madmog
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 1,155
Club RR Member Number: 46
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Californiamadmog
@madmog
Club Retro Rides Member 46
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Mar 10, 2012 23:42:09 GMT
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Always wanted to go to California and look car shows and bone yards. Might get a chance to go this year but don't know where to start with something like this.
And how long would it take/cost to ride Atlantic to Pacific coast? Say starting in Florida or NY?
Can anyone recommend what time of year is best and where to start (Eg San Francisco, LA, Sacremento?) And any websites that might help me plan this out?
Many thanks
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depends on your budget dude. driving coast to coast is a bit of an epic to be honest. doing california itself can take a few weeks of your time. best thing to do is find cheap flights based on your free time and work from there....
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@ CRX_IN_SCOTLAND
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Um, for the coast to coast... read "quite a bit" and "quite a long time".
It really all depends upon the route you want to take. The wife drove from here (Pretty much New Orleans, LA) to Oxnard, CA. That was trucking and not stopping for anything apart from red lights lol She says that's a 23 hour drive, I-10, I-20, I-40. All Interstate. From here to Orlando is about another 20 hour leisurely drive.
Very pretty drive, and "some of the most beautiful sunsets and sunrises whilst you are driving through Arizona."
That's a gruelling drive though. The truck busted its water pump coming back through Texas, and that slowed things down a fair bit. Note that in a good proportion of that drive there's no cellphone coverage. If you break down, you've gotta hope someone stops.
Figure on your average rental car doing about 25 USmpg. The fuel is about $4/gallon on average though that climbs as you head West. From Key West to Long Beach is about 2900 miles (you'd probably start off somewhere like Orlando though, so take off 350 miles for that).. fuel budget cruising of about $400 just for that journey assuming you don't get stuck in traffic or get lost. Signposts that mean something aren't installed, to confuse the enemy.
From New York is about the same distance, just takes you a different route. Plan this bearing in mind up north right now is still under a fair bit of snow and down here we have had the air conditioning on for about a month now.
Either way I say go for it. Epic journey.
--Phil
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chevazon
Posted a lot
1939 Chevrolet 2 door coupe, `67 `Zon estate, `87 Ragtop Cavalier, 4 x 800 Drifters,(!) 1500 Drifter
Posts: 2,259
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I haven`t done a coast to coast yet but did SF to LA then on to Vegas a couple of years ago. That will take you a good fortnight if you want to see car shows, sights etc. I found this site useful for cruises, shows etc. - www.socalcarculture.com/I like SF as it has a great feel to the place so spend a couple of days there and pretend you are Steve McQueen or Clint Eastwood in your hire car. If you go in the summer it is actually quite cold due to some strange weather at that time of year - "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco" which was said by Mark Twain. A good time to go is November when it is still warm in SF and visit the GoodGuys meet at Pleasanton on the 12th Nov than head south as the following 2 weekends have Goodguys events in Arizona and then SoCal so do a big triangle take in 3 large shows and all that is in between. Just wish I had the dosh to do it this year ! Good luck with your planning.
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I haven`t done a coast to coast yet but did SF to LA then on to Vegas a couple of years ago. Snap! Last time we did it we put 3500 miles on the hire car. It was far more expensive than the time before that, I was really surprised at the price of fuel there now. I'm sure the central coast and dust bowl and rust belt are all beautiful but you're on your holidays. Do you really want to see what the US equivalent of the A1 looks like? In the same time it takes you could pick somewhere and base yourself there, see a lot and learn a lot about the place.
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Mar 11, 2012 10:02:54 GMT
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just do cali , plenty to see and do there its massive enough , great weather all year round
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91 golf g60, 89 golf 16v , 88 polo breadvan
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MrBen
Part of things
Posts: 89
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Mar 11, 2012 10:35:04 GMT
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I've done four road trips in the US now, all fantastic holidays. For the first one I'd stick to California or nearby states. Most rental companies will allow you to pick up and drop elsewhere within California and Nevada without a one-way fee. If you do a longer one way trip, these can get pretty expensive. Decide what you want to see - both car type events, and look at more general travel guides -it's an amazing part of the world. Then what I usually do is use Google Maps or similar to plot an idea of route and decide whether best to do a round trip or to start in one place and end in another. Quite a common one in California is to fly to LA and fly home from SF. In quieter areas you can easily turn up of an evening and find a decent motel room, but in busier places, I would book ahead, otherwise you can spend ages looking for something decent that doesn't break the band, and you waste a lot of holiday time doing that! Here's a random pic of me driving through a massive tree!
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Toy: 2001 Porsche Boxster S - almost retro! Daily: Modern BMW 435i - less exciting but quick!
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MiataMark
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,963
Club RR Member Number: 29
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CaliforniaMiataMark
@garra
Club Retro Rides Member 29
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Mar 11, 2012 13:17:08 GMT
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Went to California (SF area) a lot, I'd suggest May or September and a drive down/up Highway 1, visiting Monterrey, Carmel, Santa Cruz, 9 mile drive, Pebble Beach. If you've got time a trip to Yosemite is worth it. In SF visit Alcatraz (you have to book) and take a boat trip round the bay. I went to Disneyland (LA) from SF, drove down on the Highway boring and back along the coast (Highway 1) frightening as it was raining (hard). Have a picture of a Mazda Miata (hire car) on Highway 1. I'd love to go back and do a proper holiday drive down Highway 1. Mark
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1990 Mazda MX-52012 BMW 118i (170bhp) - white appliance 2011 Land Rover Freelander 2 TD4 2003 Land Rover Discovery II TD52007 Alfa Romeo 159 Sportwagon JTDm
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madmog
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 1,155
Club RR Member Number: 46
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Californiamadmog
@madmog
Club Retro Rides Member 46
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Mar 12, 2012 17:34:48 GMT
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Thanks all
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Here's a random pic of me driving through a massive tree! i see your 'driving through a giant california tree' and raise you with my comedy effort!
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@ CRX_IN_SCOTLAND
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