I have done a few cross-country road trips, but I admit that it's been a while. We've been flying up and back to New York, but maybe it's time to do it by car. What road trips are you pondering?
I have done a few cross-country road trips, but I admit that it's been a while. We've been flying up and back to New York, but maybe it's time to do it by car. What road trips are you pondering?
One I've always wanted to do is a slow journey up the west coast. I'd really like to explore the Big Sur area.
Maybe this year I'll actually get up into New England for the fall colors.
If we didn't have a bunch of pets and some livestock, I'd happily pile the family in the car or truck and just go cross country galumphing.
There are a few that I would love to do. The first (and most likely) is Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway. All told, I think it's about 500 miles from top to bottom plus a side trip on the Dragon. US 1 on the West Coast is another. And finally, Route 66 (or what's left of it).
rl48mini wrote: There are a few that I would love to do. The first (and most likely) is Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway. All told, I think it's about 500 miles from top to bottom plus a side trip on the Dragon. US 1 on the West Coast is another. And finally, Route 66 (or what's left of it).
Growing up, we did the Skyline Drive several times. It's an awesome trip, even from the back of an Oldsmobile.
I've already fulfilled a number of dream road trips over the years in California, England and Germany. But recently I've been doing New England mountain tours in my Miata during the summer months. I've already knocked off hillclimbs in MA, VT and NH during summer 2009 and 2010. This year it'll be Cadillac Mountain / Mt.Desert Island / Bar Harbor, Maine in August. My longer range plan is to rent a car in Switzerland and drive the Furka Pass in the Swiss Alps ... and of course stay at the Hotel Belvedere (James - Bond Goldfinger).
http://www.pictures-switzerland.com/furka/index.htm
I dunno. Spending unteen hours slogging around at 20 mph behind a sea of ponderous motorhomes wasn't my idea of fun. If my accident you find a small open area, there's a ranger there ready to ticket you.
Many descriptive terms come to mind about driving skyline drive, but awesome isn't one of them.
Route 66. With good historical references, and no goals.
We've done 1/3 of it, and nobody runs it. Nice drive.
The Pacific Coast Highway in California is probably the most beautiful drive I've ever done. However the heavy- slow moving traffic, and 1000 ft. drop-offs make it less than perfect for spirited driving.
The drive from Durango to Silverton in Colorado is another one of those "so beautiful it can't be real" type drives. Every time you turn your head the view is postcard worthy.
Lately I've been daydreaming about buying a sport-touring motorcycle (Kawasaki Concours) and covering the country's secondary roads. (no intrastate) There are plenty of roads that are hidden gems hiding throughout the country.
North to South: Start in Jasper, Alberta at the Jasper Park Lodge and work your way down the spine of the Rockies on the Icefields Parkway to Banff, Alberta and the Chateau Lake Louise. Then slide 40 miles east to the eastern slopes of the Rockies and continue south on Alberta's Highway 22 down past Longview and stay at the Prince of Wales Hotel in the Crowsnest. Cross the border into Montana and make your way over the Lolo Pass and then you've got the choice of driving the stillness of the high desert or heading west toward the Pacific. It's a four-day drive if you're in a hurry in a 911, three days if you're winding hard on a litre-bike, or a 10-day drive if you're a 5000 picture guy driving an MGTD. Either way, a life-changing drive.
The ones I know are all in the West...
US 64/84 from Taos, NM to Pagosa Springs, CO, the US 160 to Durango. Seriously scenic mountain driving.
US 160 from Durango down through the Four Corners and on to Tuba City, AZ. The most amazing landscape on the planet, IMHO.
The North Cascades Highway (WA 20) from Anacortes, WA to Osoyoos, BC. From maritime climate through snow-capped peaks to the desert (who knew BC had desert?).
The Sea-to-Sky Highway between Vancouver and Whistler, BC. Winding through the fjords up to ski country.
Redwood Highway from Grants Pass, OR to Crescent City, CA.
Pacific Coast Highway (CA 1) between Monterey and Santa Barbara.
PCH/Hwy 1 is awesome, I try to fit a trip at least down to Big Sur in every time I'm in the Bay Area for a few days. And I did manage some spirited driving there once - managed to rent a Shelby Mustang a few years ago and we somehow ended up in 'formation' with a 356 Speedster for a little while.
Route 66 is still on the agenda at some point, it's full of German tourists so I'd fit right in (apart from the tourist part).
There's also the trip of following the old transcontinental railroad route out here in the West, but that would involve a lot of driving on I-80.
I'd also love to retrace part of the Lincoln Highway, at least those parts that aren't buried under Interstates. We 'accidentally' did part of that last year when we went camping in Nevada's only National Park - a lot of US 50 across Nevada follows the old Lincoln Highway.
In Europe, I still want to drive the Klausenpass in Switzerland - it was the place for a hill climb in Switzerland until they banned all car and bike racing in CH. It's not far from where my mum lives, but every time we thought of making the detour there the pass was closed already, which would have made it a massive detour.
