Have you ever taken a corvette west? Did it hold up okay?
Suggestions for first time road trippers?
Any must see/do/take suggestions based on our itinerary?
Hey there fellow travelers!
I'm planning a trip out west with the boyfriend for three weeks (last few days of August and into September) starting in Michigan.
So far, are planning on tentatively stopping at:
Chicago, IL
Badlands National Park, SD
Yellowstone National Park, WY
Yosemite National Park, CA
Los Angeles, CA
Las Vegas, NV
Grand Canyon National Park, AZ
Cannonville, UT (that's on my list, but I can't remember why)
Aurora, CO
Morrison, CO (Red Rock Amphitheater)
I found
www.byways.org with more scenic routes so we'll hopefully have a more scenic trip, however, I'm concerned about our car choice. He is pretty set on taking his
Corvette and I'm worried that WE'RE ON A FREAKING ADVENTURE and who knows what dirt roads, pot hole filled roads, or mountain areas we'll come across.
I don't want to take just the highways and do want to see more than tourist traps.
What did you drive? Did it handle well?
Were there areas that you don't think his sporty little number would do okay?
Aside from the vehicle choice, any suggestions or advice for first time road trippers across the states? (we've road tripped other countries so we have experience, but aren't sure what to expect from our homeland)
Do you have any website suggestions that were a big help in planning?
Have you stumble upon some pretty cool hole in the wall restaurants or sites in those areas or along the way?
Can you recommend a free site that helps you pin point and route where you want to go to help organize? I've found a couple, but none as user friendly as I'd like (lonely planet's is terrible and tripwiser.com is okay, but wondering if there's a better one)
Thank-you thank-you thank-you in advance for any advice you have for me!!!
Reply to this Hi Suzanne -
We did a similar adventure two years ago. Didn't take a corvette, but we did take an equally unconventional road-trip car (a Neon) and if you want to get off the highway (and I read in your other post you want to camp) I would not recommend your choice of car. It would probably survive the trip, but there ARE pot-holes, dirt roads, gravel roads, sandy roads, steep mountain passes and all the above and unless he's okay with his Corvette being covered in dirt and dust (and maybe a few dings from gravel)....eh...plus if you plan on camping the car will get weighted down very quickly, making mountain passes difficult at best (particularly around Yellowstone).
A corvette sits low to ground and has rear-wheel drive, so... you will run into places that you can't go, particularly if you go anywhere outside of the main areas of National Parks (areas of the Badlands and lots of places in Utah, for example). Or that you want to go so badly, but then get really stressed when it looks like you might be stuck because it rained overnight even though the weather report said it wouldn't and now your boyfriend is saying something like "Why did I let you convince me to drive down this crazy, crazy road ...." not that I'm speaking from personal experience or anything 😉
The Scenic Byways site you've looked at is pretty good. Also I'd check out the national park website to locate lesser known national monuments and recreation sites in the areas that you're planning on visiting.
AAA will provide trip routes for you - I highly recommend getting AAA even for a three week road-trip (you never plan on locking the keys in the car or having the battery die when you're in the middle of no-where, but it happens and AAA has people everywhere, I've learned) - but beyond that, I haven't found any decent compilation site, unfortunately.
Also you like microbreweries, there are a good half-dozen in Fort Collins, CO. I'd have to think for more little gems along your route.
Reply to this YOU have been a humongous help! I didn't even think of water levels. We road tripped New Zealand and there were areas that you had to cross little streams that sometimes flooded and they didn't recommend driving across unless you were in a bigger vehicle (actually, the signs said not to pass unless you were in a FORD, but I think they meant SUV or truck, haha). We were in a little rented car, but braved it anyway...I mean...we
were on an adventure and it
was a rented car....and I don't see that happening if we were in the same situation with his vette.
Also didn't think about the car being weighted down. I know we can fit our camping gear because we've taken the car locally, but didn't consider the weight.
I don't have AAA, but I do have AARP (I'm not that old, but my dad got a family package) with the same roadside assistance. You probably have to be an AAA member to get the trip routes, though, right?
You totally have our number with the microbreweries!
Thanks again for all of your input!
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