My USA Road Trip

[wadragracing]

Hey all. This is where I cash in on my holiday by bragging how good it was and making you all jealous. Ahem.

I'd never been overseas before this but on a bit of an impulse in August I decided to book a campervan and go road tripping through the USA.

I left at the end of September for four weeks of nothing but me and the open road...it was a pretty big personal accomplishment I think looking back on it and a fairly decent leap out of my comfort zone.

I covered over 11,000kms. Picked up the camper in LA and drove to a number of destinations, this is the basic list of places I stayed/camped:

Grand Canyon - worth seeing, but exactly what you think it will look like, nothing more, nothing less.
Albuquerque - Nice little city. The casino sucked. Nuclear History Museum was cool.
Elk City, Oklahoma - Has a Pizza Hut, all I saw of the town.
Memphis - First stop for NHRA drags. Apparently America's fourth most dangerous city but stayed in the good part of it and it wasn't too bad. Beale Street is cool if you're into your blues.
Some Sam's World carpark in West Virginia. I heard a gunshot shortly after parking up in a very empty carpark with only one other RV there.
New York (stayed in New Jersey technically) - hell, you've heard everything about it. Loved it.
Petersburg, Virginia - more drag racing. Shitty town.
Great Smoky Mountains, North Carolina - stunning camping area. See photos for awesome views.
Nashville (didn't actually get into the city though)
A Walmart carpark in the middle of Kansas, the most boring state in the world. Nothing but wheat.
Boulder, Colorado - stayed at a hostel here right up near the university. Bombed parties everywhere. Crashed one, went clubbing, good times. Also saw snow for the first time up in the spectacular Rocky Mountains.
Moab, Utah - Wish I could have stayed longer. Camping under the stars was magnificent. Rock formations and the canyon you drive through to enter the town are incredible.
Las Vegas - didn't really like it to be honest. If I had a bunch of mates with me I think it would have been different.

This is a car forum so I guess a word on driving. LA was a fairly intense introduction to driving on the other side of the road! After about ten minutes I was on to freeways fortunately which made it a little easier but you really have to think about what you are doing for the first day or so. After that it became second nature. I made only a few mistakes. One was on the first day when I was looking at a map rather than concentrating on a road and went through a red light which could have ended my holiday rather prematurely. You have to get used to looking for the lights above the road rather than on poles next to it. I got pulled over in Arizona for having the GPS in the wrong spot on the windscreen. Got a warning and a cool souvenir out of it (probably my favourite one from the holiday hahaha).
Parts of old Route 66 are everywhere right alongside the new I40. Lots of ghost towns where they no longer have exits.
Sooo many trucks on the major highways. Trucks trucks trucks trucks trucks. People generally drive fairly well on the highways though (ie when there is a merge point coming up they will move over to free up the merging lane for the traffic entering). 75mph roads are good. Fuel was cheap.
Thank god for GPS units is all I can say though. I printed out a whole bunch of Google Maps stuff before I left as a back up but didn't need it that much.
The van was really neat. Like the Wicked Campers here, but a bit more flash. I think the Ecotec motor from the Commodores in it and it didn't have too many dramas cruising at 75.
The scenery was awesome. It really is a country of astonishing natural beauty. Lots of canyons and outcrops to look at in the west, plenty of lush scenery through the south and the north. Going from a golden autumn in North Carolina to the snow of the Rockies to the desert of Utah in a week was incredible.
Not sure what more to add, if you have any questions shoot, enjoy the masses of photos. I will try to caption them.


