Quote:
Originally Posted by ddk632
So, hypothetically speaking, let's say you want to Road Trip across the USA.
- The starting point is Los Angeles, CA and the finish point is Miami, FL.
- You have less than 2 weeks for the trip, so you will not be going through, for example, Alaska. 
- You enjoy driving winding, twisty, and generally scenic roads and you will be driving your favorite sports car
- You don't mind a longer route in order to get to the road less travelled
- You prefer to avoid boring, straight interstate freeways wherever possible.
- You at least prefer more scenic interstates through mountains to boring straight ones on flat land, of course reasonably limited by the general direction of the route as there is some flat land to cross inevitably.
- Landmarks, sightseeing, or famous places or parks are not a concern. This is a hypothetical road trip all about driving great roads with great scenery across the USA.
So - I know we have members here from all over, so pick the part of the route you're familiar with. If you know a whole possible route, even better! Don't worry too much about timing, either; this is all about fun and learning and sharing great roads to drive.
Of course, if there are some great roads local to you that can be detoured to, and are worth the detour for their scenic and driving pleasure value, then list them off!
Name the state, name/number of the route, post a map if you like (would be awesome!)... and if you've driven it, would love to learn some descriptive facts.
So, what route would you take?
Feel free to suggest anything I might have missed for this hypothetical scenario, or ask any clarification.
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Three strong recommendations. There's some dead space between them, but some dead space cannot be avoided. I've done them all, multiple times, mostly on 2 wheels. Be careful, some parts are not to be trifled with. Big dropoffs with no guardrails. Limited visibility around tight turns.
Leaving LA, CA 18 north from San Bernardino, past Big Bear Lake, then down the hill. Absolutely, positively, 100%, not to be missed. Unless there's very heavy fog, which happened to me once. Not fun.
From I-15 north of St. George take 9 across Zion National Park. Mindboggling scenery, too crowded to be a great driving road (and there's a fee), but we're headed for one. 89 north to 12 headed east. One.
12 to 24 to I-70. My choice for most scenic Interstate in the country, although it starts off a little slow. At Silverthorne/Dillion, take the highway 6 loop across Loveland Pass instead of the I-70 tunnel. At Idaho Springs, take 103/475 past Mount Evans to 74 through Evergreen to I-470.
A closeup view using Google maps will make the reasons for these recommendations clear.
Past Denver to the Mississippi is slim pickings. My top choice is 20 across the top of Nebraska, but it's out of your way, and not all that special. Then there's Iowa. But anything beats I-80, unless you're just trying to save up time for better stuff East of the Mississippi. I've not gone the southerly routes.