15

Oh a couple other things-
Check Priceline for hotels, this far out you may get a great deal downtown, under $100 night for a $250 room. Also renting car, oneway, to Las Vegas, have you checked rates? Also, if you train into city, then train back to airport, no need for car in Chicago city as parking is $$$. Also, you can get a car at Midway Airport, instead of Ohare, as MDW is right next to I-55 for going to St Louis, about 4 hours from there...

16

so how about this...

Day 1 (Thurs 9th May) : Arrive in Chicago around 2pm - check out michigan avenue, navy pier at night then enjoy a night out

Day 2: Chicago - City Tour, millenium park, Grant Park, hancock observatory, dinner and night out

Day 3: Pick up car at 11 and drive to St Louis (300 miles), stop off at springfield IL briefly, check out Abrham Lincolns old house and get to St Louis for early evening, enjoy a saturday night out

Day 4: city in the morning, take the elevator in the gateway arch. afteroon go to the cardinals vs rookies baseball game, chill in eveining, early night..

Day 5: Get up early and begin the route to denver colarado stopping off at meramec cavens, stay in kansas city overnight.. (300 miles)

Day 6: Stop somehere between kansas city and denver (300 miles)

Day 7 get to denver (300 miles), sightseeing, night out

Day 8: (16th) denver - sightseeing,night out

Day 9: Drive to Amorillo (431 miles) via colarodo springs, stay in texas steak ranch and eat dinner

Day 10: go see the cadillac ranch early in the morning then head in the direction of the Grand Canyon either stopping off Albuquerque (285 miles) or Holbrook (518 miles - if we just do a full day drive..)

Day 11 (19th): up early for the Grand Canyon...179 miles from Holbrook, get there for midday, full day there, overnight..

Day 12: midday - l;eave for Phoenix (229 miles), explore the city, night out

Day 13: Leave midday and drive to San Diego (350 miles)

Day 14: San Diego, coastal drive to LA/Santa Monica early eve (130 miles) night out

Day 15: Long Beach/Santa Monica -

Day 16 (24th): Leave for Vegas (280 miles)

From there i will be in vegas until the 28th...

Is this possible? or too much? or any changes you would recommend?

Cheers

17

I would drive from KC to Denver straight...no stop.

I would go from Denver to Moab area, this is gorgeous, heck I slept in car once there.

Not sure about San Diego to LA coastal way, have never done it, took the freeway...coastal road from Malibu north is Gorgeous..

18

Take that back, I have driven from La Jolla (North San Diego) to Torrey Pines and up to Delmar which is very nice, have not gone much past there on the coast there, not sure what to see around Carlsbad, then it you have to take the I-5 to San Clemente...then the PCF starts to LA again...that could take a lot of time though...stop n go.

19

thanks yeh moab does look amazing...

would it be logical then to fit amorillo before denver (as want to experience that part of texas) so day 5 i could just hit it hard and try to do the full 670 miles from st louis to amorillo

day 6 in amorillo, set off to denver on day 7 and then drive through to grand canyon via moab utah? could i do this with a normal car though?

Never done SD but hear great things...wasnt fussed about LA as done before but the route to vegas from there seems natural and a a day on the beach would be nice..have done the san fran to LA highway 1 before which was amazing

20

I am not a texas fan overall, just boring plains, strip malls and suburbs to me...except Austin is cool...

21

I would go Sante Fe/Toas area before TX..but thats me..

22

is this possible

It might be physically possible, just, but wildly over-ambitious, with parts of it boring and tedious, and much of it pointless. You also run the risk of being a real danger to yourselves and others, combining long drives day after day, with nights out on the turps,

or too much?

See above ... it's too much and you'll regret the demented rushing you'll need to do to meet your schedule, plus there is TRAFFIC everywhere.

any changes you would recommend?

Where to begin? Halve the length at least ... fly into Denver - there is nothing at all interesting west of I-25 ,,, nothing to include on a road-trip anyway. The only exception is Santa Fe ... it is pleasant, scenic, and unique.

If you do drive from Chicago skip Denver, Amarillo, and Phoenix ... you will be thankful you did.

23

I do of course mean nothing interesting east of I-25 ... and Santa Fe is in fact also west of it, so there is nothing at all ... BBC please re-instate the edit function!