Having driven the Alaska Highway a couple of times in my Jeep, I probably won't set out southbound in my TR6. It is a beautiful drive, though, and a bunch of Morgan owners did it a few years ago. Part of the reason I now keep a TR8 in Oregon is for some future road trips. Having last driven the Pacific Coast Highway (Oregon 101, California 1) 40 years ago in my MGA, I would like to do it again. I hope Route 66 is also in the cards one of these days, though I might have to add A/C to the Wedge for that. And eastern Oregon, northern Idaho, and Glacier National Park would be great.
I'd like to take a month a tour America, specifically the 4 corners of the US.
We do some rather epic drives. 2011 with be our 3rd "Great Ice Cream Run" where we start at a southern point and drive to Maine over a number of days, stopping at as many mom & pop ice cream shops we can find. The first year, we started in Florida and the drive took 7 days. The last event and this one will start in western VA and last 5 days.
Long, cross-country road trips with no real agenda is one of my retirement dreams.
I truly loved the run up from Ottawa to Watkins Glen.
Very nice wine country and the attention we got with the trio of classics cruising around.
So much fun.
When my son is older I hope to take him with me for a vintage weekend there.
JFX - you might need more than a month if you're going to include "my" corner of the country in your tour. Deadhorse, Alaska, if you want to drive as far north as possible, and Anchor Point if you want to drive as far west as possible on the continuous road system.
lasttr wrote: JFX - you might need more than a month if you're going to include "my" corner of the country in your tour. Deadhorse, Alaska, if you want to drive as far north as possible, and Anchor Point if you want to drive as far west as possible on the continuous road system.
Ha!...I should've specified..."continental US". Although an Alaska fly fishing/road trip would be cool.
My sister and her husband just completed an epic trip. Victoria,BC to Newfoundland to Michigan to Florida (by way of the Blue Ridge) to California and back to BC !! They stayed on 2 lanes as much as possible and met all kinds of people in the towns and campgrounds they stopped at. Just over 20,000 km in length, 4 months on the road. Pretty amazing trip overall.
A guy I worked with retired at 55 last year. Bought a motorhome, loaded up the dog and the wife and headed west. From upstate New York they took all secondary roads across America staying at campsights.
They eventually ran out of highway when they hit the Pacific so turned right and headed up the Al-Can Highway to Alaska (in the summer).
If the dog don't mind my singing and the wife don't mind my driving, that could be fun. 
Dan
A co-worker used to take 3 months vacation every summer and either head to Alaska or Labrador to do white-water kayaking. He and his wife had a 3/4 ton Ford diesel 4x4 pickup with a slide-in camper... Now that he's retired, whenever they have extra $$ they head to somewhere in Guatamala or Honduras for the kayaking...
I've tried to convince my wife that retirement = road trip but to no avail... 
The Historic Columbia River Gorge Highway is a great drive out of Portland. Go east on the Oregon side to The Dalles, and come back on the Washington side. Stop off at the Mary Hill Museum and drive the Mary Hill Loops vintage Hill Climb course.
One I plan to do in my Land Rover is the Oregon Backcountry Discovery Route from Lakeview, OR to Walla Walla, WA.
The Columbia Gorge Scenic Highway is fabulous. Keep in mind that it was built almost a hundred years ago. It's very narrow and there are lots of pedestrians, so you can't expect to make rapid progress. In one of my pictures, my TR8 sits among a bunch of MGs and a couple other cars at Crown Point on the Gorge.
+1 on the Columbia Gorge 
Much though I recommend the San Juan Skyway (Durango - Silverton - Ouray - Ridgway - Telluride - Dolores - Durango) in Colorado - don't stop at Silverton, the part from Silverton to Ouray is unbelievable - here are two more in the "don't miss" category:
1) Chief Joseph Byway connecting to the Beartooth Highway, Wyoming and Montana. Chief Joseph runs northwest out of Cody (you must see the Buffalo Bill museum complex), and the Beartooth to Red Lodge is indescribable. It is really, really amazing. If you're in the Yellowstone area, you must do this drive.
2) Flagstaff, Arizona to Sedona through Oak Creek Canyon, then west to Prescott over Mingus Mountain through Jerome. Some of the dirt roads around Mingus Mountain were used as stage roads on the old Prescott Forest Rally.
Unfortunately, both the San Juan Skyway and Oak Creek Canyon are usually filled with motorhomes, so these are roads to appreciate the scenery, not western Dragon Tails. Also, on parts of the Skyway and Beartooth, if you make a mistake, you die. Period. But the scenery is unbelievable.
And if you want to get off pavement, boy, do I have some good ones in southwestern Colorado - Eastern Utah. I bet Keith from Grand Junction has some beauties, too.
Ahh, one of my favorite topics. I love a good road trip. A while back, I took the slow road west along Route 66 with a good friend and my oldest son. It was an epic journey and we had so much fun. We stayed in local motels (even stayed in Elvis's room) and ate in local food places. That is the only way to go. We kept a blog/gallery of our trip and updated it each night from the hotel. The website is at www.66inafiat.com so check it out when you have some time to kill. I am hoping to do it again with both of my sons later this summer in my old 68 Mustang fastback (if it is roadworhty by then).
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