Planning a USA trip! - Help!

[petew]

Hi guys,

went looking for an off topic spot to post this, couldn't find one, so whatever. I have about 7 weeks of long service leave due to me. Keen to come and see the USA. The local authority (wife) tells me we could probably do five weeks. What I'd really like to do is drive Route 66. Of course it would be cool to catch up with some of you at the same time and sample some US ACVW turbos and or MS setups.

We have 3 kids (13,11,9yo). I'd like to maybe buy a car locally and sell it off at the end. Is this a good plan or not? Is the Route 66 trip worth doing? Not interested much in big cities and Disney Land although I might be forced into that. Love to hear people's thoughts and wisdom re trips, accommodation, stuff worth seeing, etc, etc.

Cheers, Pete

[Ol'fogasaurus]

I've been on parts of Route 66. Some of it is good shape and other parts are... well not well taken care of. I've talked to several who have driven the whole thing and they thought it was worth it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Route_66

https://www.historic66.com/

https://roadtripusa.com/route-66/

If I had known I could have bought you several hats with Route 66 on the front but since we sold our motorhome this month so we won't be back down where inexpensive, but nice "Route 66" hats are being sold.

Lee

[madmike]

Hey Pete, when do you plan on coming 'up' ? FYI, were starting to get our cold weather soon,,, we had 90*f 3 days ago this morning it's 38f but, i'm on the northern end of route 66

[petew]

We're looking at dates during summer next year. July.

[Chip Birks]

What do you like to do? Outdoors stuff? My area is extremely popular with those types. Lots of awesome national parks nearby. I'm in Utah.

[buguy]

July is brutal in much of the US!

[Clonebug]

Aussie land is the same in their summers.......they will feel right at home.....

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Aussie land is the same in their summers.......they will feel right at home.....

In places it is more brutal than most of the hot places here based on talking to guys I worked with who lived there.

[petew]

We're used to day after day of 95F (35C), but my wife doesn't love that sort of heat. She hides in the aircon.

Re vehicles, what would you all suggest? Buy or hire? We've got 3 kids with us.

[madmike]

Rent a motor home? just a thought

[Ol'fogasaurus]

I've never rented a Motorhome (caravan) but we were seeing the rentals on the road and in campgrounds more often now days. Years ago we kind of looked into it because we were not using our motorhome all year like many do: if I remember correctly, you pay a base price then I think you pay by the mile. I'm not sure about the insurance thing but doing a search in the URL I'm giving will tell you about that. Another thing to check on could be the driver's license but that is an input based on something I being said once a long time ago.

This is one of the rental places we see often see on the back of the rental motorhomes; I did a search for the company in CA (the probable start of your cruise) and this is what I got: https://www.cruiseamerica.com/?utm_sour ... paign=full so thin may give you an idea of what is going on and prices. As I said, I don't know much about rentals as I said, until the first of September we had our own. As far as buying then selling a car or van that, to me, would be kind of a coin flip.

The class C, as shown, usually will have two sleeping in the overhead above the driver's area. The table top would collapse down on the a ledge on each of the seating areas (usually some storage under them too) with a cushion over the top; sleeps two usually. Then there is the mom and pop area in the back. They should have a shower (good) as well as the potty area. Stove, refrigerator (propane but some are dual 120v and propane and some also will handle 12v). Not sure about TV so I would look into some things for the boring parts/sections of the trip.

Motorhomes are great for touring and allow room for activities but even then they can get tight when people get tired and at night.

Another option is to do the trailer thing. Buy or rent a tow vehicle, then buy or rent a trailer for when you stop. Trailers cost less new than a motorhome assuming you already have a tow vehicle. Not sure what if you are going to have to get both. We are seeing more trailers out there now as the recent retirees seem to be buying more of them than MHs.

Also, plan your trip in advance. The places to stay fill up quickly and now days... way in advance. Also plan fuel stops in advance so you have an idea of where to fill as there can be large gaps between fuel stops at times. Make sure your cell phone works here and also have the ability to look for potential traffic problems... in advance. When the wife got the fuel stops w/prices, traffic problems and help locating overnighting places things on her phone it, for the most part, made trips so much easier. Also be aware of the time zones . You will also be amazed at the many different versions and accents of English spoken on your trip .

One other thing: in some ways, the spring and early summer are the times of the year to buy... or at least to sell as that is when the market is more active. We got lucky and sold in the fall but the buying prices were a bit lower then too.

I hope this helps some. Lee

[petew]

Right, so scratch the 3 kids. Seems as though it's myself and the wife now (stoked).

Seems like June now too.

Any other thoughts?

[petew]

Right, moved around again. We're coming in August now. Def doing route 66. My wife is wondering if that will be ok in Summer.

[buguy]

August is going to be hot as poop pretty much everywhere.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

You will be heading from hot Southern CA then end up in the Central-US (Chicago Illinois) by the Great Lakes in the hot months of August and September. There will be some mountains to climb (hot!) and some valleys (HOT!), rough roads in areas (not too hot [not talking about temperature either]). Should be a fun trip especially if you prepare for the worse and not have any. Good you are asking questions so you can prepare.

Also things, other than liquor, are not metric (slowly the conversion is happening) here so be prepared for that difference.