December Driving -- Yosemite to Memphis!

Hi!

My fiancé and I are planning a 4 week road trip to the US (from Australia) in December 2011. Our plan at the moment is to rent a car in San Diego, head to Joshua Tree, the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, then up through Fresno to San Francisco, then down through Big Sur past LA back to San Diego.

We have estimated around 10 days for that trip, is that long enough in your opinion? We are then flying to Austin and will pick up another car there and head across to New Orleans, then up to Memphis, Nashville, Asheville (for Christmas day hopefully) then drop the car in Raleigh – we know about the one-way drop off fee but are prepared to wear it.

Then we’ll get the train to NYC from there. We had estimated 8 days for this leg of the trip. Are we being too ambitious? I would prefer not to spend 8 hours each day in the car if possible...(I know we'll have a few long days though). If you have any suggestions or thoughts we’d love to hear them.

Thanks so much

Lucy

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Hi Lucy --

Many thanks for writing in to Road Trip USA, and I'm happy to say I think your timings are just about right -- though I do hope you will be able to include Yosemite National Park as a detour on your Fresno-to-SF itinerary, because Yosemite Valley is pretty spectacular, even in December.

On the second half of the trip, it all sounds great -- it's not too much driving, but I fear you might want to have more time in places like Memphis and New Orleans, which are fun and fascinating places to explore. As is NYC.

What a wonderful trip!

Happy Trails,



Jamie Jensen
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Road Trip USA