Road Trip USA: Las Vegas To Manhattan

[Daniel]

Hello,

Driving from Las Vegas to Manhattan in the middle of August. I am doing it in five days so I dont have much time to do much straying from the path. First, i would really appreciate it if anyone could suggest a route to take. Secondly, if anyone would be able to suggest cool places to stop and eat i would really appreciate that as well. I kind of am just deciding this trip right now.. My shotgun partner doesnt have a drivers liscence and I am shakey so we are hopefully going to be planning frrequent stops.

Thanks,

DANIEL

[tanabutler]

Here is one possible itinerary, below. The way I am, I'd be more inclined to drive two long days and then break up the rest into shorter legs. Especially because the first 1000 miles or so is In The Middle of Nowhere.

You can use Maps.Yahoo.com to plot your route and timetable, or you can go to AAA.com and get maps, etc. (That is a map from the Bellagio to 411 Third Avenue, the location of Les Halles in NYC. You're looking at nearly 2600 miles of travel. Brave indeed, especially given the time of year.

Day One (leave pre-dawn to beat the desert heat):

Looks like you'll head up into Utah: Cedar City is one of the larger towns en route, about halfway to Denver (which you can probably get to in one day if you go faster than 60 MPH). Still, it's 750 miles but you'll be fresh on your first day for a big push.

Day Two

You head into Kansas. I don't know anything in the middle of Kansas along I-80, but I know that Lawrence has good food (there is a Slow Food Convivium there), and it's about 560 miles from Denver. If you get there, you're halfway through your journey, and can break up the rest of the drive into shorter chunks in more populous areas. (Maybe someone else can advise on food between Denver and Lawrence.)

Day Three

From Lawrence, you could make Indianapolis your next overnight stop (520 miles), and it seems like St. Louis is about halfway (mmmm, barbeque).

Day Four

Now you can drive less and have more options. Drive 200 miles and stop for lunch in Columbus. Drive another 200 miles (less) and have dinner and overnight in Pittsburgh. (It's off the main interstate you'll be on, but so what?) Or if you feel like it, push on a little further into the Allegheny Mountains and sleep there.

Dave Five

You'll travel east through the Alleghenies, and there must be a bunch of beautiful places en route. From there, you're into Philadelphia, where a bazillion eGulleteers live, and it's a hop, skip and a jump to New York City. Just like I pictured it: skyscrapers and ever'thang.

I hope this helps: it's at least a start.

Finally, WHAT ARE YOU? CRAZY?!?!?!?!?!

[Daniel]

Krazy I certainly am. I go to Las Vegas about four times a year for work and the convention is ending on a Wednesday and I have never driven across country. It just so happens that there is this girl I will be driving back with that is scared of flying. So to give you the answer behind the majority of stupid things done by men, "its for a girl" Besides there is so much of the country I havent eaten, I mean seen yet. But yeh, after seeing my itinerary laid out like that, It does seem a little much. Oh well, I am sure this trip will certainly not be uneventful. Thank you and if anyone can add anything I would appreciate it.

Daniel

[tanabutler]

Couldn't you take the train? Amtrak is such a fabulous way to travel.

[nightscotsman]

Couldn't you take the train? Amtrak is such a fabulous way to travel.

I love taking the train, but believe it or not, Amtrak doesn't stop in Vegas.

[AmyH]

I'll trump Nighscotsman's crazy . . Just returned from a three week roadtrip from Denver to DC up to Maine back through Niagara Falls, Detroit and Chicago. 5,000 miles with only one driver.

Las Vegas to Denver in one long day is doable.

Day Two, you can go from Denver to St. Louis, but that's another 14 hours at between 70 and 80 mph. Getting out of Colorado takes longer than you think and Kansas is one wide state.

Because we were heading for DC, we went from Denver to KC on Day One, KC to Louisville on Day Two (with a long stop in St. Louis to do the Arch and go to Crown Candy for an ice cream sundae and Marshmellow phosphate) and Louisville to Charlottesville/DC on Day Three. My apologies to anyone from West Virgina, but that was the worst part of the entire drive. I have food suggestions for my route, so once you decide how you are going, I can weigh in more.

Edited July 27, 2004 by AmyH (log)

[Daniel]

Yeh I do have to work out the route.. I would just prefer to go the shortest possible way. I heard of this one stretch of road called the loniliest road.. I am not too sure i want to drive that part. I know we are going to go camping one night in Utah I think. But after that I think we need to boogey back to NYC.

[gus_tatory]

don't have a map handy, but there's a town on route 66 called Williams, Az.

from (perhaps faulty) memory, this town is about 4 hours east of Vegas, and 1 hour south of the grand canyon.

route 66 is gorgeous enough (Valentine, Peach Springs), but Williams has this amazing steakhouse called Rod's, where i had probably the best steak of my life. get there before the bus tours do (early). you can't miss it--there's a huge fibreglass holstein out front.

if you stay overnight (perhaps the El Rancho motel, owned by British ex-pats?), then by all means have breakfast at the Cowboy Canteen, and order the cinnamon roll that's as big as a hubcap.

