Greetings from Cazadero, California! This week, I'm on special assignment for About.com's SUVs site... well, okay, the truth is I'm on vacation, but I'm traveling in an SUV -- specifically the new-for-2009 Kia Borrego. Together with the wife, kids and dog, I've traveled from Los Angeles, up past San Francisco, and into Sonoma County, where the redwoods grow like... well, like trees. We've been spending our days exploring the forests and the coast on foot, in kayaks, and even in the Borrego. I'll hold off on my impressions of the Borrego for now -- I'm writing an article about it for the SUVs site; you can read Jason's review here -- but this trip does have me putting a lot of thought into what makes a great road trip car... and a great road trip.
Being in a road trip state of mind, I figured I'd get your opinions: If you were going to take your own Great American Road Trip, what car would you take, who would you bring, and where would you go? Click the "comments" link below. -- Aaron Gold
Photo © Aaron Gold
Sounds like you’ve got a great road trip planned! If I were going on the Great American Road Trip right now, I’d take my Honda Civic as it will never say die and uses hardly any gas. My husband would be my road trip partner, and we’d drive from our home in North Carolina down the coast hitting Charleston, SC and then Savannah, GA before heading across to New Orleans to see how that great city is coming back to life.
Then we’d travel along the coast of the Gulf to Texas and head straight for Austin (I keep hearing about this place and I just have to explore it!). Next, we’d drive into the deserts of New Mexico and Arizona, and enjoy Monument Valley Park and the Grand Canyon (the Granddaddy of road trip destinations!), before heading to the California coast and San Diego. If we had more time, we’d head up the coast of Cali (stopping along the way at every interesting city and sight) to San Francisco. I think this route covers a lot of highlights, though not all that the great U.S. of A. offers.
We did this years ago when our kids were still at home. Flew from Ohio to Denver, then spent 3 weeks in a rented Dodge Grand Caravan. Made a 5,000 mile circle: drove across Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona and back to Denver. Along the way, we saw Colorado National Monument, Arches National Park, Mormon Tabernacle, Mt. St. Helens, Redwoods, Crater Lake, Fisherman’s Wharf, Yosemite, Death Valley, Bryce Canyon, Zion National Park, Grand Canyon, Mesa Verde, 4 Corners, Pike’s Peak, and the Colorado Great Sand Dunes. Plus we saw a couple of ML baseball games. Absolutely stunning trip – and the Caravan worked very well. With 3 kids, it was perfect for traveling.
I would drive across country in a Mazda 5 and pick up and visit friends along the way. I’m a cyclist, so I would bring my Rails-To-Trails book with me so that I could bike the ever-growing expanse of converted railroad lines. I’d head south from CT where I live down I-95 then take head West. I want to head toward and Arizona and explore New Mexico and then head to California to visit friends. I want to come home via Rte. 66 then head north to the Badlands then back East via I-80. Whew! I can’t wait until I retire!
Ultimate vehicle? BMW 335d. Great to drive, tons of torque for getting through the hilly roads and great on gas. If it were more than two of us, the X5 diesel. Where to go? I’d like to start at the beginning of the world’s longest street, Highway 11 in Toronto (technically it starts in Barrie now) and follow it all the way to the end at the MN border… In the summer of course.
That reminds me, when my wife and I were driving back from Florida, we saw an older GMC S-15 SUV with Alaska plates. Talk about a road trip! Correct me if I am wrong, but the only time you can get out of Alaska by road is during the winter?
Bugatti Veyron
Amex Black Card
Start at the tip of South America, north through Central America and the United States, up through Canada to Alaska. Put the Veyron on a ship and enter Russia then down through China and the rest of Asia. Through India, stop in Dubai then onward to Turkey. Over to Italy then up through Germany. Take a left and start heading down toward France to catch the Chunnel train to England. Drive the Veyron up the country through Ireland and Scotland. Stop for a drink. Get back in the car and head South back across the Chunnel heading back towards Turkey. This time go South through Eypgt and North Africa. Stick to the right side of Africa and head south through Kenya and Tanzania then arrive in South Africa. Its not done yet though. Put the car on another boat – destination Australia. Drive around the entire coast of the country wearing a Mad Max outfit. Then when you circle back around to Sydney you take a few days off – back it all up and auction it off for charity.
(Aaron, I spent a week with that Borrego V6 and I was very pleasantly surprised – enjoy your trip!)
I have actually done one of these multi-week excursion trips driving through the west. Couple of thoughts:
Rent a car with unlimited mileage. It is such a better deal to rent somebody else’s car and put 10-15k miles on it vs. putting all those miles on your own ride. Plus, you can get something specifically good for road trips, even if you would never want to own it otherwise. I’d be thinking a big American sedan. A Buick LaCrosse, a big Caddie or maybe that new Lincoln MKS. You want something with lots of room and a comfy ride – you are going to be spending a lot of time in it. If your family is too big for that, I’d probably get a Ford Flex.
Buy one of those coolers that plugs into the cigarette lighter and keep drinks/snacks etc. at hand. Go to the warehouse club and buy all your drinks ahead of time. That strategy will pay for the cooler on a long trip, because you won’t be dropping $2 on a soda over and over.
Buy a road atlas and have a GPS. It is hard to plan out long trips without a real map.
Get one of those adapters that lets you plug in multiple things to the cigarette lighter – the cooler, the GPS, your cell phone charger, iPod.
Pack modestly and leave extra room in the trunk – so if you do decide to buy something along the way you have a place for it.
