road trip USA

[aimeepearce]

hello has anyone got any advice on where to start if i want to drive across america? any good websites? has any one done it and any recomendations on routes etc?

Cheers

[NORMANTHEDOG]

Start from one side then finnish the other side.

[aimeepearce]

lol cheers for that!! which side would you recommend i start from?!!!

[dzug]

It's actually quite difficult:

one way car hire is prohibitively expensive

buying a car is difficult for a non-resident - or rather insuring and registering it is

I'd have a look at the Lonely Planet site (google for it) where this crops up quite often.

[scubadiver]

Depends on your interests, but Highway 61, "The Blues Highway" starts in New Orleans and ends in Chicago, and allows you to trace the movement of Jazz and Blues music, up through the Mississippi delta, Memphis etc.

We travelled part of it last year and had a brilliant time.

[jno]

people used to deliver cars across country - someone would move house from NY to LA, have their goods delivered by truck, fly themselves, but pay a company to deliver their vehicles. I have no idea if this is still common, but you could try this or others like it

[Clanad]

It really depends on what your interests are... but, car hire or better know here as car rental isn't that additionally expensive on one way rentals between major cities. It's only when one rents a car and wants to leave it at a small, out-of-the-way place. This is especially true of the larger rental companies such as Hertz, National or Avis. Another good one that I use in business is Alamo and Enterprise.
Many Europeans and residents of the U.K. really don't have a concept of how large the U.S. is, in comparison to their homelands.
Here in the western U.S. one can travel nearly 150 miles between towns and then those have a population of less than 10,000. In my opinion, it would serve you better to make a list of the things you really want to see and try to fit those into an itinerary. Additionally, make sure you take into consideration the time of year. Here in the west, May and early June can still see snow storms, especially at the higher elevations. Many scenic mountain passes are in excess of 10,000 feet above sea level. The main roads into and out of Yellowstone Park aren't normally open for travel until mid May., for example. Here's a good site to help:

http://www.seeamerica.org/index.jsp

Welcome!

[aimeepearce]

thanks everyone, all posts have been very helpful! :)