Driving across North America!

[wallace03]

I'd rather go through NM and see the breaking bad settings in Albuquerque and hit up the grand canyon in Nev. and Sedona among other places in Arizona, then to Cali. If you're going through Houston you might as well stop by San Antonio since they have most of the historical sights, Houston just has good food. If you're a foodie like me then don't cheap out on food. Look up must eat places and eat while you're there cause you don't know when you'll be back. I plan on doing a trip similar to this but split into two separate trips so i won't get burned out. GL!

[Thorpedo]

Cabot trail is a must as others have said. I have done the trip myself with the GF (across N/A and back a year and a half ago) and it was a great trip. We did a lot of camping and the grand total was 2500 or so. Spent roughly 1500 in gas and it took a little over a month.

I went up over the great lakes on the westward half, and came back through the northern states on the way back. ABSOLUTELY do the cabot trail, and drive through the rockies when you're out west. Highlights of my trip.

When you do go to sydney, make a post in the "Canada" forum to let people know. The last time I did the Cabot a guy from here on the forum from Montreal came along for the trip. It was a good time and I would absolutely be up for it again.

[Frost]

Thanks a lot for all the suggestions guys!

I think I might break this trip down into two parts based on all the stuff people have posted. Eastern Canada and USA are just way too jam packed for me to skip anything (so is western but I have double back for central then west).

So far I think it will break down to three trips:

1- East seaboard
2- Central / southern USA
3- West

I will definitely post in the forums when I do start my trip.

Keep posting up great areas to go to and I'll pop you a PM when I need more explicit details!

Cheers.

[Screw Loose Dan]

Originally Posted by Frost

From there, I would cut south down into the US in the following manner:

Boston (LOVE this city - been here twice)
Providence
NYC (been here multiple times)
Philly
Baltimore (been here three times)
Washington (have a friend who lives here)
Charlotte
Atlanta

Ideas, suggestions and routes are always appreciated!

Originally Posted by wrxgoose

Also, Blue Ridge Parkway

I can't comment on the best routes outside the east coast, but for an epic journey, if you can miss Baltimore/Washington, you could easily fit in the Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP). Even if going to Washington, it might be worth heading west from there to pick up the BRP. It is, IMO, the best 460 miles on the east coast. Not super fast and curvy, but sections of it have some bends and the lower sections typically don't have too many slow pokes (especially during the week).

The BRP dumps you into the Smokey Mountains.

Originally Posted by Kimsey47

I'll throw this suggestion out there and others may disagree... I suggest heading directly east after hitting Charlotte so you can go through the Smokey Mountains into Tennessee. There are some fun mountain roads (NOT the dragons tail/Cherohala skyway, unless you want a slow scenery drive) that can break up the highway miles. I mean, if you want to go to FL go for it, but if you're wanting to enjoy the drive cutting over into TN and then continuing south to ATL or your other more Southern locations.

Those mountain roads are what this car was made to enjoy!

I agree with this. The Tail of the Dragon is a nice thing to check off the list and the Cherohala Skyway is beautiful but there are LOTS of roads in that area.

I'm not sure how to tell you to fit that into your itinerary, but BRP and Smokey Mtns are places I love to visit. And, for what it's worth (and not to diss the Florida members), but I personally would skip Florida all together.

Edit - Sorry I missed your post above. Sticking to the coast probably eliminates the possibility of doing the BRP.

[bestwheelbase]

Stop in Nashville, sleep on our couch, we will have fun!

[Kimsey47]

Originally Posted by bestwheelbase

Stop in Nashville, sleep on our couch, we will have fun!

If you do stay with bestwheelbase be sure to visit Puckett's Grocery for some good southern eats! Love that place!

http://www.puckettsgrocery.com/

[BigFatFlip]

What an epic trip! I too have this on my bucket list, but probably will have to wait until I retire (all the time in the world) and have the means to do it (cushy RV, minimal responsibilities, enough funds, etc.)

For the mean time, my wife, dog and I have done a couple of road trips over the years, here are our favorites so far:

Washington
-Space needle area, Seattle
-Olympic National park
-Boeing Museum

Oregon
-Oregon coastline on 101, lots of stops (personal favorite, devil's punch bowl)
-Tillamook Cheese Factory
-explore city of Portland
-Drive through Hwy 14 along the Columbia river
-Oregon Dunes

California
-Yosemite National Park
-Samoa Cookhouse (best breakfast, Eureka along Hwy 1)

Utah
-Mormon temple (Salt lake city)
-Bonneville salt flats
-Arches National Park (Moab, off-roading heaven)
-Zion National Park

Nevada
-AlienInn (along the loneliest road in the US 50)

[FunCon5]

Arches national park in Moab UT is beautiful, I drove my FR-S there. Also Mesa Verde in Colorado is amazing! Both are national parks, and mesa Verde is a world heritage site. Theses places are stunningly picturesque! Highly recommended!


