Coachella - Austin - New Orleans = Musical Road Trip!

Hi Jamie!

I am from Western Australia (Perth) and myself and a friend are coming over to the states in April – we are flying into LA, heading out to Coachella for the music festival, then on to Vegas. From Vegas we wanted to hire a car and head on a road trip over to New Orleans. We are SO excited about the whole thing that I think we may be being a bit ambitious in terms of how much we can do in the time we have! I have done heaps of researching on the web but differing opinions abound of course – so maybe you can help!!

We were thinking about heading from Vegas over to see a bit of the Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam, then head via Sedona/Oak Creek Canyon way…then into New Mexico (Santa Fe maybe, then down to Almorgordo? Not sure where would be good to go here – advice appreciated!). From there we would head across to Austin, then across to New Orleans. We are both serious music lovers hence wanting to include both these places!

So, the downside is we will leave Vegas on the 20th of April and ideally want to be in New Orleans by the 26th at the latest in order to spend a couple of days in NO before flying back to LA on the 28th – please tell us if this is a totally crazy idea?? Obviously we don’t want to spend all day every day in the car, and would like to stop off at some interesting places!

The more we think about it the more overwhelmed we get and have now lost all sense of what is realistically achievable – so please help!! Any suggestions or recommendations you could give would be AWESOME.

Cheers!
Kate
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Hi Kate ! --

Many thanks for writing in to Road Trip USA -- I hope there's still time for me to help with your road trip!

My first impression is that it could be better (more fun!) for you to get a car and do a nice road trip around the beautiful environs of Las Vegas (Grand Canyon, Sedona, Monument Valley, Santa Fe even). This is a great part of the country to travel around, and the weather is getting nicer every day.

However the thing about traveling around Texas is just how darn BIG it is -- the drive from Santa Fe to Austin is very long (around 700 miles, which is more than a very full day on the road). Though driving to Austin would bring you thru New Braunfels, TX, which has a great old music hall ( http://www.gruenehall.com/april2011.html )

And then to head on from Austin to to New Orleans is another 500 miles, each way.

So I think, with less than a week for all this, you need to make a choice between New Orleans and Austin -- then again, you could do your Las Vegas loop, then hop a flight to Austin, then another to New Orleans, and do it all. Just don't do it all by road -- or you will end spending too much time in the car.

Happy Trails,


Jamie Jensen
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Road Trip USA

(in case you're wondering, I sent this message months ago but didn't post until after the trip...)

Great Southern Musical Road Trip

Hey Jamie,

My sister and I, along with a friend are looking at road tripping around the Southern States for about 1 month (maybe longer) across christmas and New years 2010/11. We're all very interested in the music culture and Southern styles and we're keen to head from around LA through Vegas and then down and across to just below NYC.

Just wondering if you could give us some advice as to how long we would need to do this at a comfortable pace and what we would need to budget for - we're not massive spenders but do enjoy a good night out and we're willing to sleep on a tight budget leaving our cash for the finer things like music, food, wine and hopefully a few festivals etc.

We were also wondering, would you recommend hiring a car or just buying an old second hand cheapie when we get there - we're willing to travel fairly on a whim but just want some general ideas and your advice seems great on the site, look forward to hearing it.

Beth

PS: Sorry I forgot to mention we're coming over from Australia so any extra advice that may help us get going smoothly would be exeptionally appreciated,

Cheers B

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Hi there Beth --

Thanks for writing in to Road Trip USA, and I hope you are still planning to make the Christmas / New Year's 2010-2011 trip. Because of winter weather, it makes sense to concentrate as you suggest on the southern states -- especially around New Orleans, which has a great music scene, pretty much year-round (with two big lively highlights: late winter Mardi Gras and April's JazzFest!).

From NOLA, the "Big Easy," you can cruise up the Mississippi River, detouring a little west to Cajun Country (for all that zydeco!), cutting up across the Delta (via Clarksdale birthplace of the Blues), and continue on into Memphis, where you can play your respects to Elvis, Stax Records, and lots more music-cultural icons.

I cover all the Great River Road in a new mini-book, due out next month!

If you also want to do LA and Las Vegas, I might suggest you hop a plane rather than drive across the Great Plains in winter -- you'll be a lot more comfortable, and it'll save 4 or more days of driving (each way -- the USA is a big country, about the same size as all of Australia, but many more people).

The same goes for New York City -- where you definitely _don't_ want to have a car anyway, and which is about 3 days drive from New Orleans, and a week or more driving coast-to-coast -- you sure are packing a lot of miles into one trip!

As a rule of thumb, I figure 300-400 miles a day is the most you'll want to drive -- even less in winter, when the days are shorter and the driving conditions more challenging.

As far as vehicles go, for a short-ish trip the economics are in favor of hire / rental cars, which will be in better condition and involve much less hassle (insurance, registration, etc) than trying to buy a "cheapie". But if you're staying for more than a month, the balance starts to tilt the other way, especially if you know your way around under the hood, and could avoid getting stuck with a real clunker.

There's a lot to think about, but you have a good amount of time to finalize plans and dreams -- hope it all goes well for you. Drop a line again when the trip starts taking shape.

Cheers,



Jamie Jensen
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Road Trip USA

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Hey Jamie --

Thank you so much for all of your advice, we will definitely be taking a lot of it on board.

You've given us a few more things to think about and new ideas to explore so thanks for that.

We will hit you up again at a later date if there is anything else we're wondering.

Looking forward to your book too.

Thanks,

Beth.