See Live Bears! NYC to LA trip

Hey Jamie --

My boyfriend and i were wondering if four weeks is enough for us to get from NYC to L.A., probably in June/July.

We are from Sydney and would really like to see some sights and national parks - with bears if possible ;) . What do you think?

Thanks so much

Anna & Dave

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Hi Anna & Dave --

Thanks for writing in to Road Trip USA, and don't worry: Four weeks is plenty of time to get from NYC to LA -- you could even make it back again, if you want to do a whole lotta driving.

It's about 3000 miles each way, and I figure 300 miles a day is a good rate -- 10 days each way, plus however long you want to linger in cities, or run around with bears, along the way.

If you want to be sure of seeing bears, there is one neat old tourist stop in New England, called Clark's Trading Post, where a family has been training and caring for bears for generations. It's a day's drive north of NYC, and really fun, if a little bit politically incorrect.

If you want to see "wild" bears, I'd definitely suggest you head to Yellowstone and/or Yosemite national parks, in Wyoming and California respectively. Both are gorgeous and unforgettable, and well-populated with bears. Many bears can be seen along the drive from the town of Cody -- I cover this stretch in my Oregon Trail route in Road Trip USA. (Book and online!)

If you really want to see them in the wild, Yellowstone is the place: take care, because they do bite! Here is a an interesting blog to whet your appetite:
http://www.yellowstone.co/tripreports/2011/051711.htm


Yosemite, which to my eye is even more spectacular than Yellowstone, also has tons of bears -- so many they are a big problem, breaking into tourist's cars to eat peanuts and chocolate bars. Signs say, "A Fed Bear is a Dead Bear..", because bears that get used to being fed have to be destroyed.

Hope this helps you have a great trip, Happy Trails,


Jamie Jensen
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Road Trip USA

Atlantic Coast road trip - in a classic car? or camper?

Hi Jamie

We're flying to NYC for the start of our own road trip... spending 5 days in the city and have found a cool place to stay in Harlem (without car), then have 5 glorious June/July weeks to travel down to Miami.

We saw your book which will really help us plan a cool drive down, seeing the sights. To save money we can sleep cheap but the biggest expense it seems is the car hire to pick up NYC and drop off in Miami. Have you any recommendations/tips of the best way to go about the hire or even buy cheap? What about renting VW camper which we could sleep in? Is it better to sort out before we come over to the states or get something sorted when we are in the city?

This will be our first big trip at ages of 48 and 46!, so sorry for all the questions. Thanks for your help.

yours excitedly

Lorna and Del

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Hello Lorna and Del --

Many thanks for your message, and sorry it took me so long to reply. The issue you raise about car hire / rental is a big one -- my first suggestion would be that you consider doing the trip as a loop, rather than a one way -- rental rates are usually much lower if you return the vehicle to the same place you get it.

You're lucky to have so much time to travel around -- plenty to go back and forth (and maybe add in a trip west to New Orleans and Memphis, or along the Appalachian Trail, or who knows where... Five glorious weeks, indeed!

About renting a camper -- there's clearly a market there, but the only camper van rental company I know of is out in California . To my mind, buying your own car can work, but it can be a hassle too -- trying to arrange insurance and all the legalities, not to mention finding a reliable machine, is fraught with complications.

Then again, you could buy yourself a pretty cool machine, while rental cars tend to be anodyne and not much fun to drive. Classic American cars like these are pretty mouth-watering compared to their contemporaries! (I too am a child of early 1960s design... and I dream of cruising along in a convertible 1963 Corvette!)

If you do want to buy a car, I recommend you take advantage of websites and line up some candidates well before you land -- buying a car is a time-consuming business.

Well, OK -- I hope you are still excited about your East Coast road trip.

(And by the way, I have just come out with new books, updating all the material on Atlantic Coast and App Trail chapters into handy mini-guides -- On sale in the UK for under £5!! :-)

Happy Trails,



Jamie Jensen
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Road Trip USA

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Road Trip -- Under-25s?

