also have reading & daydreaming time & iPod time to break it up. I've also let them know that as first mates they'll need to help with cooking while I'm driving.

I love the idea of a vacation where we're all involved, and where we can see so many loved ones who are sadly getting older and not going to be around forever.

What is the app/site you used?