LA to Miami -- March 2012

Hi Road Trip USA --

We are 2 Australians hiring a car in Los Angeles and traveling to Miami (purpose being picking up a cruise ship there).

We arrive in LA early March and have planned trip to Las Vegas and Flagstaff. We need a road route from Flagstaff via New Orleans to Miami. The approximate time being leaving Flagstaff around the 10th and arriving in Miami around March 21st.

I have Goggled info and am just getting confused. As my husband will be doing most of the driving and we will be driving on the opposite of the road to what we are used to, I would appreciate your input.

I also didn’t realize that it could be cold in some places and didn’t factor in road conditions.

So any advice you can pass on would be great.

Thanks

Ann

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HI ANN --

Many thanks for writing in to Road Trip USA, and sorry it took me a while to get back to you.

March is a wonderful time to explore the southwestern USA, so I would suggest you try to linger a while in Arizona before heading east. From Flagstaff (and the Grand Canyon, and Monument Valley?...), you could head down via Phoenix and Tucson to Saguaro National Park, the Wild West towns of Tombstone and Bisbee in Arizona, then wind up into New Mexico to enjoy Santa Fe and the surrounding Pueblo Indian communities.

Phoenix and Tucson are both at a low elevation, and should be nice and warm in March, but Santa Fe is high elevation, so if the weather does turn cold you might want to opt to stay as far south as you can. Big Bend National Park, on the border with Mexico, is breathtaking, wide-open country, and very pretty in March.

In Texas, San Antonio and Austin are fun cities to explore -- and Houston is interesting as well.

The rest of Texas is less thrilling, but things pick up again in Louisiana -- where Cajun Country spread west of the Mississippi River, and New Orleans is a city where you can while away many happy hours (especially if you like food, drink and music!)

I cover a lot of your route in Road Trip USA: in my "Southern Pacific" road trip chapter, and also in my Great Rover Road and Atlantic Coast road trips.

I think if you allow yourself 5 or 6 days to get from Flagstaff to New Orleans, then 3 or 4 days to get on to Miami, you'll have a fine time. American roads are wide and well organized, so being on the "wrong side" shouldn't be a problem.

Hope this helps you have a great trip.

Happy Trails,


Jamie Jensen
--
Road Trip USA