The geography of east v. west

Thought I'd pull this out of the snob thread, since that is going so well and I'd hate to dilute it or pollute it.

I was very lucky growing up. Wasn't one of those kids who was whisked away to Europe or exotic locales, but my 'rents did a damn fine job of making sure we saw huge hunks of North America ... via car, of course. Numerous trips into the heartland and back, several times coast to coast, both here in the Great Turmoil and up in beautiful Canuckistan (nearly, Montreal was the terminus), who knows how many regional getaways on both sides of the border. Probably saw every state outside of Alaska, Hawaii and the deep south by the time I was 10, a bit of Mexico and most of the first-tier provinces.

I remember whisking through multiple New England/mid-Atlantic states in less time than it took to drive between California's two largest cities.

 

You're lucky to have had all those road trips. I feel like its a dying way to travel but maybe that's just because I hear about it less.

One of my dreams is to spend a couple of months driving cross country. I've even mapped it out many times. Taking a southern route in one direction and a northern route on the return. I've seen most of the big cities but really want to see some of the smaller ones, little places off the beaten path, and just nature.

My girlfriend and I are heading to Vegas in a couple of weeks and planning a side road trip somewhere for a few days, maybe Grand Canyon or SLC. Not sure if I'm more excited about Vegas or the road trip!

 

I think about this from the opposite point of view coming from Texas......you can drive 5-8-12 hours and still be in the same state and still be an hour or more from any border depending on where you started.....and that is avoiding any place with major traffic while someone on the east coast could have hit 4 or 5 states in that period of time even with some traffic along the way

for me while I grew up in Houston and have lived in all the major cities in Texas so I am used to traffic I would still rather take a "detour" and be going 30mph and have it take 20 minutes longer to get there VS saving 20 minutes of time in bumper to bumper traffic....I know that makes little of any real sense, but it goes back to once you are out on the highways in most areas of Texas and you are going 55-75+ it does not seem nearly as bad to go 4-5 hours to get somewhere else VS sitting 1.5 hours in traffic to go 30 miles in the same city

 

I'm not exactly an RVer, and Terri is much less so, but she agrees that we need to do an extend tour of canyon country one of these eons. Don't see us going on the road when we hit the you-know-what age, however. The last time we were in New Zealand we vowed next time to rent a small camper/RV and tool around the South Island. Every ville seems to have a golf course and a place to camp, and we know it would give us a chance to get closer to some of the natives in a way we haven't been able to our first two times down there.

Kick, for that side trip I can't say enough about a Zion/Bryce, Utah Hwy 12 and North Rim excursion. All depends on your time of course.

 

I've done a lot of stem-to-sterners in California, and north/south this is one long mutha of a state. lol Can't even count how many Portland/So Cal nonstoppers I've done over the years. Gone through to Seattle once; at that point the few extra hours are just meaningless. Did Eugene-to-Missoula a few times nonstop. Ouch. But it's damn scenic, at least.

 

yea I was thinking about that as well.....north to south in California can be a LONG way as well, but you will see a lot of stuff......east to west goes from seeing a lot of sights to damn it is hot as hell out here with all this dust and heat and nothingness

 

Yep, once you hit the delta northbound the 5 through the Central Valley turns from ugly and bleak to at least colorful, and the Coast Range and Cascades start pinching in for contrast.

 

I've driven just about everywhere in the US except for the northwest -- I kind of think the experience is overrated. I've grew up in New England, but I've lived in Georgia, Florida, central texas, El Paso, Colorado...the army will do that to you.

A great thing about the US is that everywhere has something different, but some things are the same. Kind of a great combination, really.

 

I grew up in Chicago and my dad must have been the model for Chevy Chase's character in Vacation. We had the wood paneled station wagon and drove all over the country in the 70s. We went to places like Denver, Yellowstone, MT, Mount Rushmore, Niagra Falls, DC and Boston. I still can't eat baloney to this day because my brother would be sitting in the back of the car with a cooler making baloney sandwiches on white bread with a ton of mustard on it. It was a treat when we could hit a Stuckey's.

 

I've been working in SoCal for the past year and spend 25+ hrs in commute weekly. The difference between Northern and Southern CA is insane as I rarely had to drive twice in a month up there. I read Ken referred to Temecula as Trafficula in another thread and have been laughing to myself for a week now. Its sooo true. Can't speak on the East but the rumors are true as to SoCal.

 

I don't love to drive but I've done a fair bit of it. I've crossed from the East Coast (CT, NC, DC) to Utah by 80, 70, and 40 (70 and 80 a couple of times) plus a few other decent length road trips. My husband and I want to visit Yellowstone in the off-season at some point, and that's one of the few road trips we're willing to consider (I was 5 last time I passed through Yellowstone on a family road trip - apologies if you were there at the same time and I gave you measles - diagnosed at Yellowstone hospital)

When I lived in Utah, it was nothing to go to Moab or Bryce or Idaho for the weekend. Now- I don't want to drive to DC for the weekend.

I will drive to Asheville for the weekend

(when my husband and I were starting to get serious, he worried about my commute should I decide to stay with him - because of his job, we have to live where we do - which is a 30 mile/45-60 minute commute for me. I don't mind at all - when I lived in DC, I commuted 12 miles and it took me the same amount of time or longer; it's definitely all relative!)

 

hey ken, that eugene to missoula non-stop...worth it when you got there?

 

when the kiddies are finally gone then I'd love to rv around the country for a bit- theres a hell of a lot to see - doing the length of the rockies could take some time!! a historic tour of the south, the west coast - I may be some time.

however I have already done the I90 and I'm in no rush to do that trip again. Montana and North dakota are almost 1,000 miles from one side to the other and there aren't that many places worth stopping for....

 

We took a road trip a couple of years ago. We drove 2800 miles in 8 days. We left from Hillsboro, or (a suburb of Portland) and drove to Casper, Wy. and back. We stayed a couple of nights in Jackson, Wy, and explored Grand Teton and Yellowstone National parks. It was a great trip except the sunburn I got on the 2nd day of the trip. The next road trip we are planning is over to Devils Tower and into the Bad Lands. I am looking forward to it, but am extremely happy to be flying to Las Vegas this year.

 

Re: RV, I occasionally get emails from Cruise America, an RV Rental company, they frequently have one way specials to re-position RV's to locales where needed. You can save a ton of money. They rent in Canada as well.

 

Long story, Glen. I'll tell you about it in August.