wrote:
Here's my challenge: I want to drive cross-country, Boston-San
Francisco, but I have to persuade my wife -- who thinks the nation
has
become one big strip mall, with golden arches and starbucks shops.
I'm
looking for suggestions for a northern and southern route that
would
take through the most interesting countryside.
How many days are you allocating for this trip?
7- 10 days each way
I'm not being a wise-guy when I ask: Are you doing the drive to visit
towns/cities ? ( and spend time in some of them? ) or to see the
countryside from the car and then get a hotel for the night ? I ask
only because obviously they are totally different trips.
SO think it over - what do you want from the drive ?
TO " see stuff" or to meet people/experiences ?
From San Fran to Boston in a straight line is 3111 via maps.google.com
( BOS to SFO) so for 10 days you'd have to average 311 miles. That's
5-6-7 hours a day of driving ( less in rural areas more near cities with
their rush hours etc). That doesn't leave much time for " stopping and
seeing " stuff per day. So if it's drivng/seeing the countryside you
want it can be done ( When I was 18/19/20, we used to drive to Vegas
from Boston and back every year in 2 weeks). But THAT type of drive
would be a totally different route than planning on seeing cities/sites
each day.
e.g: here's ONE entry in the westbound directions:
Take the exit onto I-80 W toward Council Bluffs/Omaha - passing through
Nebraska, Wyoming, Entering Utah for 1,052 mi - kinda boring if no stops
planned.
Have you considered picking parts of the country ( maybe the top /
bottom/west/east ) and covering all of it. Dead head there and THEN
start the "scenic / slow " part of the trip. That would allow time for
stops. I did just that this winter - drove straight from Boston to
Florida, turned around and then spent a month coming back ( rather than
2 weeks down and 2 weeks back).
For ideas on what to do in certain parts of the country/world I like :
http://www.hemispheresmagazine.com/3...ee/default.htm
it gives me an idea of "what's to see " and how much time to allow per
city.