[Daniel]

Because we were heading for DC, we went from Denver to KC on Day One, KC to Louisville on Day Two (with a long stop in St. Louis to do the Arch and go to Crown Candy for an ice cream sundae and Marshmellow phosphate) and Louisville to Charlottesville/DC on Day Three.

Can i please ask you what in the world is marshmallow phosphate. Sounds really good whatever it is

[Mayhaw Man]

What! Are you crazy?

Take the SOUTHERN ROUTE! Food, man!

The I-10 corridor (fifty miles or so either side of the interstate) might be one of the finest eating highways in the world (I am counting San Antonio to Mobile). Thenoff of I-10 on to Montgomery, Atlanta, and rip it up the east coast through Georgia, South and North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, eating happily all of the way. Yikes! I might want to go with you. That's a great drive.

You could also veer north outside of New Orleans and head up through Tuscaloosa, BHam, Chattanooga, and up the Blue Ridge Pkwy.

Either way, the Southern Route gets my vote.

[Ore]

Ciao,

I did the drive from NY to CA twice, back and forth. From NY to L.A. I drove mostly on the I-80 and it was an ok drive. Cut down through Colorado and downt to the 15 which goes right into Vegas.

The way I liked more, and I thought was faster (less cops) was the way back. I drove from LA to Veags, then Vegas through the road that goes through the hoover dam. I remember something along the I-40 but cant be 100% sure. I remember going through the top of texas and OK and then cutting up to St. Louis. From there we somehow found the way back to NY through Hershey and its free tour! It was fun and fast, did it in four days with nice breaks in between.

Good luck,

Ore

PS - the Taco Bells on the road are always quite good...how I miss taco bell!

[Ore]

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Edited July 27, 2004 by Ore (log)

[Daniel]

Mayhaw Man,

I would pretty much trust any person who is the forum host for beer as well as Louisianna with my life. Haha. 1-10 It is if the map tells me I can do it in 5 days. Thanks again everyone for all the suggestions. Now that i know the route. I need to know the place worth going to. I figure 3-5 meals a day for 4 or 5 days. haha..Definately bringing a bbq incase i hit something good.. j/k I am so bad with direction I am buying a book tonight.

Daniel

[Mayhaw Man]

Daniel-

You win the "project for me" award for the day. I will post a map (and request help from others in local areas of interest), following the routes that I laid out, after you answer a few qualifying questions-

What kind of car do you drive?

How fast will it go?

Does it have good brakes, a.c., a cup holder, and an XM radio (the radio is a bonus question )?

Are you capable and willing to drive one long shot at top speed in order to make the most of your time on the road (hint-eastern New Mexico to San Antonio is not exactly a garden spot or full of dining Meccas ).

[Ore]

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Edited July 27, 2004 by Ore (log)

[Daniel]

Hey thank you thank you.. I am renting a car out in vegas for this drive. This means I will have very little regard for the cars care. I am assuming i will be in a convertable of some sort, in a newish model. No XM radio, but we have been working on our IPOD list for the last week.

The thing is: Me and this girl i will be traveling with might have seperate agendas. This is a big "getting to know ya" type thing. However, due to her lack of a drivers license i am pretty much in charge of the trip. And I am down for anything and will certainly be willing to try my best to hit all the spots. I am a rather fast driver. Speeds might possibly reach into triple digits if i dont make a concerted effort to slow down.

I really appreciate you doing this for me.

Daniel

[Rooney]

The fact that your travelling companion does not have a license concerns me.........are you sure it's legal to go with her?

[Daniel]

HAHA.. Yeh she is from Manhattan and never drove a car before. However, she is legally capable of having one however.

Daniel

[Mayhaw Man]

If Mann Act Violations were good enough for Chuck Berry well.............

Map to come-I've got to figure it out so that we can get everyone to participate. You may end up with a hundred or so quality choices to choose from (hell, I can name 50 or so just between San Antonio and Baton Rouge ).

You will need at least a CD player.

You should read

On the Road

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (you are leaving and all, but the description of the ride between LA and Vegas with the Samoan and Thompson is not unlike a pretty big chunk of any part of the West).

Andrei Codrescu's Road Scholar

Robb Walsh The Legends of Texas Barbecue Cookbook

Lolis Eric Elie's Smokestack Lightning

Macon Frye's Cajun Country Guide

Walker Evans/James Agee Let Us Now Praise Famous Men ( for mood when covering the Deep South-a great and timeless work-some of the people that were in the book are still pissed as most of them did not realize that the result would be a timeless collection of photos and prose that would be studied for years)

That gets you to Central Alabama- a whole different reading list is required for the Atlantic South. More to come.

