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Epic Road Trip


liner33
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Well just got back from and amazing holiday, 2 weeks driving from Atlanta Georgia to Los Angeles with my son and then met my wife and had a further two weeks as a family staying a week in LA and then driving up the newly reopened coast road to San Francisco before heading back to LA for the flight home.

We started in Atlanta and picked up our ride a 2018 Chevrolet Tahoe 5.3l V8, 350hp and shed loads of torque, amazing car very well equipped and which under cruising switched off 4 cylinders to become a V4, meaning mpg into the 40’s was possible which is around 48mpg in UK gallons, pretty amazing for a 2 tonne SUV. In fact, until we got to LA we were averaging 28mpg US (33.5UK) not that it was an issue as filling it up cost around £50 and we could do 700miles on a tankful

 The car also had its own wi-fi hotspot, a first for me and even in the middle of the Sonoran Desert (But not in some parts of California) we had wi-fi, made sanity checking the Sat-Nav and finding places to stop a doddle

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So itinerary was ………

 

Arrive Atlanta (Worlds biggest airport apparently but also one of the worst, 2 hours to get through immigration and a struggle to get to rental car area) then collect car and head to Hotel, we were goosed it was 11pm by the time we arrived but our bodies thought it was closer to 5am

 

Next day head to Nashville (250miles - 4 hours) ready for their 4th July Celebrations. Easy drive and stunning winding up through the Appalachian Mountains

Day in Nashville

Head to Little Rock – Arkansas (350miles-5 hours), drove over the Mississippi, through Memphis and into Arkansas

Day in Little Rock – Son wanted to visit Little Rock High school which he had studied ion history as it was important in the Black civil rights movement, stunning looking school as we had a tour around, it was like every US high school movie inside :). Bit of shopping, trip to Hooters (Had to be done)

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Head to Fort Worth, Texas (350 miles- 5 hours), really easy drive stopped at Texarkana (Border town near both states) clearly god fearing the waitress told us to “Have a blessed day” which was nice.

Day in Fort Worth – Roads around Dallas were fun 8 lanes of craziness. Stayed in the historic stockyards where the cattle would be loaded into trains at the end of the Chisum Trail, great place, twice a day they herd Longhorn cattle through for the tourists

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Head to Roswell, New Mexico – (7 hours – 460 miles) long day, but easy driving, many of the roads look like this, and have 75mph limits

Day in Roswell – For those that don’t know in 1947 a flying saucer apparently landed there, apart from that Im pretty sure nothing really of note ever happened, but that hasn’t stopped the town making the most of it, with the streetlights, Flying saucer McDonalds and the realistic displays in the museum

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Head to Sierra Vista, Arizona (7 hours – 460 miles) Stunning drive but really long whats in Sierra Vista ??

Day in Tombstone Arizona – Always wanted to go here, love the movie and always wanted to go here but it’s in the middle of nowhere really , wandered the old streets and caught a re-enactment of the famous gunfight , also visited the Birdcage theatre which was mega spooky , headed to the mining town of Bisbee for the afternoon which is a quirky and cool place and only about 18 miles from Mexico – Many people in this area head to Mexico for medical and dental treatment as its so much cheaper than the US.

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Head to Buckeye – Arizona (3 hours- 200 miles) this is near Phoenix, its really hot ! I mean really hot like 46 degrees C or 115 F , we just stayed here to split to the drive to LA .

Head to Newport Beach, LA – (6 hours 380 miles), awesome drive right through the Sonoran Desert, hot and few people live there, stopped at a rest area and took a pic for Tony, pretty though

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Driving into LA was miserable in fact driving in LA is pretty much always miserable, the roads are overcrowded and people drive like arses but it is what it is, oh and petrol is almost twice the price of Arkansas due to increased taxation and the hate on the car (despite their being no alternative) highest we paid was $4.36 and cheapest $2.36 per US gallon

 

Week in Newport Beach chilling out, had a day in the theme park and did a lot of walking, anything not to drive really

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Second week we headed up to San Francisco via Pismo Beach and Monterey using the freshly opened Highway 1 and then quick dash back to LA to fly home

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Total mileage was 3950 miles, awesome trip, have added a few pics but son took many more than me obviously

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Wow what an amazing trip and some farther, son bonding. The SUV seems tricked up with all the toys and endless MPG. I do like the option to turn down the BHP.

Due to the tv and endless crime programs i have a very distorted image of the US. My wife has been there several times says it's a beautiful place with very nice people. Your pictures all show me one side of the US and that's how clean the environment is... A very different image of the UK and London the land of the street bin bag.

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Welcome home, I thought you had been quiet :) Sounds like an epic 4 week holiday, glad you enjoyed it :D

Photos look great and the SUV looks like a great motor for doing all those miles in. Why can't we have cars like that over here! How did you find the driving, did you take breaks or get fatigue?

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We did take breaks but bought a cool bag that fitted perfectly in the armrest and each morning we would stock that up with drinks . Also found peanut m and m's give a good energy boost so rarely struggled . The first day was one of the worst and relatively short so it worried me but keeping hydrated is pretty important although that makes for more toilet stops

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Excellent. Not done that one route.

The coastal drive between LA and San Francisco is great. Monterrey is a lovely place.

Completely agree with you about central LA itself but anywhere outside of that is great.

Done a lot of the west from LA heading south into San Diego, then into Arizona, up through Utah and back through Frisco to LA that way. Also done a lot of the route 66 and more North. Hiked a lot in Yellowstone and Yosemite.

Sorry, don't mean to highjack, just agreeing the scenery and diversity is fantastic and very jealous too that you've just been. 

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Didn't drive Lombard Street but driven it before and its always really busy, did drive past it on our way into SF , my wife used to live on Greenwich which is the next street over and we drove past her old house for old times sake. They are currently digging up large parts of central SF so the roads are pretty chaotic at the moment. We didn't drive the bridges either as they are toll roads and you need to preregister or sort out payment online and I didnt want the hassle, straight in park at hotel and straight out really 

 

 

We were very lucky about the coast road as it had been closed for about a year before reopening the week before we drove it, I drove it with my wife back in 1996 before we got married but its barely recognisable as so much has been replaced and Big Sur was pretty sad with a lot of businesses closed due to the road 

Forgot all about San Diego , we drove there as well just for the day to visit a friend but we stayed in La Jolla some years back and have explored California pretty well , my wife loves Yosemite as well but there are awful wildfires there at the moment 

 

My son and I always talked about doing route 66 but you can't do it anymore really as much of it has been ripped up so we chose this route picking places that either I or my son really wanted to go. Having visited both coasts we wanted to do the middle , I fancied Utah myself 

My favourite by far was Little Rock , we had a great view from our hotel and it's a really pretty place and very laid back , people are great but in all honesty in most of America the people are great 

 

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