Please Help Plan My Cross-Country Trip
Hi everyone, I am planning a trip for my family from Detroit, MI to the Fresno, CA area. This is a long-range plan; we are not going to take the trip until around June 2015. I am trying to do as ...
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Just an update to this thread. It took a bit longer to get it scheduled, but we finally did it. Three weeks to go from MI to CA and back home. It was exhausting by the time we got back, but it worked out great.
Day 1 - MI to East St. Louis, IL - 510 miles
Day 2 - Gateway Arch, then drove to Marshfield, MO (just east of Springfield) - 202 miles
Day 3 - drove to Elk City, OK (just west of OK City) - 434 miles
Day 4 - Stopped at Cadillac Ranch for the kids to spray paint the cars, then stopped in Albuquerque. Went out to dinner and wrapped up the day on the Sandia Peak Aerial Tramway. 441 miles
Day 5 - drove up to Four Corners Monument for a pic, then headed to Monument Valley, UT (right at the AZ/UT border) - 462 miles
Day 6 - drove down to Williams, AZ - 191 miles
Day 7 - took the Grand Canyon Railway up to the south rim and went on a tour
Day 8 - drove to Boulder City, NV and went to the Hoover Dam. We wanted to do the Dam Tour, but it was sold out by the time we arrived. 199 miles
Day 9 - drove up to Coarsegold, CA and met up with some relatives - 446 miles
Day 10 - visited Yosemite (wow, this park is way too crowded!)
Day 11 - visited Mariposa Grove (Yosemite)
Day 12 - relaxed
Day 13 - drove to Sparks, NV. If I knew there was an annual Model T convention going on, I would have planned an extra day... 314 miles
Day 14 - drove to Jackpot, NV - 401 miles
Day 15 - drove to West Yellowstone, MT - 319 miles
Day 16 - completed the south loop of Yellowstone (note to self - return to Yellowstone to see more!)
Day 17 - drove to Billings, MT to visit my cousin - 232 miles
Day 18 - drove to Rapid City, SD - 323 miles
Day 19 - visited Mount Rushmore, drove through portions of Black Hills and Custer State Park
Day 20 - drove to Fairmont, MT - 463 miles
Day 21 - took family selfie with the Green Giant in Blue Earth, MN then drove to Rockford, IL - 383 miles
Day 22 - arrived home! - 402 miles
Overall, each trip averaged 7 hours, which wasn't bad at all. My biggest concern was my TV breaking down, since it had 210k miles on it, but the only hiccup I had was the emergency brake sticking a bit. Nothing a little lube couldn't fix. It rained probably a total of 2 hours on the entire trip. It was amazing, and I hope a lifetime of memories for my kids (now 14, 11, 11).
Day 1 - MI to East St. Louis, IL - 510 miles
Day 2 - Gateway Arch, then drove to Marshfield, MO (just east of Springfield) - 202 miles
Day 3 - drove to Elk City, OK (just west of OK City) - 434 miles
Day 4 - Stopped at Cadillac Ranch for the kids to spray paint the cars, then stopped in Albuquerque. Went out to dinner and wrapped up the day on the Sandia Peak Aerial Tramway. 441 miles
Day 5 - drove up to Four Corners Monument for a pic, then headed to Monument Valley, UT (right at the AZ/UT border) - 462 miles
Day 6 - drove down to Williams, AZ - 191 miles
Day 7 - took the Grand Canyon Railway up to the south rim and went on a tour
Day 8 - drove to Boulder City, NV and went to the Hoover Dam. We wanted to do the Dam Tour, but it was sold out by the time we arrived. 199 miles
Day 9 - drove up to Coarsegold, CA and met up with some relatives - 446 miles
Day 10 - visited Yosemite (wow, this park is way too crowded!)
Day 11 - visited Mariposa Grove (Yosemite)
Day 12 - relaxed
Day 13 - drove to Sparks, NV. If I knew there was an annual Model T convention going on, I would have planned an extra day... 314 miles
Day 14 - drove to Jackpot, NV - 401 miles
Day 15 - drove to West Yellowstone, MT - 319 miles
Day 16 - completed the south loop of Yellowstone (note to self - return to Yellowstone to see more!)
Day 17 - drove to Billings, MT to visit my cousin - 232 miles
Day 18 - drove to Rapid City, SD - 323 miles
Day 19 - visited Mount Rushmore, drove through portions of Black Hills and Custer State Park
Day 20 - drove to Fairmont, MT - 463 miles
Day 21 - took family selfie with the Green Giant in Blue Earth, MN then drove to Rockford, IL - 383 miles
Day 22 - arrived home! - 402 miles
Overall, each trip averaged 7 hours, which wasn't bad at all. My biggest concern was my TV breaking down, since it had 210k miles on it, but the only hiccup I had was the emergency brake sticking a bit. Nothing a little lube couldn't fix. It rained probably a total of 2 hours on the entire trip. It was amazing, and I hope a lifetime of memories for my kids (now 14, 11, 11).
