Overwhelmed by trying to create a cross country route. Any tips?

[90volts]

Good morning everyone! I wanted to see if anyone could pass along any tips for route planning. Ive looked at the guides here and elsewhere and the technical 'how to' isnt the problem its more of the 'vision' or 'content'. Maybe best to explain what i have done in the past and what i hope to accomplish this time around.

So i normally do anywhere from a few hour trip to a few day trip. Ive done route planning by motorcycle and now for the jeep. I love researching areas, finding the history and interesting places and make up a route. I am pretty flexible when out exploring as well.. if i see something interesting i will probably just detour from the route and find a way on or backtrack completely and continue on. I have done a lot of this locally in the pine barrens where we have hundreds of miles of dirt roads with no problem.

So now i am planning a 21 day honeymoon trip across the country and back again. The big picture is blast to historic route 66 from philadelphia and follow that most of the way west. Detour to grand canyon, zion, mojave rd and death valley, then back onto 66 to the pier in santa monica. The way back will be a lot more parks and offroad camping like jacumba, Valley of the moon, organ pipe, and then highway back through new orleans, nashville, OBX and home. Fiance is the route 66 part... i am the desert and offroad part. :)

So i have come up with a list of way too many things to do probably. I dont want to rush everything, but i also want to take advantage and see a lot of things that i dont know when we will have another chance to see.. at least anytime soon. So for a trip like this, how do you realistically figure time? Driving, sightseeing, figuring out how far to go before stopping for the night, stuff like that. I am hoping to hear from people who have done it so i can get a more realistic picture of what we will actually be able to accomplish, and how much of my plan is just pie in the sky. lol. So i have this list of places, with addresses, travel time between them and mileage (google maps... not realistic i am sure for offroad). I am just starting to try to cut it up into days. and then ill start looking at places to stay / camp.

Please dont laugh at how much there is. This is just the 'everything along the way' starting point. ha . Any help or advice would be appreciated. thanks!




Please don't laugh at how much there is. This is just the 'everything along the way' starting point. ha . thanks!

 

[socal66]

I used to plan trips like you when I was younger that tries to cram in as much as possible in the time I have. I have learned to back off of that a bit but still tend to err on the cramming side. Off the top of my head I would suggest the following:

1. Try to reduce the number of days that you are only staying in a place for one night. The more that you can stay in one place for multiple nights and use that as a hub base to explore the area the better as it reduces the hassle of packing up again each night and worrying about your accommodations at the end of the day.

2. Some of your destinations might be booked up such as National Park sites. If you are wanting to reserve campsites or lodging in the parks you will need to secure these reservations first and adjust your plan accordingly. You may find that a certain park is booked up for the weekend you want to go according to your ideal schedule but the weekdays before/after are free. I tend to get the dates for these stops set in stone first and then that drives the rest of the plan.

3. You have identified a number of stops that are curiosities rather than full day destinations. These work well as rest stops when they are on the way but you may not want to drive out of your way if they are not.

4. I don't know if you intend to camp each day or do hotels or a mix of both. Your significant other may not enjoy roughing it every day for three weeks. If that is the case make sure to mix in hotel stops every so often for a good bed and hot shower every few days.

5. What time of year are you traveling? Some of the desert destinations aren't the best place to be mid-summer.

6. Envision each day as a separate day in your plan and think if what you have planned is really worthwhile or if not skip that in favor of adding a day to another destination in the plan that has a lot more going on. This also increases your multi-day stays.

7. Identify secondary or backup attractions for each day. Things sometime are closed (COVID) or bad weather happens, etc.

8. What days will you need to do laundry? Does your stay that day include facilities for that?

9. When you are young you still have many years left. It may seem that you may not have a chance to visit again but that is not the case. Treat this trip as a scouting expedition for the future when you really do things right.

 

[LumixLab]

Something I came across recently was going to the state's official tourism websites and looking for their suggested sites to visit. Many of the mid and western states have off road and 4x4 routes suggested and some with downloads available. It's at least another source of information that can help you decide as you plan your trip. Good luck!

