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A1Janitor

A1Janitor

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My sometimes smart son came up with a great idea in his mind.

He has to go to California for four months for some engineering school in June. He weighed flying vs driving 40 hours.

So he decided to invite dad to drive from Annapolis to LA to share the drive with him. On one hand it will be time to spend with my son before he is detained in Gitmo. On the other it is driving to California while my goldendoodle is boarded like a caged animal.

The thought is to find a route to visit places we haven’t been. Nashville? Grand Canyon? Vegas?

What is the best route to see the best places? Suggestions?
 
A1Janitor said:
My sometimes smart son came up with a great idea in his mind.

He has to go to California for four months for some engineering school in June. He weighed flying vs driving 40 hours.

So he decided to invite dad to drive from Annapolis to LA to share the drive with him. On one hand it will be time to spend with my son before he is detained in Gitmo. On the other it is driving to California while my goldendoodle is boarded like a caged animal.

The thought is to find a route to visit places we haven’t been. Nashville? Grand Canyon? Vegas?

What is the best route to see the best places? Suggestions?
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I think we’ve done all the East-West interstates on multiple XC PCS trips over the years. Much depends on time of year. Summer -the southernmost route is Satan’s armpit. We’ve enjoyed 40 in the winter, great food all the way, 70 and 80 in the summer.

We often did themed trips, building in time to go a little off-track:
National Parks - the famous ones as well as the less well-known
Presidential Libraries (that has been a fun pursuit)
Famous battlefields
Natural beauty spots
Big Cities we hadn’t seen before (Chicago)
Barbecue survey, from pork to brisket in multiple cities, styles and regions
Iconic museums (Rock and Roll!)
Food Network Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives or other food show locations
Route 66!
Places with hot springs for delicious soaks - have some fun with Google - everywhere from rustic spots to luxury resorts. One trip we pushed hard on US-10, driving far more that the 600 miles/day allowed in the travel day allowance. We spent two days soaking luxoriously at Castle Hot Springs north of Phoenix and arrived relaxed in San Diego.

Pro tip: we often stayed at military bases in VOQ (visiting officer quarters) or the on-base hotel (usually an IHG property). Your son is traveling on orders, so he has priority and best rates at Qs over regular leave travelers or retirees.
 
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Having done three legitimate coast-to-coast crossings and at least a half-dozen most-of-the-way treks, I’ve discovered the following:

Have at least one interesting stop every single day. It’ll lengthen the trip, but make it significantly more enjoyable. This can mean taking a less-direct route, but it pays off.

We love to eat. So we’ve tried to have some signature dish in every state and major city passed — ideally something you’d otherwise not eat. For example: toasted raviolis in St. Louis, Jucy Lucy in Minneapolis, Rocky Mountain oysters in Colorado, Italian beef in Chicago, loose meat sandwich in Iowa. If you really want to “taste America,” compare BBQ styles all the way across — white sauce in Alabama, brisket in Texas, burnt ends in Kansas City, mutton in Kentucky, and so on.

Depending on your interests, you could string together daily stops such as the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Ohio, then the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, then the Chicago architecture cruise, then the Eisenhower birthplace and presidential library in Kansas, then a hike in the Rockies, then a little roadside gambling in Nevada.

I also suggest you each pick a couple audio books, with the driver getting to play his choice during his shift. I did this with DS last month when we drove from our home out west to Quantico to drop off DD’s new car. When he drove, I got to learn about the long and fascinating history of mammals. When I drove, he got to learn about a murderous psychopath during the World’s Fair in 1890s Chicago.

Check out Home2Suite hotels. They’re owned by Hilton, are mostly new or recently renovated, and are fairly uniform in quality and cleanliness. Every room has a sitting area. There’s free breakfast of decent quality. There’s a bright lobby and outdoor patio. And there’s a good-sized gym with free weights and cardio machines, with some equipped with kettle bells and yoga mats and foam rollers.

Whatever you decide to do, it’s precious time together. And you can’t beat that!
 
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So many options and @Capt MJ has provided a good base of suggestions that we followed long, long before. Uncanny. Her pro tip is right on. We preferred staying at Air Force Inns in any state that had an Air Force Base. I slept better knowing our car with all our PCS stuff was safe on base.
The funniest thing my son and I saw was at a gas station in west Texas. We went to the restroom separately. When we got back to the car he asked me if it was normal to have two toilets right next to each other in the same stall. I told they were friendly in Texas and it made it easier to pass the toliet paper. He still talks about that. I hope you have a great trip out west traveling that "ribbon of highway." It's a beautiful country.
 
Lol I will send you the Rocky Mountain Oysters.

The audio books is a great idea. I drove from Florida once solo and got my favorite author at the time - Patricia Cornwell’s Kay Scarpetta. Unbelievable how time flew.
 
to address the truly important question or issue.

