Drive the USA... | Page 2 | Syracusefan.com

Drive the USA...

Agreed. The Colorado-Utah I-70 route is awesome, especially that stretch that hits a few tunnels and rides along that stream. We just did the drive to Colorado last week for a wedding. It's a haul, but stunning, especially in the fall.
What area was the wedding?
 
When I first got of college I got a job doing PR for the US Army All American Bowl. Basically we went and held selection tour events for each player invited to play in the game. We would to go each players high school and do a jersey presentation for their school and local media. It was really cool as we go out and see the entire country and check out a lot of awesome cities and college towns. Being a kid right out of college and getting paid to travel was awesome and helped create my love of travel. I love travel so much I recently started my own home based travel agency so if anyone needs travel assistance/recommendations please message me.
 
Having only done I-80, this blows my mind.

The creepiest part of I-80 is when you're rolling through Nebraska, like 80 miles from an exit, and you see in the distance against the rocks a small town with a few small homes and a giant, giant liquor store. Doesn't appear like there are any roads in or out, or any signs of life or activity, and there's no exit from where you are so you can get there.

And yet... there are people there that presumably need liquor.

A lot of liquor.

I literally lol'd at the end. Well done.

I think my favorite part of the drive was nearing Chicago/Indiana when the Crazy Kaplans fireworks signs finally start up...……...maybe they're gone, but it seemed like every 24 yards there would be one for like a 40 mile stretch. At the beginning I always thought, "why do these idiots put all these gigantic billboards so close together...what a waste of money."

By the end I always felt like I knew two things. First, I really, really, really had to have me some fireworks. Second, Crazy Kaplan would have what I need.
 
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If you are in the neighborhood, try the Gallatin Gateway from Yellowstone up to Bozeman, Montana (where I wintered one year). If you get to Bozeman, there are/were some natural hot springs baths outside of town which are worth your while.
 
Anyone just gotten in a car and driven west?

...

Did it once in college, a couple friends and I got from Syracuse to Chicago after stops in Cleveland and Cedar Point, then burned too much time visiting friends in Chicago and had to turn back before the fall semester started.

It was a lot of fun, would love to do it again and actually make it west of the Mississippi.
 
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Definitely hit Southern Utah.

If there's a cooler drive than I-15 between Vegas and St. George, I've never seen it. The Virgin River gorges are spectacular.
 
Back in the 90's before we moved to NM, my wife and i would fly into a western city and just rent a car and do a loop through the state. We had no hotel/motel reservations and our only itiniary was to eventually get back to the airport for our flight home. Great, great vacations !!! We did Arizona, New Mexico (twice), Colorado, and Utah on those various trips. Second time thru NM we looked at some houses just for future retirement, and then ended up having a mid-life crisis and moved there on a lark. Fortunately, it worked out very well for us.

Back to your original question.

1. If you want spectacular scenery - the best is Arizona with Grand Canyon, Sedona, and several nice large lakes. Utah is equally spectacular via the national parks in southern Utah - Bryce, Arches, Zion, and Canyonlands are the ones that we visited. There are more.

2. For culture, NM was our favorite with their Native American and Hispanic cultural influences. Acoma, Santa Fe, Albuquerque old city, Taos , and Bandelier all great stops amongst others. Utah, of course, has the Mormon culture. Though NM had the best overall Native American culture, the single best can miss place is in Colorado - Mesa Verde, near quaint Durango. Acoma and Taos are living pueblos, so in that respect they have a layer of interest that even Mesa Verde lacks.

3. For cities with the most to do - there is a ton of stuff in Pheonix, Albuquerque, Denver, and Salt Lake. Smaller quainter cities might include Sedona (our favorite), Durango, Provo, and Colorado Springs.

4. Believe it or not my wife and i also have a sand collection. We have some nice samples from Sedona's red dirt, Great Dunes National Park in Colordo, White Sands in NM, and there is a place in Utah whose name escapes me - too many years.

5. We have also visited Nevada though not on one of our loop the state trips. I am not a Vegas fan, but St George and Hoover Dam/ Lake Mead are highlights.

6. For cuisine - plenty of good place, but nothing is as unique as the New Mexico Chili Peppers. They can be mild, moderate, or hot as you may prefer, but nothing beats a good Green Chile Cheeseberger or breakfast omelettes or Mexican food done right with a Green or Red chile smother !!!

Anyways, no way to take it all in on one trip. Hope you find great highlights and decide to go back multiple times !!!

If i can help with any questions, please feel free to privately message me !!!

PS - Congrats !!!
 
