Hello Ron,

I understand your frustration, but fortunately you asked for help soon enough, so we can have a couple of iterations going back and forth.

First off all, remember why you want to take the trip. You probably want a relaxing time with your family. Even a perfect plan can only get you so far and some things happen by chance. So my first advice is not to stress things too much. Overall you want to have fun and maybe a bit of an adventure I assume. Sometimes we need to let things happen the way they happen. I notice that we often argue with each other when things don't go as expected. The right state of mind will ensure that you have a much more relaxing trip.

You should still prepare properly. I wrote an article about road trips a while ago. I have driven more miles on America's freeways on my photography trips than most people ever will.

For your questions:

I have contemplated that often, but I always come to the conclusion that Motels are more economical, comfortable and flexible. The RV rentals all have pretty steep mileage cost. Most RV rentals I see on the road these days are from cruiseamerica.com and they charge $0.70/mile driven on top of the rental cost. If you consider the higher fuel cost for RV and that you can easily find rental cars with unlimited mileage, the car+motel option looks more economical. Some curvy roads through some National Parks are a hassle with an RV and Highway 1 is no walk in the park either.

I think many people who do drive RV do it for the feeling of "RVing". 

You do not need to pre-book hotels for trips during April or May, but watch out for holiday weekends and stay away from the tourism hotspots on the weekends. I always grab a copy of the coupon book at McDonalds and use the phone numbers in there for reservations. I usually take a small Netbook on my trips and simply use Expedia, Priceline, Hotwire, Travelocity, Hotels.com and Orbitz to make reservations from my current hotel for the next one. Most hotels offer internet service (you can make sure they do by checking their website or calling them). This way I have maximum flexibility to extend my stay or drive a different route depending on conditions or my mood.

I will be back in a couple of hours looking through some route suggestions. Some amazing scenery is waiting for you there. Here are some good resources (that I created or helped create):

Native American Sites of the Southwest

California Photo Scout This is where I write about cool stuff in California. Its relatively new but I have some awesome articles on San Francisco coming up besides the ones I already have there. Use the map browser to find your way around or the Table of Contents.

If you look in the left navbar on this site you can find articles on each of the states.

Andre

Travel Photography

Hello Ron,

it will be much easier to suggest destinations once I know how long you are planning to stay, what your interests are (wildlife, archeology, geology, photography) and how comfortable you are driving long distances.

It sounds to me that you want to do the most popular route through the Southwest and California.

Highway 1 is absolutely gorgeous in May and April: Wildflower Hotspots near Big Sur

Route 66 on the other hand is overrated. Not much is left of the old road trip feeling with 50ies style diners and shops. No need to seek that out.

Route Suggestion

Here is a first stab at a route:

San Francisco

Seems like you prefer to start here. This is an excellent choice. San Francisco is by far the most wonderful city in California. There is so much to see and do here, that you can easily spend a week in that city alone. However you can also shrink things to a day of must see essentials. It will feel rushed, but I don't know your itinary.

In any case, this is the most complete section on my new blog: Table of Contents

I have written a lot more articles and scheduled them for publishing in the near future.

Yosemite

April and May are one of my favorite times to visit Yosemite National Park (Winter is also great). The waterfalls are full in Spring and if you are lucky the road to Glacier Point will already be open.

The Sierra's

Unfortunately for you, Tioga Pass will not open until June or even July. Cutting across to Mono Lake and Bodie is not an option, but you could go around it, via South Lake Tahoe, a resort town at a wonderful clear blue lake.

This would then give you the option to take Highway 395 through the Eastern Sierras, one of my absolute favorite places on Earth. This is clearly the path less traveled, offering stunning scenery. Check out my Eastern Sierras

Here you can find some of the most alien Landscapes:

Death Valley

Speaking of Alien Landscapes:

Whichever way you drive, you should go through Death Valley and stay in the park over night (this is a reservation you probably should make ahead, especially if you are here on weekends).

Vegas:

From Death Valley drive to Las Vegas, the gamblers paradise. Whatever others tell you, one night is plenty of time to explore the strip, dine well and play a few games. You won't need much more time.

Zion:

Leave Vegas early (I know, you partied long, but force yourself), drive towards Zion National Park. On the way you will pass Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada. Its up to your discretion to visit or not, but its beautiful.

Bryce:

I don't think I need to introduce Bryce Canyon or any of the next Parks, so I am going to keep it short and sweet.

Capitol Reef

CR lies on the way to Moab, your Utah Headquarters. Unfortunately this doesn't leave much time for CR, but I feel that despite its immense beauty it is a park you can forgive yourself for rushing through.

