[ddk632]

EDIT:
----
I am resurrecting this thread except now the starting point is Miami, FL and the destination is Seattle, WA.
Read below and feel free to throw out some suggestions, I'd love to hear them.
----

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 traveled
- 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.



___________________________

[ Edit ] I've decided to keep the suggestions in a little table here, as well as in a Google Doc; will be keeping this updated as the suggestions roll in!

[ Suggested By ]
Google Map | State* | Route(s)
--------------------------------------------------

[ 128Convertibleguy ]
Link | CA | 18
Link | UT | I-15 > 9 > 89 > 12 > 24 > I-70
Link | CO | I-70 > 6 > I-70
Link | CO | I-70 > 103 > 475 > 74 > 470
Link | NE | 20

[ E46M54325Ci ]
Link | CA | 88 > 89
Link | CA | 154

[ 954Stealth ]
Link | NC | BRP (Blue Ridge Parkway)
___________________________
* State at starting point

Note If you click on map links and they don't work (route doesn't show up), look at top/left where route points are shown; if there is some lat/long at the last point, just remove it and the route will show up. I tried to fix it but for some reason it keeps happening when I click on the link after I save my edits.

[128Convertibleguy]

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.

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.

[ddk632]

Dude, thanks for getting this started - great suggestions!

Originally Posted by 128Convertibleguy

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.

Agreed on the dead space but it makes the great roads you're getting to worth it. Sounds like my kind of roads!

I drove on some gravel roads on top of Fjords in Iceland without guard rails, so very familiar with the whole, "don't fly off into a canyon" sort of philosophy.

Plus the car for this will be brand new, and not exactly easy to replace; so in short, just like my X6M PCD road trip through Tail of the Dragon, #1 rule is "get car safely home in one piece, unscathed."

Originally Posted by 128Convertibleguy

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.

This is a good way to get out of LA (where I'm from) - used to go to Big Bear all the time skiing, and of course cut my motorcycling teeth on, among other awesome local roads, Angeles Crest... so am familiar with CA 18. Would likely take the detour on CA 2 / Angeles Crest Highway to get to CA 18, depending on the time of year of this, ahem, hypothetical scenario.

I thought about PCH (obvious detour) but might have to do a separate PCH trip on a long weekend instead of starting the cross country trip with a big northbound detour.

Originally Posted by 128Convertibleguy

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.

THIS. Just checked these out --- The 9 seems like a must-do. The 12 looks spectacular.. and leads into 24 which also looks spectacular. Then looks like it's either north to I-70 or south to route 191. Some beautiful terrain there. Amazing suggestion, thanks for thiss one!

Originally Posted by 128Convertibleguy

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.

Yes, see this now... and 6 passes by Keystone and other ski areas, so yeah, definitely full of awesome.

[ Edit: ] Can't believe I missed 103/475 in your suggestions. Again, looks amazing and leads eventually back to I-70 towards Nebraska. Very cool.

Are many of these roads typically closed during the winter?

Originally Posted by 128Convertibleguy

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.

Not too far out of the way - it does take the route pretty well north, but looks like it might be possible to incorporate Chicago into the trip (I really enjoy Chicago) and one of my thoughts for the last section is to end up in Tennessee, run Tail of the Dragon into North Carolina, then down through Asheville, maybe stop at the BMW Performance Center and say hello before enduring the unavoidably boring ride that encompasses anything south of Spartanburg, all of Georgia, and all of Florida. I've driven these roads several times.

Dude in one post you've helped put together a really good starting point that, while needs filling in some in-between places, sort of strings together most of a potential trip.

Welcome other suggestions of course from anyone who wants to throw some ideas out there.

This is really early stages of planning right now, no timeline yet for the trip, but my plan is to have the entire trip mapped out via Google Maps, so I can get an idea of estimated time frames and then tweak it, reduce my inevitable overly ambitious scope of the trip, etc.

Awesome post, really appreciate your suggestions, @128Convertibleguy.

[Fugly M3]

In CA, SR88 and SR154 are among my favorites

[ddk632]

Originally Posted by E46M54325Ci

In CA, SR88 and SR154 are among my favorites

Nice, thanks for the suggestions!

