I'm going on a road trip. what are some of the best states to go to?

Question

I'm going to go on a road trip throughout the U.S. Im going to sleeep in the car instead of paying for hotels. What are the best states to go to, in your opinion?

& include the city too if you want

Answer 1

Okay I have done several month long road trips. I love this stuff. Really depends where you are starting from and what you are into. These are some great drives that I have done, they do take some research but, they are well worth it!

The Pacific Coast Highway: Okay this is a great stretch of road, you can start at the begining in WA or jump on somewhere in between. First time I did OR and CA. There is so much to do all the way down and cheap things! There is a ton of outdoor stuff and the most beautiful places that you will ever see! I really like the drive through OR and the north of CA wow the coast is great. This is a very slow driving road, good for a long trip. There is also a lot of wacky tourist things to do made for good fun and pictures. Good places to camp and very cheap!!!!! Be wise contact the local chamber of commerce and ask for a visitors packet they have coupons, also tell them you need a cheap place to stay or sleep they will help. They will also send maps and info on the area FREE services great for all trips! There is just sooo much to see that I am going to just list some sites here:
www.us-101.com
www.byways.org
www.experiencewashington.com
www.traveloregon.com
www.travelportland.com
www.covisitors.com
www.gonorthwest.com
www.visitlanecounty.org

Another really great trip, is Route 66. People will tell you that you cannot drive much of it, so not true. I have done this trip over and over. I was 25 the first time I started doing it and I still love it! Okay if you want to do this it does take some research and some good maps. With that said it goes across IL, MO, KS, OK, TX, AZ, NM,and CA. This is a wonderful trip you get to see alot of different things! You can do this for cheap! Food is cheap and good (got to love diner food), the locals are all nice (they are proud of their old highway) there is a ton of touristy stuff for cheap to do (Seilgman, Vicitorville, Oatman, ect...) there are some great parks which are free or cheap. You get to see a lot of America and the scernery is great. You have hills, flatlands, moutains and deserts and it ends at the ocean. They have some really cool places to stay like the Wigwams and they are cheap! They also have some really nice campgrounds and they are also cheap! Motels that are nice will run about $30-$40. We found all kinds of crazy little musuems, like the barb wire musuem, the sing musuem and so on. There is the Grand Caynyon the Petrified Forest, the Metor Crater, Bandaro Cave and more. Take the time to research this, you can see a lot of America on a budget! Here are some sites to help:
www.historic66.com -- This is the best site around the directions are very good. What I did is I looked up the local Chamber of Commerce website for each town on the map. Some are so small they do not have one, but a lot did. I emailed them and that is how I found some great spots!

www.national66.com
www.oklahomaroute66.com
www.rt66nm.org
www.missouri66.org
www.azrt66.com
www.route66usa.com
www.califrt66museum.org
www.il66assoc.org

Okay well a few years ago we drove from Texas to Florida basically drove the coast. Went through NO (do not sleep in your car there). Gulf Port, Destin Ect. There are several ways to do this trip because depending on what you are looking for certain cities might be better than others. Look at the map there are some major and back highways you can take, I really liked seeing the plantations and going on the swamp tours in LA the good part was we ended up at the beach. TX was pretty cool, I really would have just done LA, MI and FL myself. We ended that trip on Sanibel. Too expensive now but, you can stay in Fort Meyrs for cheap!

You might also think about driving around GA. Athens, Rome, Atlanta (again no sleep in the car here), Savannah are all great cities. If you visit the GA website they have some great driving tours and they will send you out the maps for free. I really like GA because there is a lot to see. Savannah is my favorite city! Good music in Rome. Here is a site to help:
www.georgia.org

You might also want to check out this site:
http://www.byways.org/
good site they will send you free maps, has all of the great driving tours of America. You can look at them online. I find some great places with this site.