 

[Billiebob]

One item to add, do a bit of research on is where to get service/repairs just in case. And have your AAA all paid up. If you are towing, get the AAA which includes towing the trailer. Looks like a TJ ??? so parts and service should be everywhere but ....

I think your list is fabulous. Not that you will make every stop but you have a list of options. If the weather is bad you might by pass some stops. If a highway is closed, think forest fires, floods, accidents, you have several time fillers to pick from. A rigid plan forces disappointment. A flexible plans keeps the trip challenging and enjoyable.

 

[90volts]

Looking at end of september into october this year. And it is a '15 JKU.

We do plan on camping a lot of the time but not all. I built a sleeping platform for the inside of the jeep and will have a ground tent as well. I do still have to look at hotel and B&B options foe the wife for at least a few nights. I figure when we do that we can do the laundry thing. I do have AAA but hadnt thought about repairs. Its still under warranty so a dealer network map for our base would be a start i guess. Gas stations were on the list to check out when i have a better idea of a day plan as well.

She is looking at our list and highlighting the priorities for her and i will do the same to start with a core i think. She knows this is just an 'idea' list otherwise and we plan to be as flexible as possible and find a few options for routes/sights at several junctions of our trip.

thanks for all of the suggestions and feedback! i appreciate the thoughts.

 

[ChadHahn]

One thing I did when plannind a big trip was to figure out how long I wanted to drive each day and then I found camp grounds around that distance. Once I figured out where I was going to sleep, I could plan my days stops.

I agree that unless there is a lot of activities in an area, a nights stay is plenty. I planned a two night stay at a campground that had dinosaur foot prints when acutally it could have been an hour's stop. One night was fine but the second day we were wondering what to do with our selves.

 

[mamalone200]

Sounds like an awesome trip! The list looks pretty fun and I love that its a variety of stuff (not just national parks). My only recommendation is to skip the McDonald's Museum, I went there a few years ago and it really wasn't very impressive. There's a donut place near LAX called "Randy's Donuts" that has the best donuts ever, it's well worth a detour. It'll change your life.

 

[Maxter50]

I agree with Socal. I have traveled a lot and am going to try overlanding here this year also. Been all over the world, backpacking and traveling in a variety of ways. The one thing I can suggest is spend time in places you want to and not cram to much in. If you totally fill up your time and have too much of a schedule then you are, to some extend, working. It is better to see fewer attractions or sites and spend more time enjoying what you are doing than it is to see more. Quality over quantity.

Some days you might feel like getting up late, or sitting and watching the view or spending more time at this attraction or that attraction. The worse thing that can happen if you didnt plan enough, is you google what there is to do in an area and find something. The worst thing that can happen if you plan to much is your stressed about the next thing, and miss out on the thing your at.

Its the moments you two will spend together over the trip, that you didnt plan on, that you will enjoy and love.

A personal example is my wife and I went on a few day road trip to see mount rush more, north Dakota, Colorado, etc. We hit the things we wanted to and that was great, but we got to Colorado a earlier than expected and our favorite part of the trip was the unplanned day in Estes and night in the hot tub when the snow was falling. Wasnt planned, used up our time but it was better then everything else.

The point is to enjoy time together, not fill it with "tasks" right? Keep that in mind!

 

[genocache]

Looks like a nice Honeymoon, we went to the Grand Canyon for ours. I generally plan my mileage at 50 mph, so a 300 mile day is 6 hours travel time. I have done mega miles on my motorcycle and my Rover, got the job done but was very tiring. As is said so often, make it about the journey not the destination. Having to be at this reservation on Tuesday and that one on Wednesday can make it feel, as someone else said, work.
300 to 500 miles per day would be my max and then stay someplace a couple of days.
Make setting up and taking down camp as easy as possible.
The Mojave Desert can still be hot then.
Have fun!