Also, crater lake in Oregon is awesome! Only the road is not open all year. Checking conditions is recommended... Have fun!

[BigFatFlip]

Originally Posted by FunCon5

Arches national park in Moab UT is beautiful, I drove my FR-S there. Also Mesa Verde in Colorado is amazing! Both are national parks, and mesa Verde is a world heritage site. Theses places are stunningly picturesque! Highly recommended!


Also, crater lake in Oregon is awesome! Only the road is not open all year. Checking conditions is recommended... Have fun!

Mesa Verde and Pikes peak are on the list for the next road trip, so is Yellowstone in WY. I can't believe I forgot about Crater Lake! That place is amazing.

[Shagaliscious]

Coming from someone who truly does love Philly, you can save yourself a day or 2 and just skip it. There are plenty of other places you mentioned that an extra day would be much better spent there then Philly. Unless you're a history buff of course.

[radroach]

I took my BRZ to Moab Canyonlands road last summer

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showp...&postcount=231

[drewbot]

Hmm pick up some cheap FT86 parts and visit @ft86SpeedFactory along the way

[Mikem53]

Sounds nice.. Just a couple of suggestions via my own bias and experiences..
Skip Dallas.. Lol.. Not much to see that's scenic, charlotte is nice with lots of nice mountain roads not far away.. Beautiful time of year for the high country and those switchback roads thru NC and TN.
New Mexico is great for driving.. Other than the altitude power robbing.. The drive up to the sandia mtns is awesome as well as the other nearby mountains. Check out Los alamos too via the jemez mountains.. Beautiful scenery and nice roads..

Originally Posted by Frost

Hiyo!

It's long been on my bucket list that I just have to do a drive across North America and hit up some of the best roads and vistas in all of the USA and Canada (sorry no Mexico at the moment).

I would greatly appreciate it if you guys could throw in some of your best suggested areas to drive through in your respective areas and some good places to eat, see or stay.

Right now my VERY PRELIMINARY itinerary looks like this:

TIME FRAME: 4-6 weeks.

ROUTE:
Since I am in Toronto, I plan on heading East first to Montreal, Quebec City and then Halifax and finally Sydney, Nova Scotia. This would be as East as I can get and the straight drive alone is roughly 22-24 hours non stop. Throwing in stops this would mean it would pretty much be a 3 day trip just to get there with minimal stopping.

From there, I would cut south down into the US in the following manner:

Boston (LOVE this city - been here twice)
Providence
NYC (been here multiple times)
Philly
Baltimore (been here three times)
Washington (have a friend who lives here)
Charlotte
Atlanta

And here's where it becomes UGH for choosing: do I swing south into Florida?

Tallahassee (never been but I love the name lol)
New Orleans (LOVE this city - been here once for extended stay)
Houston
Dallas

And here's another gap in my info... New Mexico??? I have no idea whats there. Or do I cut up into Kansas?

Denver (PIKE'S PEAK!!!) is definitely on my list.
Las Vegas
Los Angeles (might want to be careful here)
San Francisco
Sacramento
Salem (just for the namesake!)
Portland
Seattle

And back into Canada to Vancouver!

From there, head back East homebound:

Kamloops
Banff
Calgary

And here's another pause... I hear middle of Canadia is boring so would I want to cut south into Montana?

Ideas, suggestions and routes are always appreciated!

Cheers.

[J_kennington]

Stay away from Atlanta. If your truly in this for scenic and not planning to hit Florida. Come into ga from the north, drive around the mountains then head on over to a different state anywhere below blue ridge/ellijay. Downtown Atlanta is nothing to see, unless your wanting to go see a play at the fox, or our super small aquarium. South of Atlanta is just a bunch of flat open land. The mountains though...that's where it's beautiful and fun drives. Best way I can suggest, come down, hit the tail of the dragon/deals gap. Follow 129(same road as TOD/DG is on) down into the top part of blue ridge/elijay and cruise around there for a few minutes.

You could hit dahlonaga if your into history. Or Helen if you like good scenery.

But seriously, I don't know why anyone visits Atlanta. It's absulutely horrible. And that's coming from someone who lives 15 minutes from it and works in it every day