I've definitely ridden 154 on the way to Laguna Seca for MotoGP a while back, as our starting point was Santa Barbara. Great road!

Never done SR88 but looks promising, for sure. I am definitely keeping tabs on all suggestions as this thread may end up spawning more than one road trip (although only one across the entire country).

I'm thinking of a smaller CA only loop LA / SF / Tahoe / ?? / LA that SR88 might just be able to fit into...

[128Convertibleguy]

Originally Posted by ddk632

Are many of these roads typically closed during the winter?

Sometimes during storms, not full winter closures.

But what's fun in the summer/fall could be a real pain in the winter/spring. 4WD and real snow tires pretty much a requirement, to avoid a nightmare.

Bottom line. For me, in winter, I'd be checking out places like southern AZ/NM/TX, rather than struggling with high mountain roads in the snow. Weekends are particularly bad, with traffic jams of skiers. Being stuck overnight or even longer, due to road closures, is a real possibility January through April. Fall is generally better, but storms can hit, and you'd need to watch the weather.

BTW, if you do Chicago (which I also like) avoid rush hour, which is basically 6AM to 7PM M-F. Maybe some relief in the middle. My clear first choice for enjoying it would be Sunday.

[ddk632]

Originally Posted by 128Convertibleguy

Sometimes during storms, not full winter closures.

But what's fun in the summer/fall could be a real pain in the winter/spring. 4WD and real snow tires pretty much a requirement, to avoid a nightmare.

Bottom line. For me, in winter, I'd be checking out places like southern AZ/NM/TX, rather than struggling with high mountain roads in the snow. Being stuck overnight or even longer is a real possibility January through April. Fall is generally better, but storms can hit, and you'd need to watch the weather.

Thanks man, yeah I'd imagine it'd be pretty bad. Sounds like summer is the way to go for actual driving enjoyment.

[Fugly M3]

Originally Posted by ddk632

Nice, thanks for the suggestions!

I've definitely ridden 154 on the way to Laguna Seca for MotoGP a while back, as our starting point was Santa Barbara. Great road!

Never done SR88 but looks promising, for sure. I am definitely keeping tabs on all suggestions as this thread may end up spawning more than one road trip (although only one across the entire country).

I'm thinking of a smaller CA only loop LA / SF / Tahoe / ?? / LA that SR88 might just be able to fit into...

Yes, if you're doing Tahoe 88 and 89 are musts. 88 starts basically in the Valley and climbs...you start with farmland, then some vineyards, then into oak country (typical CA foothill trees for those that don't know) and as you climb higher you get into the pines. Aside from the fact it lacks the ocean, it basically covers the entire spectrum of the CA landscape. And it gets twisty!

[954Stealth]

Somewhere on this trip should be the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Absolutely beautiful and completely fun to drive

[ddk632]

Originally Posted by 954Stealth

Somewhere on this trip should be the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Absolutely beautiful and completely fun to drive

Agreed, excellent suggestion; I've added it to the list.

I drove some small parts of BRP around the Asheville area a few years back... definitely would like to hit up more of it. Need to think about how to make it work driving most of BRP, then maybe doing some sort of coastal route south into Florida.

[ddk632]

Originally Posted by 128Convertibleguy

BTW, if you do Chicago (which I also like) avoid rush hour, which is basically 6AM to 7PM M-F. Maybe some relief in the middle. My clear first choice for enjoying it would be Sunday.

That's pretty much ... always! So true though. Every time I've gone to Chicago, I've flown in and didn't need a car, and just took cabs and walked everywhere. Great way to see the city.

I'm thinking it would be a good mid-point to sort of take a day off from driving (i.e., an overnight stay), chill out, enjoy the city, and get in a couple of photoshoots. A sort of recharge before hitting up the eastern part of the country.

[ddk632]

Originally Posted by E46M54325Ci

Yes, if you're doing Tahoe 88 and 89 are musts. 88 starts basically in the Valley and climbs...you start with farmland, then some vineyards, then into oak country (typical CA foothill trees for those that don't know) and as you climb higher you get into the pines. Aside from the fact it lacks the ocean, it basically covers the entire spectrum of the CA landscape. And it gets twisty!