Why caged up while you are gone?

There are cage free boarding places that are more like all inclusive play resorts. With internet so you can check in as you want to see how they are enjoying their vacation.

Some of those places you can drop off a somewhat trained dog and return to find a truly well trained dog ( not cheap)

There are also trained folks that can come into your home and take care of your friend while you are gone.

Don’t be like me if I can’t take mine I am not going :)
 
I feel for you regarding boarding your dogs. One of my sons was a Rover boarder for a year (he has a lab and was renting a house with a fenced in yard). That can run $100/night per dog but the dogs are treated great and run around. I have 3 dogs (one is 15 years old). It’s going to cost us more to board for Commissioning Week than our airfare.
 
I hear you on dog care, just as important a logistics consideration as our own plans for comfort. Our boxers blow through the doors at the “pet retreat and spa” they go to when we travel, without one look back, and I don’t know what all they do there, but they apparently have a blast and sleep like happy zombies upon their return home. There is a “big dog” exercise field, a bone-shaped paddle pool (I am sure labs love it, boxers not so much, but they enjoy barking at the swimmers), small rooms with outlets to small runs, indoor play arena in case of inclement weather. They text us back when we text them, something they seem to be incapable of at home. We can check on them via webcam. Their guest profiles indicate they prefer the “Happy Camper” package, which includes a leash walk on the illuminated woods path before bedtime.

I am not kidding. It seems only right when we are on a cruise or road trip.

Now, back to XC Road Trip. A common them is to add some fun objectives and enrichment to the trip. I’m enjoying the posts.

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We typically get someone from our neighborhood we trust and pay them to walk, feed, and care for our animals when we go away (2 dogs, 4 cats, 3 bunnies, hamster, fish, and a snake). Yeah, we pay well, but it's worth it because the pets stay in our home, so are less stressed.

We've even done full on house sitter with them. Still costs less than boarding.
 
My dog doesn’t mind boarding. They love him. And it is a farm with space (assuming they actually take him out).

I think the truth is I need my boy with me. He is almost 8 years old, and probably has slept without me maybe 15 days of his life. More importantly, he has been my best friend for 8 years.

I had a friend who started a dog walking business. I am going to contact her and see if she will go there an hour a day to walk him and play with him.

I honestly haven’t seen a resort like that anywhere near me. We are getting a local dog park finally next month.

Another issue is he has infrequent seizures. First time I saw it scared me and he was brought to Cornell.

For anyone that has a dog with seizures … the last one was bad. The vet has been advising me if/when he needs to be on medicine. She told me that it wasn’t a doctor’s recommendation but said her patients tell her the seizures improve with a switch to a different food.

I switched about four months ago. He hasn’t had a seizure since (I would have expected 3 or 4 by now). The new food - Purina Bright Mind.
 
My Mid took his pooch with on their coast to coast trip. She does fit in a backpack, so there’s that 😆, but they take her everywhere on leash (backpack is for flying).

They said the west coast is very dog friendly! As was Annapolis. But out west, even more so. Maybe bring your dog with you??
 
justdoit19 said:
My Mid took his pooch with on their coast to coast trip. She does fit in a backpack, so there’s that 😆, but they take her everywhere on leash (backpack is for flying).

They said the west coast is very dog friendly! As was Annapolis. But out west, even more so. Maybe bring your dog with you??
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It was the first idea I had. He is an 80 pound lug!

But flying with him would be a nightmare - though everyone would love him. He is a good citizen.
 
A1Janitor said:
My sometimes smart son came up with a great idea in his mind.

He has to go to California for four months for some engineering school in June. He weighed flying vs driving 40 hours.

So he decided to invite dad to drive from Annapolis to LA to share the drive with him. On one hand it will be time to spend with my son before he is detained in Gitmo. On the other it is driving to California while my goldendoodle is boarded like a caged animal.

The thought is to find a route to visit places we haven’t been. Nashville? Grand Canyon? Vegas?

