safford197

I'm getting ready to start vacation in two days. For vacation this year I decided to go on a long road trip over three weeks with the ES. I'll be heading up through the Texas panhandle through Denver and Wyoming to Yellow Stone and through Idaho to Seattle and Olympic Nat'l Park then on the way back through Portland, Southern part of of Idaho, Saltlake City, Santa Fe, Albuquerque and Las Cruces before returning home to San Antonio... Any suggestions?

nevernu

I've ridden those areas on motorcycle and I'd say you're missing out on some key areas ( though you may have been there many times already if you are from the SW lucky dog) :

1. Grand Canyon north and south rims
2. Zion, Bryce Canyon and such
3. Million Dollar Highway ie 550 Durango to Montrose and road next to it 62/145 through Telerude
4. Mesa Verde NP
5. Mt St Helens & Mt Rainier NP
6. Custer NP area
7. Hy 12 through Lolo NP

and lots more lol

Have a nice trip.

safford197

Nevernu, Thanks for the suggestions. I'm not rolling through AZ and want to save the Grand Canyon for it's own vacation. One of my goals is to see something in all 50 states, I've been to many places in the SW but on this trip I'll be adding 6 states to my 38 already visited.

jkutti2000

see this..
http://www.roadtripusa.com/routes/ro...tonowhere.html

if u can intersect some of the path.


i went from DFW to Denver and back. first used Amarillo but on way back used Kansas. the amarillo road was scenic but slow.. kansas coming back was a breeze. for u ( in San antonio) . i would take the route u have put thru amarillo. one tip for last minute accomodation.. i use hotels.com last minute( from a hotel parking lot). just login and find local deals or call their 800 number...

safford197

I double checked my route thanks to your tip but I'm on US87 (going through Fredericksburg) and US84 for much of the way heading North of Abilene.

I love the tip on the hotels, I have an iphone so I will use it. I hate making reservations in advance on long road trips like this as I never know where something will draw me in.

safford197

I'm back from my almost 5,700 mile road trip. I got to see some amazing things and really got to know my car well. I had to sleep in the ES twice, once through Yellowstone when it was colder then expected and a second time after that when I realized it was more comfortable then an air bed in a tent. I averaged over 32 MPG which I think is amazing considering the altitude changes and extreme climates, the highest I went was about 10,200ft on the NM/CO border at Cuerro Point. I traveled at an average speed of 80 for about 250 miles of IH10 in Texas where it was nearly 100 degrees the entire way.

As most of you in this forum already know, this is a great car to do a road trip in!

LexBob2

Sounds like a great trip. Thanks for the report. Were you tired of driving when got back? In March we took a 4,000 driving vacation to MO, NM, AZ etc. We had a great time, but by the time we got home I was tried of driving for a while. And I love to drive!

safford197

No problem with the driving, I could have kept going but the problem was the cheap hotels, checking in and out - carrying all the bags... I never stayed in anyplace for more then a couple days so I didn't get to just sleep in or vegg out in front of the TV for a little while - it was always go go go... Also, I just missed my home, my dogs, and my bed!