Dear Mr. Jensen,

My boyfriend and I are planning a road trip in June. We bought your book and are very happy. It helps us to form our trip from a mere dream to an actual possibility.

We are planning to drive from New York City to Key West, then to New Orleans and then over Chicago back to New York City. Do you think 6 weeks is an appropriate time for a trip like this?

My other question concerns car rentals. Since we come from Germany we have no car in the US, but renting one is very expensive or not even possible, because we are only 18.
Now we are thinking about buying a used car and reselling it before we leave. Me being a US citizen would make this a little easier, though I still think this would be very complicated.

Since you probably know a lot of road trippers, I wanted to ask you if you know someone with similar problems, who wants to sell a car he bought only for his road trip, or if you have any other solutions?

Thank you very much for your help!

Sincerely

Sandra
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Dear Sandra --

Thanks for writing in to Road Trip USA -- I hope I can help with your travel planning. Renting a car is indeed awkward when you are under 25 -- but not impossible -- and buying one is also complicated (because you need to arrange insurance and other legal details). And alas, I do not know of anyone who has in car in New York they need to sell...

To buy one, look at websites like Craigslist.org , and keep on mind that your trip will be much happier if you can get a vehicle that already is legal (licensed & registered with the state authorities).

Another thing comes to mind -- have you looked into "Auto Driveaway" services, where you would drive someone else's car for them?? You need to be more flexible, but there is usually little cost (apart from gasoline)... It's pretty adventurous -- check out this website: http://www.autodriveawaydc.com/carlist.html

Another thing you can try is renting a car for shorter times, doing a local loop trip rather than a one way. You could fly to Atlanta, for example, and drive for 2 or 3 weeks down to Key West and New Orleans, then do the same thing in Chicago.

You don't need a car to enjoy NYC or Chicago, so this might let you combine the best of both worlds (cities and road trips!)

Don't despair -- the US is a great place to travel, and I am sure you will have a fantastic trip!

Happy Trails,


Jamie Jensen
--
Road Trip USA

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Great River Road Trip

Hey Road Trip USA --

I am planning a run on “The Great River Road” in May and would like to purchase a new copy if they have been updated.
Thanks,
Wes

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Dear Wes --

Thank you for writing in to Road Trip USA -- and you're in luck: I just updated the Great River Road chapter for a new "mini-book," which was published this week. I did a pretty thorough job on the new edition, and am sure it will be of more use than the 10-year-old text you've been using. These mini-books are priced for this current economic Great Recession -- Amazon has them for around $7 (the cost of a couple gallons of gas, these days...)

Thanks very much for writing -- hope you have a great trip.

(And please write in again with any updates / notes / discoveries you care to share!)

Happy Trails,


Jamie Jensen
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author,
Road Trip USA

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Hey Jamie

That's Good News -- very cool.

I have been talking about your book to folks since I first discovered it, years ago. My copy has been through 2 older Porsches, a 2000 Vette Convertible and now a 2004 Vette convertible. When last we road tripped, we went out RT 2 to Glacier (from SSt Marie) and came back on RT 50. We live in South Western VA about 20 miles from the Blue Ridge Parkway. We used your book for a trip to New England, and a trip down the East Coast on 17/1/A1A. We also did a run down the 66 corridor out to New Mexico then up through Utah and back across and we used the book when we flew to San Diego to go down to Baja.

I retired a couple years ago, and now we are better able to plan the time we need for extended road trips. The Great River Road is first on our list. Funny thing is we were planning the same trip, and would have been in New Orleans when Katrina hit. We ended up postponing and what good fortune that was. We are still looking forward to driving the West Coast from Canada to Mexico. That will probably be next year. I will buy your updated mini book for this year’s trip, and will continue to extol the virtues of your main book.

Thanks,
Wes