Road Trippin' the USA - back home (for now)

[kbit]

Ok so we worked on an updated route: http://mapq.st/1BJssLz
This is by no means final but closer to our goal.
Planned departure date: June 1st.

TENTATIVE STOPS:

NSFW: show

Centralia, PA
Philadelphia, PA
Newport News, VA*
Kill Devil Hills, VA
Charleston, SC (convince me why I should go out of the way for this)
Ashville NC (Moog factory!)
Great Smokey Mountains
Atlanta, GA*
New Orleans, LA*
Austin, TX*
Denton, TX* (cuz I want to see some ilfers )

Sante Fe, NM
Arches National Park, UT
Salt Lake City, UT
Bonneville Salt Flats, UT
Davis, CA*
Bay Area, CA*
Portland, OR*

*places with people we can crash with

I'm wondering if any of y'all could help fill in the gaps of places to stop along the way (especially after Denton) since some of these stops are super far apart. Cool cities/towns/nature spots? We are planning on camping, fyi. We are also looking to go into Colorado if anyone knows of a cool spot in the SW area of the state.

[cedarskies]

i'll be in SW colorado in the san juans in june. supposed to be a really amazing set of mountains. will have lots of snow still.

[D-Day]

You might not make it past Centralia.

I had no idea there was a Centralia not located in Washington!

Portland is amazing. Believe the hype. Unless it's Voodoo Donut hype. Don't believe that hype.

I'll happily put you up if you make it to Seattle. I currently find myself in a ridiculous living situation. Big old house on a cliff overlooking the Puget Sound. And if my elderly and fragile dog is still with us my bed will be vacant since I sleep on the couch so as to not keep her waiting any of the one hundred times per night she needs to go out and take a leak. Send a PM

[Dr. Sherman Sticks M.D.]

dude, how am i just seeing this now for the first time?

bigs up! yall better add a "The Spaceship, Outer Space" to the beginning of your travel adgenda!

[misterstomach]

Ok so we worked on an updated route: http://mapq.st/1BJssLz
This is by no means final but closer to our goal.
Planned departure date: June 1st.

TENTATIVE STOPS:

NSFW: show

Centralia, PA
Philadelphia, PA
Newport News, VA*
Kill Devil Hills, VA
Charleston, SC (convince me why I should go out of the way for this)
Ashville NC (Moog factory!)
Great Smokey Mountains
Atlanta, GA*
New Orleans, LA*
Austin, TX*
Denton, TX* (cuz I want to see some ilfers )

Sante Fe, NM
Arches National Park, UT
Salt Lake City, UT
Bonneville Salt Flats, UT
Davis, CA*
Bay Area, CA*
Portland, OR*

*places with people we can crash with

I'm wondering if any of y'all could help fill in the gaps of places to stop along the way (especially after Denton) since some of these stops are super far apart. Cool cities/towns/nature spots? We are planning on camping, fyi. We are also looking to go into Colorado if anyone knows of a cool spot in the SW area of the state.

the southwest is hot as fuck and miserable to drive through in the summer, but if i were on your route i would definitely recommend stopping in west texas and checking out carlsbad caverns. it's really touristy and all, but it's one of the most mind blowing things you'll ever see. and it only takes a couple of hours. and if you can, and aren't too miserable in the heat, you should go to big bend natural area in the southwest of the state. really beautiful. there's plenty of beautiful stuff in new mexico if you're headed to santa fe. though you'll probably be wanting to get to cooler weather by then. you could stop in albequerque and smoke some crack and do some other sketchy shit. southern colorado has lots of great stuff to offer. the pagosa springs area and the san juan mountains have loads of nature's splendor.

and you should check out denver. it's a cool city that actually has pretty much everything on your list. it's really not as snowy as you'd think in denver in the winter. plenty of mild days and lots of sun.

the nature in utah is amazing in places, but i'd honestly skip salt lake city. i might piss someone off saying this, but i've generally found that places in utah that have much of a human population are just cesspools of the darkest human ugliness that you can find. just hateful shitty places.

