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It would take me a month to provide the broad range of info you requested. How about posting where you are and a general idea of where you want to go; first, second, third, etc.
Also, what activities you like to do in addition to just driving. Like riding trains pulled by steam locomotives, or visiting historical sites, or national parks, etc.
One more take on the FL/love bug thing. It can be a bucket list destination.... if only because after every drive you need to spend a lot of quality time with the wash bucket!
Originally Posted by BEZ06
Well....I think we've got some great bucket-list drives!!!
Bar Harbor has been awesome this trip; leaving in the morning for Lubec.
Also another one of my favorite trips was The Blue Ride Parkway...take at least 3 days if not 4 to run the whole ridge plus Skyline Drive. Take time to stop in Maggie Valley, spend a couple of hours with Dale in the "Wheels Through Time" museum...well worth it even if you are not into old bikes.
We just checked into a room in Schenectady NY after running VT Hwy 9 and NY Hwy 7; both were awesome!! Posted 50 MPH but ran 60-65 most of the time....mostly fast sweepers over rolling hills with lots of very green scenery for the co-pilot/navigator to gawk over.
Too bad we are on our way back home; would love to spend some time running more back roads through VT....but as someone else once said, "I shall return"!
Too bad we are on our way back home; would love to spend some time running more back roads through VT....but as someone else once said, "I shall return"!
On your return don't miss Vermont 100 which runs north/south through the middle of the state
On your return don't miss Vermont 100 which runs north/south through the middle of the state
Thanks; I'll add that one to my list for the next visit. Got home last night after 5,358 miles and a ton of states.....I think we hit all of the north eastern states from Tenn. north and MO. east. Two road trips down and one more to go for the year. Happy driving
California is it; coasts, mountains, deserts, everything is here.
Highway 395 and nearly every side road is one of Americas best secrets. No motor homes... No crowds (mostly)
What side roads?:
Highway 120 through the high sierras for starters. Or 4. Or 108
Highway 190 to Death Valley
Highway 168 over the white mountains
Highway 49 doesn't intersect 395, but runs through the western Sierra foothills through every gold rush town in CA.
The California coast is chit for driving most of the time simply due to the RVs and other general morons who will not allow you to pass safely. Also, the coast is the same scenery for hundreds of miles "oh another bluff/view/beach"
Death Valley is the most epic driving one can do, and having B52s and fighter jets fly right over your car in the middle on nowhere is a fun bonus.
Also, I think it depends on where you live. I agree with the Blue Ridge parkway, but growing up in Central Pa, driving through the mountains is kind of "been there done that".
But I took a trip East from San Diego through the desert, and was blown away... I think going to different parts of the country is important.
Montrose to Durango Colorado on 550. I believe Steve R recommended this drive. I just did it. Yikes! It's a mountain pass drive with the highest elevation 11,000 feet and change. It has switchbacks and curves at the same time, a two-lane road with zero fences, jersey barriers, shoulders, or anything AT ALL on the drop off side which is at least 1,000 feet straight down. It's an extremely narrow road that, if you go north to south, is guaranteed to freak out your passenger. You share the road with dump truck, semis, and motor homes coming straight at you on the curves.
And all you speed freaks will max out at about 20 mph. It's not like the Pacific Coast Highway (1 & 101) where if no one is ahead of you you can crank it up a couple of notches. There is simply no room and if you screw up, you'll go over the edge. The squeamish should take it from south to north because you can hug the hillside.
If you can get yourself to stop staring fixated at the yellow centerline the scenery is just fabulous. And at 11,000 feet it is, quite literally, breathtaking. I took I-70 to get in range and that, too, is a wonderful interstate: new asphalt and new striping with large sweeping curves and wonderful scenery.
I passed a silver C-6 on that road and for various reasons I pulled in at Burger King and he was there already (I went through the town and he skirted around it.) I was behind him and said, "Hey, is that your C-6 out there?" I knew it was because I had seen him get out of it. He said, "No, that's a C-5."