Pay attention to elevations when you are in the mountains and are planning out your next stop. What appears to be a modest, 60 mile jog on the map can take all day when it is a winding, narrow road through a pass.
You can get burned if you don’t make hotel reservations in advance – being carefree is fine as long as you have a tent etc. along and are ok with the occasional, impromptu camping night when you can’t find a room. If that’s not for you, make a schedule and stick to it.
If you are camping, don’t forget to look at state parks as well as national parks. The Utah State Park – Dead Horse Point has nicer camping facilities than Arches does and the slots are a lot easier to get if you are in the Moab region.
Now that I am a widower I could (can) take my ultimate road trip. I would travel in my 2006 KIA Sedona (mini-van) from Okemos, MI to Kalamazoo and see the AIR ZOO collection of older aircraft, then down to Indiana at Auburn to see the collection of OLDER cars going just down the road to the KRUSE Military Museum then off to Indy and visit the 500 Mile Museum. Going over to Dayton Ohio to the USAF Aviation Museum and visit the Wright Brother’s museum/shops. Then northward to the Bicycle Museum of America just off I-75 then northward to the FORD Museum in Dearborn. Up to Flint to see the old GM vehicles at their museum then back to Okemos. I would have my auto refrigerator
connected to the power source with plenty of Jones Soda Root Beer and pretzels! Oh yes I would have my GPS and “fuzz buster” connected alsoalong with my cell phone! But WHO would call this OLD GUY!!!!!!!
I’d like to address the trip, not the vehicle, etc. As fulltime rv’ers traveling this country for the past six years we highly recommend you stay off interstates. Take a US highway you’ve never traveled before. See those things you didn’t know exist. Plan on 200 to 250 miles per day, giving you time to stop at those scenice turnouts or trip a few miles to the side because of a sign you saw touting a local legend. In other words, make the JOURNEY ITSELF a highlight of the trip, not just the destination. If you have any interest in seeing the kinds of things I am talking about, please email me and I will provide the address of our website, which chronicles our travels for these six years. Slow down and enjoy your vacation!
Spring. Take SR 98 north to south in Kansas. The Flint Hills are gorgeous in spring and the side trips to places like Alma make it a fun outing. The scenery is unreplicated in the U.S.
I remember trips like yours with my family when I was a kid. The greatest one was traveling all the why from New jersey to California and then flying to Hawaii to live there for four years.
For my road trip though I’d like a nice long trip by myself in my Mazda Speed3. If I’m gentle on the gas I can usually get 33mpg. Don’t forget the iPod, water, fruit and beef jerky for the road. I’d start in Wabasha, MN. and head to Lake Pepin on the upper Mississippi then through the small towns on winding roads back up to 494 and into Minnesota again. I’d hit 35W South for a lazy long trip through Iowa to 80 west from Des Moines to Omaha, Ne. to stop and have diner with friends and family before heading west again in the morning. These are great, long stretches of highway and I’d follow them through Nebraska and south through Kansas and the Oklahoma panhandle into New Mexico onto Flag Staff, AZ. There I’d hit the funnest road to drive I have ever been on south to Phoenix. That stretch of road would be the perfect test of the SPEED3’s prowess.That’s my perfect road trip.
About to do just that. Taking a trip to see family near Memphis, starting out in southeastern VA. Roughly 1000 miles each way. Packing up the 03 Pontiac Montana (loaded with goodies like DVD player and our Coleman power cooler, priceless with kids ages 8 and 15 months). Should be much better than our 02 Montana was, since this has the longer wheelbase and other upgrades. My only concerns are this will be our first trip with this vehicle (just bought it used after someone else totaled the 02) and the lower gas mileage since this one has AWD.
Another tip if traveling with kids to a destination without the benefit of extra time, travel at night if practical. The kids should sleep eliminating (or at least reducing)the “are we there yet”’s and other sibling issues.
Without the kids, the cooler would be thrown into the Mazda 3 filled with Cokes, MP3 in the Aux and onto twisty roads we go. Maybe searching for the top secret curvy test road…since it must be near my old stomping grounds. Boy I miss SoCal!
I’ll check back in when we’re not drooling over a Hyundai or Kia.
Every year for more than 25 years I took a long road trip someplace in North America or Europe. These were always my rules: 1.Drive your own or rent a fun “driver’s car”. 2. No more than 2 medium suitcases and 1 overnight bag. 3.No kids!
This is the only way I kept my sanity and truly enjoyed the trip. Lugging luggage after a day of driving is the pits, as well as listening to bored bickering kids. Driving something fun like my Mini through mountain passes with my wife…well it just doesn’t get better than that!!!
If you end up heading to Alaska, the trip through the Canadian Badlands of southeastern Alberta is breathtaking. Lots of people do it. I met Texans on custom motorbikes doing it last year. You enter Canada via Sweetgrass Hills of Montana. The Canadian Badlands is said to be the largest graveyard with the biggest bones as in dinosaurs. This is where you find Dinosaur Provincial Park, a World UNESCO Heritage Site and the Royal Tyrrell Museum, the largest in the world devoted to palaeontology. Both are magnificent. Lots of dino-related theming to go with the two. A good place to start is http://www.canadianbadlands.com. I have also blogged about it at roadstories.ca
Nothing beats a leisurely drive up the California coast from LA to San Francisco over a fine summer weekend. Just you and the wife in a roadster with the top down or a nice coupe with the sunroof open. The view is phenomenal and the curvy roads near Big Sur make it a fun driver’s trip as well. The journey is just as important as the destination!