I fully support the rental of any convertible-at any time. A ragtop is always a good move.

[AmyH]

Mayhew- you really think he can get from Vegas to NYC in five days taking the southern route. . it may be scenic and damn good eating but it is really, really indirect.

As for outfitting the car for the journey, I suggest investing in the iTrip for your ipod if you do not already have it. Will play all your tunes through the car radio and we only had to change the frequency (station) a few times during the trip. Second suggestion is to get a Coleman generator/converter that converts the cigarette lighter into AC current. The Coleman converter (about 30$ at Costco), sits on the floor of the passenger seat, plugs into the car lighter and than allows you to plug up to two items and run off the car. We had my laptop plugged in for the kids to watch DVD's (and occasionally to surf the net, when we needed to and could find a wifi spot) and keep the ipod charged (using the ITrip drains the hell out of the ipod battery), but the possibilities are endless . . you could plug in a blender for all it would be worth. In three weeks, we burned blew the cigarette lighter fuse only 1x . . pretty good.

If you go through St. Louis, Crown's Candy is right off of I-70 and not even a detour. It is very authentic soda shoppe. The marshmellow phosphate is basically a marshmellow shake . . marshmellow syrup, instead of hot fudge or caramel, ice cream, milk and malt poweder I think. .

If you don't head south, I would really recommend Charlottesville and a stop at Monticello . the grounds are phenomenal.

[Daniel]

Good god, a marshmallow phosphate sounds good. I figured out the southern route last night with my co-pilot. We are heading through towns like phoenix, el paso, dallas, shreevport, montgomery, atlanta, dc, philly, and then home sweet home. AAA wouldnt let me copy the trip so its still in her computer. But the total hours of driving is 51.. And this is at an average rate of 55. So i dont think i am going to have a problem. We worked it out that we would be waking up in DC Sunday morning. Which still gives me time to eat a gyro at marathon deli, at the university of Maryland, a philly cheese steak 3 hours later in philly, and get me home by the Simpsons.. Ahh life is beautiful.

[tanabutler]

Yeh I do have to work out the route.. I would just prefer to go the shortest possible way. I heard of this one stretch of road called the loniliest road.. I am not too sure i want to drive that part. I know we are going to go camping one night in Utah I think. But after that I think we need to boogey back to NYC.

FYI, if you do camp in Utah, you will lose a lot of time.

I'm not sure it's possible to get to NYC in five days via Mayhaw Man's route, but am completely interested to see his projection.

[Daniel]

Yeh i am pretty flexible.. I should have said the only thing i do know for sure is that i know nothing. Since making up this route provided by Mayhaw Man, we decided that we arent doing UTAH. We are going to the Grandious Canyon and then on to spend night one somewhere in Arizona. I think Phoenix was where we are spending night one. Lunch in El Paso, then Dallas we would sleep night two. Then i think there is a sleep in either Montgomery or Atlanta for night three , then Saturday night(night four) we end up in D.C. D.C is a short ride home.

[Daniel]

http://www.roadtripusa.com/us_80/index.html

Just found a really cool site.. This pretty much tracks the route before we break up North of the 80 Route.

[estherschindler]

Yeh i am pretty flexible.. I should have said the only thing i do know for sure is that i know nothing. Since making up this route provided by Mayhaw Man, we decided that we arent doing UTAH. We are going to the Grandious Canyon and then on to spend night one somewhere in Arizona. I think Phoenix was where we are spending night one. Lunch in El Paso, then Dallas we would sleep night two. Then i think there is a sleep in either Montgomery or Atlanta for night three , then Saturday night(night four) we end up in D.C. D.C is a short ride home.

Much as I would like to welcome you to our fine state of Arizona, it's really NOT on your way if you want to get to NYC in 5 days. If you could stretch the trip to 7, you could have a much more enjoyable time -- experience some of the countryside you drive through, not just see it whizzing past. (Plus, August is NOT the time to visit Phoenix for the first time. With average temperatures well over 100, this is the time when most of us natives head out of town.)

You won't get from Phoenix to El Paso in time for lunch. That's a full day's drive right there.

That said, I've done a few cross country drives, though I was usually heading or starting further south (LA or Phoenix). I'd do the across-Kansas route even though it's far from exciting (although you will get an appreciation for how much corn and wheat the U.S. grows and consumes). You should be able to find a few worthy eateries passing through Kansas City, for example.

But the real foodie part of the trip will be the "all American" opportunities. A catfish fry in a diner in Booneville, Missouri. (It's ten years since we ate at that truckstop, but my husband claims it's the best catfish he ever had.) If I were to grab a book for the trip, it'd be Road Food.