Hmm. I'd seen tail lights and I was staring at the headlights. It was a C-6. So what do I do? Tell him he's stupid? So I just smiled and said something neutral .No reason to **** him off. Later he came by my table and said, "Yeah, it's a C-6, but I get confused."
1 and 101 (whichever is closer to the Ocean) Los Angeles clear up through Washington State around Crescent Lake to Port Angeles before you head back south, maybe stop in Seattle--or contact me and we'll put you up. Curves and scenery galore and lots to do: Monterey, San Simeon Castle, Oregon beaches. Getting behind a motor home is a bitch, but that's now a joke on t-shirts there. Over 1,000 miles long, too. A lot of the curves are on hills, almost three-dimensional.
Or you could go straight up I-5. We call it, "The Grinder."*
* Ahh, No. Don't do that. Trust me.
Wonderful suggestions, love the drive through Oregon and want to do all the way down to Los Angeles one day from seattle
After a week up here in the upstate Syracuse area I will say that there are just some awesome country roads around CNY. My apologies to local farmers for the noise. The wicked pipes on this thing just amaze me. Stopped by Cazenovia Lake for a picture.
Southern Appalachian mountains are home to an almost infinite number of scenic drives. You can of course start with the BRP. Then, move on to some of the other well known drives. But this is just the beginning! Be warned the speed limit on the BRP is 45, and it is a PITA during peak vacation times with all of the motor homes and campers.
The Pacific coast highway is very high on my list.
If you ever get to Utah, don't miss Utah Rt 128 along the Colorado River, in the vicinity of Arches N.P. The 14 miles from Moab to the Red Cliffs Lodge are pretty spectacular.
I'm planning a trip next summer to Wyoming/Montana to experience the Beartooth Highway to Yellowstone NP and the Going to the Sun Road in Glacier NP.
Plan on a steak at this place in Beulah, WY(exit #205 off I-90 near Spearfish, SD).
And to be a name dropper(so I can claim to be "connected" to impress everyone, LOL) the red C7 Z51 belongs to the retired GM exec that was the Motorsports Marketing Manager 1988-1993 during the Corvette Challenge days.
If you go to the Black Hills, a great place to stay is the Springhill Suites by Marriott in Deadwood and then see the Black Hills from there everyday(including Devils Tower in WY). You have to drive the Iron Mountain Road...http://ironmountainroad.com/ and then have lunch in Custer, SD.
When you drive Beartooth Pass(Hwy 78 from I-90 in Columbus, MT then Hwy 212 from Red Lodge, MT), be sure to then drive Hwy 296 south to Cody. Then take US14/16 west into Yellowstone.
A really neat place to stay in Yellowstone is in one of the cabins at the Old Faithful Lodge. Just be sure to get an upgraded cabin that has a toilet and shower. You park in front of your cabin and it's only a couple hundred feet to watch Old Faithful. The restaurant in the Lodge is good. I had the Buffalo meatloaf and it was good. Cafeteria style. From there you can tour all of the park.
It's hard to pick just one such drive in California since the terrain is quite diverse and there are many. PCH from Monterey to LA is very scenic and lots of turns. Here's another one I did which I liked
Designer Imagines A Corvette That Looks More Like a Corvette Than the Corvette
Slideshow: A Jaguar designer's personal project imagines what a modern front-engined Corvette might look like if Chevrolet revisited the golden age of the Stingray.
Posted 50 MPH but ran 60-65 most of the time....mostly fast sweepers over rolling hills with lots of very green scenery for the co-pilot/navigator to gawk over. 
1 and 101 (whichever is closer to the Ocean) Los Angeles clear up through Washington State around Crescent Lake to Port Angeles before you head back south, maybe stop in Seattle--or contact me and we'll put you up. Curves and scenery galore and lots to do: Monterey, San Simeon Castle, Oregon beaches. Getting behind a motor home is a bitch, but that's now a joke on t-shirts there. Over 1,000 miles long, too. A lot of the curves are on hills, almost three-dimensional.