http://www.wadragracing.com/usa/holiday%20022.jpg
Bright Angel Trail in Grand Canyon.
http://www.wadragracing.com/usa/holiday%20046.jpg
The camper!
http://www.wadragracing.com/usa/holiday%201012.jpg
Squirrel eating nuts. What a stereotype.
http://www.wadragracing.com/usa/holiday%201027.jpg
Parked up under the night sky in Moab, you can see the Milky Way here.
http://www.wadragracing.com/usa/holiday%201049.jpg
The canyon you drive through to get into Moab. If you look how tiny the cars are at the bottom it gives you an indication of size. It's a four lane highway on the left there.
http://www.wadragracing.com/usa/holiday%201095.jpg
Rock formations.
http://www.wadragracing.com/usa/holiday%201100.jpg
More rock formations.
http://www.wadragracing.com/usa/holiday%20248.jpg
Nasty fire in Funny Car
http://www.wadragracing.com/usa/holiday%20362.jpg
Street vendors in New York. I got food poisoning from one.
http://www.wadragracing.com/usa/holiday%20367.jpg
World Trade Centre site. The memorial museum they have there is very moving. I was fine with it until I got to the bit with all the notes to loved ones, there are tissue boxes everywhere for the people crying as they look on, basically walk around the place with a lump in your throat the whole time.
http://www.wadragracing.com/usa/holiday%20410.jpg
T-Rex in Natural History Museum. If you were a dinosaur nut as a kid like me you will love it here, all the actual specimens for all your big name dinos.
http://www.wadragracing.com/usa/holiday%20437.jpg
View from top of Rockefeller Centre, gives you an idea of size of central park.
http://www.wadragracing.com/usa/holiday%20492.jpg
Times Square at night.
http://www.wadragracing.com/usa/holiday%20537.jpg
Grand Central long exposure shot. Magnificent building to walk through.
http://www.wadragracing.com/usa/holiday%20630.jpg
Antron Brown. Tyre distortion and contrails from the wing!
http://www.wadragracing.com/usa/holiday%20715.jpg
More fire.
http://www.wadragracing.com/usa/holiday%20764.jpg
Carpet of leaves in Great Smoky Mountains.
http://www.wadragracing.com/usa/holiday%20769.jpg
Back of the camper.
http://www.wadragracing.com/usa/holiday%20850.jpg
Just a cool photo in the forest.
http://www.wadragracing.com/usa/holiday%20853.jpg
And again, because I am so arty.
http://www.wadragracing.com/usa/holiday%20868.jpg
Above the clouds on the mountains.
http://www.wadragracing.com/usa/holiday%20887.jpg
The clouds actually flow down the mountains, it's very cool to watch.
http://www.wadragracing.com/usa/holiday%20959.jpg
Frozen lake in the Rockys.
http://www.wadragracing.com/usa/holiday%20977.jpg
All very scenic.
http://www.wadragracing.com/usa/P1010088.jpg
Beach in LA, very smoggy/foggy.
http://www.wadragracing.com/usa/P1010122.jpg
They love dinosaurs everywhere. I'm not sure what the vomiting Stegosaurus symbolised.
http://www.wadragracing.com/usa/P1010138.jpg
On the road out of LA.
http://www.wadragracing.com/usa/P1010185.jpg
Street in Williams, Arizona. All the old towns take advantage of their Route 66 heritage.
http://www.wadragracing.com/usa/P1010262.jpg
Nuclear Museum
http://www.wadragracing.com/usa/P1010280.jpg
Dodgiest motel I have ever seen along a mostly abandoned stretch of Route 66.
http://www.wadragracing.com/usa/P1010300.jpg
Giant cross, in Texas where else?
http://www.wadragracing.com/usa/P1010307.jpg
Saw this in a servo
http://www.wadragracing.com/usa/P1010346.jpg
Beale Street, Memphis at night.
http://www.wadragracing.com/usa/P1010353.jpg
Turkey drumsticks for sale at the track!
http://www.wadragracing.com/usa/P1010379.jpg
Religious and political billboards are frequent. This was in Texas I think but along Route 66 there are billboards EVERYWHERE. Hard to describe.
http://www.wadragracing.com/usa/P1010480.jpg
Book store in NYC.
http://www.wadragracing.com/usa/P1010517.jpg
Lots of Jews at the zoo. Just for you Joe.
http://www.wadragracing.com/usa/P1010539.jpg
http://www.wadragracing.com/usa/P1010564.jpg
Ferrari California is it?
http://www.wadragracing.com/usa/P1010573.jpg
Bel Air! Again for Joe. I think is the ACTUAL Bel Air.
http://www.wadragracing.com/usa/P1010578.jpg
Patriotic or what?
http://www.wadragracing.com/usa/P1010654.jpg
Sonic Drive In. Like Maccas accept you park up and each bay has its own ordering menu and speaker.
http://www.wadragracing.com/usa/P1010775.jpg
A party I crashed in Boulder. They were playing Beer Pong.
http://www.wadragracing.com/usa/P1010785.jpg
Eisenhower Tunnel I think, about 11,000ft altitude. Poor old van was really struggling up the hill!
http://www.wadragracing.com/usa/P1010859.jpg
Road in Utah, so scenic.
http://www.wadragracing.com/usa/P1010893.jpg
'Pleasure Pit' in a casino in Vegas.
http://www.wadragracing.com/usa/P1010953.jpg
World's largest thermometer in case you are interested.
http://www.wadragracing.com/usa/P1010956.jpg
Try and pronounce it.
http://www.wadragracing.com/usa/P1010961.jpg
And what the inside looked like.

Hope I haven't bored you all too much :)

[Fryman]

awesome story dude! killer photos as well. somebodys got their slr out! there are certain individuals doing something similar and possibly more excessiv next year in march.

an inspiration!

[DanWA]

Awesome sounding trip with nice pics dude...

Lukian.... but will Kye be old enough to get into places?

[Lonewolf]

nice dude, really nice.

lol @ crashing random party!

[joshg123]

How much did this cost you luke?

[iluv2moan]

well u got me jealous luke. sounds liek my kinda holiday (jump in a car and just drive)

[DenZel]

How much did this cost you luke?

+1


very much enjoyed the post and pictures

[kiasu]

so keen to just get a bunch a mates and do the same thing..

[shifted]

Have a similar idea when I turn 21 so I can go everywhere with a couple mates. Sounds like a wicked trip though, definitely something worthwhile!