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My wife and I did a cross country road trip back in 2017. 23 days. Averaged about seven hours of driving a day. At first it seemed monumental to drive seven hours at a time, but as you get used to it, it’s really easy.

We turned it into a national parks/monuments tour. Our route was loosely as follows:

Syracuse-Cleveland-Chicago-Iowa-Dakotas-Wyoming-Montana-Vegas-San Francisco-Berkeley-Utah-Boulder-Kansas City-Chicago-Pittsburgh-Syracuse.

We ended up seeing these places:
Rock and Roll HOF
Wrigley Field (Cubs game)
Field of Dreams
National Motorcycle Museum
Badlands
Wall Drug
Devil’s Tower
Mount Rushmore
Yellowstone NP (2 days)
Vegas
Death Valley NP
Muir Woods
Alcatraz
Oracle Park (SF Giants game)
Yosemite NP (3 days)
Arches NP (2 days)
Boulder CO
Kansas City - Joe’s BBQ
Negro League Museum (met Tony Perez and Lee Smith while there)

It was an amazing trip. We ended up renting a car so we wouldn’t put miles our our cars, and stayed with friends/family for a lot of the trip. So many memories. I would love to do it again once our family gets a bit bigger.

Wholly recommend that people take the plunge and do the great American road trip at least once in their lives.
 
Anyone just gotten in a car and driven west? Got married a couple weeks ago. We are both teachers, and I coach HS soccer, so a honeymoon this fall was out of the question. What we want to do is, next summer, take a month and just drive. See some spots we have wanted to get to get to and never have. Maybe even western Canada and Alaska. Has anyone done something like this? And if so, any advice/recommendations?
Congratulations on the marriage. I knew a girl who was driving cross-country with friends and I kept texting her with a recommendation to stop at the World's Largest Ball of Twine in Cawker City, Kansas. It's a few miles off of I-70 in the middle of Kansas. I mean, how often would you get to see the world's largest ball of twine?
 
...
I would love to do it again once our family gets a bit bigger.

...

You will be singing a different tune in early July.

Maybe revisit the thought in a decade. Sounds like an awesome trip, though, would love to hit all those places either for the first time or again.
 
My wife and I did a cross country road trip back in 2017. 23 days. Averaged about seven hours of driving a day. At first it seemed monumental to drive seven hours at a time, but as you get used to it, it’s really easy.

We turned it into a national parks/monuments tour. Our route was loosely as follows:

Syracuse-Cleveland-Chicago-Iowa-Dakotas-Wyoming-Montana-Vegas-San Francisco-Berkeley-Utah-Boulder-Kansas City-Chicago-Pittsburgh-Syracuse.

We ended up seeing these places:
Rock and Roll HOF
Wrigley Field (Cubs game)
Field of Dreams
National Motorcycle Museum
Badlands
Wall Drug
Devil’s Tower
Mount Rushmore
Yellowstone NP (2 days)
Vegas
Death Valley NP
Muir Woods
Alcatraz
Oracle Park (SF Giants game)
Yosemite NP (3 days)
Arches NP (2 days)
Boulder CO
Kansas City - Joe’s BBQ
Negro League Museum (met Tony Perez and Lee Smith while there)

It was an amazing trip. We ended up renting a car so we wouldn’t put miles our our cars, and stayed with friends/family for a lot of the trip. So many memories. I would love to do it again once our family gets a bit bigger.

Wholly recommend that people take the plunge and do the great American road trip at least once in their lives.

What kind of car?
 
Congratulations on the marriage. I knew a girl who was driving cross-country with friends and I kept texting her with a recommendation to stop at the World's Largest Ball of Twine in Cawker City, Kansas. It's a few miles off of I-70 in the middle of Kansas. I mean, how often would you get to see the world's largest ball of twine?

We stopped off the beaten trail somewhere in Iowa to see the world’s largest ball of popcorn. Hahaha.
 
We stopped off the beaten trail somewhere in Iowa to see the world’s largest ball of popcorn. Hahaha.
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The rental was a new Nissan Altima

Nice - that isn't bad and likely pretty comfortable. Sorry you didn't get the Mazda 2!

You chose the Popcorn Ball over the Field of Dreams whilst in Iowa? Was that a lengthy debate?
 
So, my wife has never been to yellowstone or Teton, so I think we're gonna do a roadtrip out there. I figure we'll spend a day or two in badlands and the nearby monuments. I've never done this trip starting from New York and it seems like just 2 days of pure driving to get out the badlands.

My questions: what's worth seeing between here and badlands that's COVID friendly? Chicago is out for obvious reasons.

Where to sleep/camp between central New York and Badlands?
 

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