24

Thanks Ian, but for me i would like the achievement of being able to drive it, im actually going to change it slightly so it reads...all in all it will probs be about 3000 miles over 15 days averaging 200 a day, and theres 2 of us to take turns...

Day 1 (Thurs 9th May) : Arrive in Chicago around 2pm - check out michigan avenue, navy pier at night then enjoy a night out

Day 2: Chicago - City Tour, millenium park, Grant Park, hancock observatory, dinner and night out

Day 3: Pick up car at 11 and drive to St Louis (300 miles), stop off at springfield IL briefly, check out Abrham Lincolns old house and get to St Louis for early evening, enjoy a saturday night out

Day 4: city in the morning, take the elevator in the gateway arch. afteroon go to the cardinals vs rookies baseball game, chill in eveining, early night..

Day 5: Get up early and begin the route to denver colarado stopping off at meramec cavens, stay in kansas city overnight.. (300 miles)

Day 6: Stop somehere between kansas city and denver (300 miles)

Day 7 get to denver (300 miles), sightseeing, night out

Day 8: (16th) denver - sightseeing,night out

Day 9: Drive to Amorillo (431 miles) via colarodo springs, stay in texas steak ranch and eat dinner

Day 10: go see the cadillac ranch early in the morning then head in the direction of the Grand Canyon either stopping off Albuquerque (285 miles) or Holbrook (518 miles - if we just do a full day drive..)

Day 11 (19th): up early for the Grand Canyon...179 miles from Holbrook, get there for midday, full day there, overnight..

Day 12: midday - l;eave for Phoenix (229 miles), explore the city, night out

Day 13: Leave midday and drive to San Diego (350 miles)

Day 14: San Diego, coastal drive to LA/Santa Monica early eve (130 miles) night out

Day 15: Long Beach/Santa Monica -

Day 16 (24th): Leave for Vegas (280 miles)

From there i will be in vegas until the 28th...

Is this possible? or too much? or any changes you would recommend?

Cheers

25

i mean...

Day 1 (Thurs 9th May) : Arrive in Chicago around 2pm - check out michigan avenue, navy pier at night then enjoy a night out

Day 2: Chicago - City Tour, millenium park, Grant Park, hancock observatory, dinner and night out

Day 3: Pick up car at 11 and drive to St Louis (300 miles), stop off at springfield IL briefly, check out Abrham Lincolns old house and get to St Louis for early evening, enjoy a saturday night out

Day 4: city in the morning, take the elevator in the gateway arch. afteroon go to the cardinals vs rookies baseball game, chill in eveining, early night..

Day 5: Get up early and begin the route to Amorillo stopping off at meramec cavens, (670 miles - is this too much to do in one day? could break it up into 2...)

Day 6: Amorillo all day, see cadillac ranch, stay night (Big Texas Steak ranch)

Day 7 get to denver (431 miles) via colorado springs, sightseeing, night out

Day 8: (16th) denver - sightseeing,night out

Day 9: head to Grand Canyon via Moab Uah

Day 10: Moab Utah to Grand Canyon

Day 11 (19th): Grand Canyon.

Day 12: leave for Phoenix early (229 miles), explore the city, night out

Day 13: Leave midday and drive to San Diego (350 miles)

Day 14: San Diego, coastal drive to LA/Santa Monica early eve (130 miles) night out

Day 15: Long Beach/Santa Monica -

Day 16 (24th): Leave for Vegas (280 miles)

26

Well ... I may be an old hippie ... but I'm not sure what sort of "achievement" dong the drive in your time would be ... seems to me the bigger achievement would be to race through wonderful country and seeing almost none of it.

For example, Day 9 and Day 10 are through wonderful places - truly wonderful - but you won't see any of it much, there is so much driving required ... Arches NP alone warrants a full day, however I expect you won't even get there. But still - it's your trip.

27

Fantasyland tourism. I'm not sure what movies people are watching.

Tip offs for these fantasies are Route 66, real American culture, off the tourist trail in Vegas, Great American Roadtrip of a lifetime, 18 States in 30 days, must see must do, buy a campervan for three weeks, hostels in small US towns, partying.
Checklist USA from inside a moving car.

28

sorry montereyjack, not sure i understand your point?

29

Not to worry Danny. Come have a good time and please bring lots of money.
We need it. How you think it will be and how it will be shall be forged on the road
and you should have a fine experience.