Here are some other sites I use when planning a road trip, I hope they help:
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/
This site is great has crazy tourist stuff to do. A lot is free of very cheap crazy, and different things!

http://www.roadfood.com/
Got to have good food on the road is very helpful!

http://www.gasbuddy.com/
Helps budget for gas

http://www.gaspricewatch.com/new/
another gas friend

http://www.frommers.com/
Good place for maps and ideas

Okay here are a few other tips for the road trip. Coupons are your friend, trust me! Pick up all the books, go to all the sites, request all free visitors stuff you can. They help on admission, food and lodging. Do your research, know where you want to go, what you want to do, you can find prices online, this helps you budget and keeps you on course. Take a cooler and eat lunch at a pinic area. Saves massive cash, take snacks, breakfast whatever. Sometimes we eat out only once if all. Check out hostels...get the movie out of your head. The US does have some good hostels, takes research to find. Some have private rooms, others just dorms. I have stayed at a few and all have been great. You can get a bed for as a low as $8 a night and there is a kitchen shower and common room. Good option for shelter! Don't buy things, do you really need the post card ect... You won't remember it years to come.
Last thing, please re-think the car thing, I say this because I am a single female that does traveling, by myself and with others. You can find cheap places to stay! If you want to sleep in the car stay at a cheap campground, way safer than sleeping at a visitors center or the side of the road. With a little thought and some research you can do it! Hope this helps have a great trip!

Answer 2

I have visited 46 states so far, nearly all of them during road trips. I really cannot pick one state over the next as they all have so much to offer, but I would say a few of my favorites are California, Oregon, Washington, New Mexico, Tennessee and Florida. I would recommend that you purchase a tent and sleep in some of the many state parks that this country has to offer; often you can get a site for around $10 and it is far more scenic than a rest stop. One of my favorite campsites is about two thirds of the way down the Florida Keys, very reasonable. It is a state park where you can camp right between the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. I like to wake up, climb out of my tent and dive right into the warm water. I can't recall the name but it is south of Marathon. I could go on and on about places and things to see and do but I am sure if you start out from wherever you live, with or without a plan, you will discover many gems in this beautiful country.

Answer 3

The best time we had in 17 years of motorcycle touring was route 66 from Chicago across to Santa Monica Pier L.A. (I just wanna have some fun) or you can go the other way depending on your start point. If your into history of the road check it out on the web. You'll have to "find" the road in some places but there are maps that find it for you if you like. The I-40 was built after and follows the same general course...but it's about the road and the dream. Check out the book Grapes of Wrath (Steinback) and it'll give you some idea what the road was about.

Answer 4

I travelled the states for a month in 1999, but we slept in tents. You definitely have to see (and explore) the badlands in South Dakota, The Maquoketa Caves in Iowa, travel down Pacific Coastal Hwy 1 in California, check out the Bruneau Dunes in Idaho (the largest dunes in the U.S., but very hot & lots of horse flys), gosh... there's so much. Of course the Grand Canyon. I also agree with previous poster -- the four corners area is extremely beautiful. It's where the desert meets the mountains.

Also check out the ride between Flagstaff & Phoenix.

I live in Illinois, and I can't really agree with other posters. Chicago is awesome -- downtown and especially Millenium Park, the Field Museum, and the Brookfield Zoo (just outside of Chicago), but other than that... not so much to see in Illinois.

Answer 5

Georgia is one of the best. You have the mountains in the northern part, the coast on the southern part, and Atlanta. There are historic sites throughout the state, and the Oke fenokee Swamp near Waycross is worth your time. Lots of gators!

Answer 6

We love driving thru New England. Salem MA, Glouster MA Mystic CT...etc Stay on the shore and drive straight up from Rhode Island to Maine...it's beautiful

Answer 7

Drive the Pacific Coast Highway CA, OR, WA for magnificent ocean views. AZ, UT, WY, MT for canyons and mountains (and the highest concentration of national parks). CO and NM for the Rockies. Seasonal...follow the leaves changing in the fall in New England...VT to NH to ME and then south along the coast.

Answer 8

Georgia, Florida, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Illinois, Misouri, Ohio, Indiana

Answer 9

Go to the 4 corners area in NM, CO, AZ, UT. It is the most beautiful area of the country that I've seen.

Answer 10

If you come to California you can stop in San Diego, Laguna Beach, Anaheim, San Francisco... There's lot's of things to see and do here in Cali.