[RICEY]

Great read and pics, its a bit freaky doing the US alone but like you said it feels like quite an accomplishment afterwards. Id love to go again but probably not alone next time.

[flamo_damo]

Dude that is unreal, good on you for doing it. Would really love to do something similar in the near future.

[Joe]

Thats like 4 times our holiday.. we went for 4 weeks and drove 3200km.

So jealous!

LOL @ JEWS and Bel-Air, we actually stayed in Bel-Air when we were in LA.. best suburb in the whole city :D

[YOUR MATE]

Thats farkin awesome :) I'm planning my trip to the US next chrissy and dunno how I'm going to pack everything I want to do into the 4-5 weeks! Hadn't even thought of Utah/Colorado and places like that but they look amazing.

Very jealous and makes me more determined to go all out.

[[FFOUR]]

Awesome! Did the road trip acorss the US in 2008 and its something everyone should do, brave man doing it on your own though!

The Ferrari is a 612 Scaglietti by the way.

[ReaperSS]

Very nice pics!!!!

[wadragracing]

How much did this cost you luke?
I haven't added it all up preciesely (and I'm not going to either!!!). But I would estimate I got away with it for well under $10k. The dollar was and still is very good.
I would say $1400 for flights, I think it was about $2200 for the van, not sure about fuel but I would estimate 800-900 for the whole time (as I said fuel is cheap, it was US$2.0 a gallon in some places, so roughly 50c a litre).
Accommodation was the only other big cost, I chose to stay in hotels in Vegas obviously and also around the drag strips so I had the opportunity to charge all my gear and also because they were in dodgy areas haha. Probably spent about $1000-$1500 on that all up, maybe a little more.
Then it's really just all the incidentals, food, drinking, admission prices, souvenirs that add up.

Great read and pics, its a bit freaky doing the US alone but like you said it feels like quite an accomplishment afterwards. Id love to go again but probably not alone next time.
I'd agree. I couldn't find anyone who wanted to tag along at such short notice but I think I will find the mate first first next time and plan the holiday from there. Not saying I wouldn't do it alone again as there is a real feeling of independence you get but having a mate there is good to keep up your motivation to head out at night and those sort of things. If I had one regret it was turning in early a bit more often than I would have liked, but when you have to drive for eight hours the next day it has that effect on you!

Thats farkin awesome I'm planning my trip to the US next chrissy and dunno how I'm going to pack everything I want to do into the 4-5 weeks! Hadn't even thought of Utah/Colorado and places like that but they look amazing.
I packed a lot in and next time I would probably reduce the distance or increase the time to spend more time in each place, at least two to three nights. I also treated the trip as a taster though and figured if I really liked places I could always go back. Utah was awesome to drive through, there isn't a lot there population wise but it is very scenic.

[FranZ]

Nice. That looks like fun!

[DRKWRX]

sweet! Id love to do this! great pics.

[Miggy]

Awesome write up and pictures Luke! I'm also going to be doing something similar next year so this was very helpful.

Generally are things cheaper to buy there then here like food etc?

[Adr3naL1N]

looks like you had a blast man, i dont think i could do it on my own, but with mates would be cool. i plan at least to do the LA to vegas drive next time i go back there in a corvette or viper or something hopefully.

haha love the pic of the pleasure pit, thats at planet hollywood in vegas, the hotel i stayed at in july, was awesome to sit n watch for a few mins ;) i cant believe you didnt like vegas! i had the best time of my life, although you were on your own? kinda explains it, need to go with mates and a few girls :)

def som nice pics there though!!

[wadragracing]

Awesome write up and pictures Luke! I'm also going to be doing something similar next year so this was very helpful.

Generally are things cheaper to buy there then here like food etc?
Drinking was cheaper in most places. Food was much of a muchness. Accommodation is quite cheap in a lot of places, at least compared to Perth.
A lot of consumer goods are cheaper such as brand name clothes or camera gear.

[I <3 Judd 0kw]

very envious:wave: i hope to do the states in a couple of years,hopefully hire a zr corvette:3some: after my engine build:lol: which will be about 19k all up!

[EVL]

awesome write up man, thanks for sharing

[31-EVO]

Awesome :)
That's like one of those hippie vans you can hire here in Aus, but that one has been painted properly hahaha.
Cheers for sharing that

[Turbo2.6L]

Well done!
Would love to go to the US & do something like this... Maybe in afew years.

[ossie_21]

Good effort mate :D

Just a quick question about the camper van, was it one where you picked it up & dropped it back at the same place? (like a round trip) Or was it like something over here like people use like by picking it up in Perth & dropping it back to a depot in Broome? I wouldn't mind doing something like that in the future so I thought I'd ask cos I'd like to do something like LA-Miami-New York

[wadragracing]

Yeah it was a round trip. The company is called Escape Campervans www.escapecampervans.com if anyone is interested and I would highly recommend them. The rates were comparable to what it would cost to hire a normal rental car.
They are a small company though so it has to be a round trip (although I think you can go to San Fran or Vegas one way).

[blownVL]

very good read, would like to see more pics if you got some