What is the best route to see the best places? Suggestions?
Click to expand...
Have done this with little kids even...can be a great time with a few goal spots and a lot of flexibility! We really like the Roadtrippers app as it has tons of "off the beaten path" ideas and suggestions in addition to mapping (works with Google and Waze seemlessly). Worth a few bucks for the premium version for a month. https://roadtrippers.com/
 
Some of our fondest and most memorable XC trips were before the advent of the smart phone and GPS. I’ll admit I wish Spotify was around during some of those trips. We’d plan the route using a Rand McNally Road atlas. We watched the gas tank a little closer. We decided our own points of interest and were our own “Trip Advisor.” The spontaneity and no bucket list of endless internet suggestions allowed us to truly have a fun trip. Get a road atlas and “wing it” on different legs of you trip. If Nashville is one of your waypoints, stop and see the Parthenon there. You can brag to friends you saw it. They'll think you went to Greece. Heading west, consider Graceland and Beale Street in Memphis. Elvis' home is one tourist trap the family really enjoyed.
 
if you are adventurous you can take the Trans America Trail (TAT) which is a one way off road way to get across the US (google it to get details) and you can even take the dog! My son did the TAT at 16 years old with a handful of friends. you have to have a 4wheel drive though
 
I agree with lots of the posts above - we've taken to listening to books and have some that we only listen to when on a trip so if its not done, we need to find an excuse to drive somewhere for an hour or two.

Some books we trekked to:
Red Storm Rising
Ready Player One
The Boys In the Boat.
.
Very important - as a fellow Northerner, you probably fail to understand the magic that is Buc-ees so I'll just leave you a
map to find them. I'd put Buc-ees up against most tourist traps such as South of the Border or the Giant Ball of String.

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Lol at GPS. I use waze and love it. Have the atlas tell you where the cops are!

My son has a strange knowledge of direction. When he was 2 - he could accurately point out how to get to grandma’s house in Long Island from Syracuse. He would get angry if I didn’t let him tell me where to turn before I put a signal on. After doing the trip once. Always started shaking violently before the Tappan Zee came into view.

Just weird.

In ninth grade basketball, bus driver took a back way to a Syracuse school. Got lost. No cell service. My son walked up and told him how to get there. Never been in that area before.
 
As far as the Route ..... I know what I'd do ...go South. I've driven I-80 at least to Colorado enough to know that it can get really boring. There really isn't much between Ohio and Sacramento.

I did the PCola to Sacramento move after Aviation Indoc and VT 10 back in the 80's. We drove up to the visit my Parents then took 80 most of the way to Sacramento. (I used to laugh that our start point was a couple miles from I 80 and end point). We did swing down through the Colorado Mountains, which was pretty cool. (Had lunch at Vail during the very late season , I think April -- didn't get back to ski for about 30 years !).

Six months later, after wings in Sacramento, we drove to Jacksonville via the southern route ..I think I-10. We made a detour to the Grand Canyon .. a must see, then a long drive through Texas -- over 12 hours at about 80mph. New Orleans was a great stop as well.
 
A1Janitor said:
Lol at GPS. I use waze and love it. Have the atlas tell you where the cops are!

My son has a strange knowledge of direction. When he was 2 - he could accurately point out how to get to grandma’s house in Long Island from Syracuse. He would get angry if I didn’t let him tell me where to turn before I put a signal on. After doing the trip once. Always started shaking violently before the Tappan Zee came into view.

Just weird.

In ninth grade basketball, bus driver took a back way to a Syracuse school. Got lost. No cell service. My son walked up and told him how to get there. Never been in that area before.
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Cool moments - love hearing of these types of raw talent presenting themselves. That's impressive. Not sure of his interest but it sounds like he'd be a rock star as an officer leading where to deliver ordinance/ "fire for effect" or navigating logistics in the theater of combat (or navigating a P8 or whatever for that matter).
 
I agree with the person that said the southern route will be too hot. Here is the basic route I'd suggest to get a taste of the northern half of the US:

Annapolis to Mackinac Island Michigan- Mildly interesting route, but mostly about positioning. The bridge is cool and the area is beautiful. You could head north from Annapolis and hit the New England region, but that's a lot of extra miles and days.
Mackinac Island to Badlands NP- Stop at cool places like Lake Superior and Mt Rushmore. The Badlands are surprisingly amazing.
Badlands to Rocky Mountain NP - Mildly interesting and positioning for the Mountain West.
RMNP to Salt Lake City - The Mountain West is gorgeous! Use Trail Ridge Rd in RMNP to cross the divide and from there you can head to Glenwood Springs with a cool canyon right before Glenwood. Stay at the hot springs hotel. Go check out Moab and all of the national parks but save an in depth trip for cooler weather.
SLC to Lake Tahoe - You can take I80 and that's an ok route, but one time I cut across on hwy 50 after the Salt Flats. It's the most desolate and abandoned route imaginable and we all loved it. My kids still talk about it. lol. Tahoe is a gem.
Lake Tahoe to Marin County- Mostly for positioning, but you could hit Napa on the way.
Marin to Monterey- The Golden gate bridge, SF, Alcatraz, and anything else. I'd suggest hugging the western edge for a beautiful drive to Santa Cruz instead of slugging through Silicon Valley.
Monterrey to LA- Hwy 1 through Big Sur, Santa Barbara, and Malibu. It's so beautiful. Maybe you will see a whale. ;)
 
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