Moab, Arches, Canyonlands

This is by far the most scenic landscape in America. You should probably account for at least two days, preferably 3 or 4 in this area to see the parks at length. Some awesome hikes take you to two of the most magical places on Earth:

False Kiva

my Limited Edition Print of False Kiva

and Aztec Butte:

 

The hikes in Arches are also superb. For more inspiration:

My Travel Photos of the West

Canyon de Chelly

From Moab, you can make it to Chinle to see Canyon de Chelly, the most scenic Canyon with Indian Ruins.

If you manage to squeeze out a visit to Page after that, you should not miss Horseshoe Bend

Glen Canyon Dam and Antelope Canyon.

all three are sights to behold and warrant the detour, maybe even at the expense of skipping Canyon de Chelly.

Grand Canyon

I assume you already planned a trip to Grand Canyon.

Anza Borrego

From Grand Canyon you should aim at San Diego, but stop at the incredibly wonderful Anza Borrego Desert. In early April it will be blooming, but it will still be nice when you visit.

You could also visit Joshua Tree NP, another fabulous Desert Park in Southern California.

San Diego

Instead of heading towards Los Angeles, I would suggest you take a trip to San Diego instead. San Diego is much more laid back, has better sights and is just a friendly town with endless sights such as Balboa Park, Sea World, San Diego Zoo, Seaport Village, Wild Animal Park, San Diego Mission and much more.

From San Diego, you can theoretically shoot straight through Los Angeles to San Luis Obispo or better yet San Simeon and nearby Hearst Castle. Then take a trip on Highway 1 back to San Francisco via Monterey and Pacific Grove. Then you can end your trip and wave goodbye to the California Sea Otters in Moss Landing:

Or spend another day or two in Monterey, Santa Cruz and San Francisco.

Let me know when you are ready to narrow down the choices and when you need more concrete tips about a certain place. I have been in Utah, Arizona numerous times and have practically seen more of California in my nine years here than others have in a lifetime. I am sure I can help you with your questions.

Andre

Andre

 

Thanks so much for taking time to respond to my post. I must say I didn't expect to get such a concise and considered reply and what about the photo's? Do you have a book I can purchase? You're very generous with your knowledge and I'm very grateful. I aslo appreciate your comments on relaxation and stress. Ironically this is about getting away from the day-to-day and de-stressing !

I currently have 3 weeks available for the trip, with a possible 4th week that I'm working on. My motivation to do something like this is purely to subject my senses to the spontaneity and uncertainty that time on the road may bring (too many Jack Kerouac novels I think)

You've captured the kind of trip I had in mind and you've made my mind up for me - I will go with the Car & Motel option with the only pre-bookings being my first and last night.

San Francisco is a must, for me, for no reason other than the things I've read and seen have captured my imagination to the point where I need to see and feel the place. The National Parks, also, are just too stunning for words. Hence the choices I referred to in my original post

I go to pick my USA Atlas tomorrow and after this I will sit down and cross-reference this with the links you have provided and the comments you have made and get a more detailed route together. This then leaves me to calculate drving distances and times. If it's ok I will then post this for you to give it the once over.

Thank you, Andre, for the time you've taken to respond I'm looking forward to seeing what you think of my detailed plan.

Kind regards

Ron   

 

 

 

Glad I could help. I am a Bay Area local, meaning I am sure I can give you a lot of good tips about San Francisco.

I avoid stress by simply not overthinking things that I can handle with a credit card and a phone, which pretty much includes everything.

Here are two online resources that I use for route planning:

Google Maps you can plan multiple destination trips, see the driving time between each destination and drag the routes with your mouse to whatever road you wish to drive.

AAA TripTik is an awesome tool for road trip planning (use the zip code for San Francisco 94115 or any other code) 

Google Maps lets you turn on photographs on the map, which I always find useful to gauge the scenic value of a place and AAA lets you see road trip relavant items (travel guides, lodging, gas prices, restaurants). 

I often use Google Earth (downloadable software) to explore a place in depth for photography (not sure if this is one of your primary goals).

If you bring a laptop, it never hurts to check the road conditions before booking the next leg of the evening before:

Highway Conditions 

Some parts of the Sierra Nevada may still be restricted or closed due to snow, especially in April. 

Andre

 

I support Andre's advice. No RV, but a car plus hotels. Be sure, though, also during the trip, not to make internet hotel a chore. Especially during weekdays, hotels rooms are plenty, and not having a hotel reservation gives you so much more freedom during the day: where, when and how long to stop, make detours when you see something nice, etc. I've done this in most continents, and never ended up sleeping in the street. Do make reservations for the big cities such as San Francisco, however. In popular cities, sometimes hotels fill up because of conferences and other events that you can't possibly know about. Last but not least, here's another good reservations site: Bookings-Hotels.com

What a stunning view! It's truly a wonderful creation.