after the bay, you should really consider taking the 1 up the coast to the 101 up to oregon. taking i-5 is obviously faster, but the coast is stunning if you haven't been there. some of my favorite nature in the country. beautiful drives along the ocean and the cliffs and you go through the redwoods. jedediah smith state park, which is not far from oregon, is awesome to just drive through and stop to take a hike in, even just for a part of an afternoon. the trees are just amazing. you can easily cut over to the 5 from there if you're in a hurry to get to portland, but the oregon coast is cool to drive up too. very pretty and lots of neat little coast towns. then you get to portland and it just rules and you won't need to go anywhere else. get in touch and we can get a beer or go to some of the better music stores.

[D-Day]

^He is so right about the 101 and Jedediah Smith. Do that for sure.

[ChetMagongalo]

yeah dude it's probably gonna be hot as fuck in TX in the summer, camping could very easily be miserable. I never go camping in the summer in these parts, it's just too hot. There's not really much that I know of between Denton and New Mexico, at least if you're trying to stay more north to have a quicker drive to Santa Fe and Northern NM. The drive from Denton to Amarilllo is pretty boring and lame. I've never been to Carlsbad but i've also heard great things about it. The caverns i've been to in south TX were really cool, and i'm sure Carlsbad is better. Going there would be a decent detour as well, at least from your planned route.

Anyway since it looks like you're passing through Reno, you should check out Lake Tahoe. It's the most blue lake i've seen, really pretty the weather should be amazing in the summer in Nevada.

[01010111]

the nature in utah is amazing in places, but i'd honestly skip salt lake city. i might piss someone off saying this, but i've generally found that places in utah that have much of a human population are just cesspools of the darkest human ugliness that you can find. just hateful shitty places.

Go to Utah to check out the pretty nature things. Don't go to Utah to check out the local culture. The people are terrible. I'd plan on waking up early after Arches, super early. Then drive to Salt Lake City and get lunch at Temple Square. Then leave with enough time to get to the Salt Flats long enough before dark so you can drive around a little and return to Wendover by the time it's dark. Then wash the salt off your car, and find a nice place for food/beer for the evening. That's all you need to see of Salt Lake City.

[kbit]

I've been takng note of all your responses and I thank you all for your suggestions.

I have no problem not staying in SLC , had no real desire to it was just on the way, so thanks for that

Senic drive up the west coast is super appealing. Wanna do that for sure. & thanks for the Seattle offer dday, we've been thinkng about headed up there as well so I'll certianly let you know if it's officially added to the list. Your house sounds dope.

[kbit]

HOKAY, so I've been on the hunt for a new car for this journey. Mainly something that: fuel efficient, reliable and has a large amount of space (ideally a hatchback / something that could sleep two just in case). Budget is about $4k max. I've been looking at Subarus mainly but haven't had good luck finding a good one.

Any other cars I should be looking at? Have any other suggestions aside from scrounging craigslist? cars.com and auto trader haven't helped me thus far...

[kbit]

Boosh.

[skullservant]

Please come through baltimore, or at least Maryland. Hang with the Dirge family! Also Derelict lives down the street from me, Sonny lives down the street from me, Ceaser lives close too. AncientAstro is only about an hour away. OddKnowledge and whoismarykelly also are in town!

[kbit]

Dang I didn't realize how close yall were. We are going to start hammering out our timeline so once I know the time frame of our time in that area I'll check in with you

[skullservant]

Sounds perfect dude. If worse comes to worse we could always meet up for lunch in PA as I am in PA about 4/5 work days of the week

[darthbatman]

I work at a roadside tie-dye stand in Hopland, CA on Hwy 101, do stop by if it's on your way up north!
Also, glad to see you went with Subaru! Me and my gal Love to go camping in ours
i don't have much in the way of spare room.. but i know some kind folks! have a good trip bro