Sounds awesome dude. And hey, might be missing the ocean, but it ends up at a pretty nice lake!

(Btw I added 89 to the list now, as well.)

[Fugly M3]

Originally Posted by ddk632

Sounds awesome dude. And hey, might be missing the ocean, but it ends up at a pretty nice lake!

(Btw I added 89 to the list now, as well.)

Haha...don't get me started on Tahoe. My family had a house there in a lakefront compound for 40 years...grandparents sold in a panic during the downturn...huge mistake. Lots of great times there. Best place on earth in my opinion...from June through September, that is.

[ddk632]

----
I am resurrecting this thread except now the starting point is Miami, FL and the destination is Seattle, WA.

Read the first post, and feel free to throw out some suggestions, I'd love to hear them.
----

[Mr Tonka]

Is this a round trip, or one way?

[atinybug]

Drive through north GA, by where it meets NC and TN. You don't necessarily have to go on the Tail of the Dragon, any road up there is really nice and curvy. Tail of the Dragon is usually full of motorcycles doing their thing and sometimes they get mad at cars for getting in the way.

[gtron]

Sometimes I'll look at the "GTS Routes" app by Porsche and the "Ultimate Drive" app by BMW to get new drive ideas.

[ddk632]

Mr Tonka One way trip with a buddy, then flying back.

gtron will check those out, thanks!

[ASBSECU E93]

Originally Posted by 954Stealth

Somewhere on this trip should be the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Absolutely beautiful and completely fun to drive

Agree.

ddk632 - How far east would you travel? Is NC part of the trip?

[ddk632]

Originally Posted by ASBSECU E93

How far east would you travel? Is NC part of the trip?

Starting in FL and still deciding if to hightail it going west via panhandle, get west of Texas, then head North, or take I-95 north to Virginia or so, then west through NC, TN, etc. Still up in the air, could go either way. Seattle, WA is final destination.

Originally Posted by atinybug

Drive through north GA, by where it meets NC and TN. You don't necessarily have to go on the Tail of the Dragon, any road up there is really nice and curvy. Tail of the Dragon is usually full of motorcycles doing their thing and sometimes they get mad at cars for getting in the way.

Haha yeah, I know and love that area. Have done the Tail of the Dragon in my old beloved X6M and also on a motorcycle many times. Definitely agree there are tons of amazing roads in that area... have ridden many of them. I don't think it can hurt to revisit that area at all!

[ASBSECU E93]

Originally Posted by ddk632

Starting in FL and still deciding if to hightail it going west via panhandle, get west of Texas, then head North, or take I-95 north to Virginia or so, then west through NC, TN, etc. Still up in the air, could go either way. Seattle, WA is final destination.



Haha yeah, I know and love that area. Have done the Tail of the Dragon in my old beloved X6M and also on a motorcycle many times. Definitely agree there are tons of amazing roads in that area... have ridden many of them. I don't think it can hurt to revisit that area at all!

I'd recommend the road from Cashiers to Highlands, NC and then 441 through Cherokee to Clingmans Dome, connecting to I-40....Or the Lynn Cove Viaduct.

[Mr Tonka]

Originally Posted by ddk632

Starting in FL and still deciding if to hightail it going west via panhandle, get west of Texas, then head North, or take I-95 north to Virginia or so, then west through NC, TN, etc. Still up in the air, could go either way. Seattle, WA is final destination.



Haha yeah, I know and love that area. Have done the Tail of the Dragon in my old beloved X6M and also on a motorcycle many times. Definitely agree there are tons of amazing roads in that area... have ridden many of them. I don't think it can hurt to revisit that area at all!

If i were you i'd spend the day getting to Pcola. Then head north to Shreveport then west through DFW. Skirt a little north to Amarillo, then west to Santa Fe, NM. North to Pagosa Springs and west to Durango, CO. Then north up to Telluride then over to Page, AZ. To Bryce canyon and Zion. Then blaze through Vegas to LA. PCH north to Grungeville.