segen77

Here's the deal. We have to be in Vegas for about a week around the 4th of July for a friends wedding. I have always had a dream to drive the PCH, and we have a friend that lives close to San Diego. So...

Leaving From Dallas.

Thinking it will take two to three days to get to San Diego. Spend another couple days with friends. Then head to San Fran. I'm guessing 3-5 days for that leg of the trip. Then a couple days to Vegas. and a couple days home after that.

My questions are, what are the best parts of the drive along this route? Special places to visit/stay? Do you think I've allowed enough time for each section? Do I need to suck it up (spend an extra day) and drive a little further north for something extra special?

Only down side is I would be giving up my chance to do Spring Mountain in Vegas so I could put the money toward the PCH drive.

Thanks

pkincy

Wow, Corvette Owners School vs a PCH drive! Given you are traveling during a peak season, I would attend COS. PCH is great but it is best done sometime not over the summer. PCH is awesome but not behind a 20 mph caravan of RVs. Too much traffic at that time.

From SD. First day leave early and get through LA and up to Santa Barbara. 4-5 hours given LA traffic even if you leave at 5 am. So plan on lunch somewhere on State St or by the water in SB. SB to Morro Bay-Paso Robles area in the afternoon. 2 hours to MB but there are great wineries from MB to PR on 46. Staying in PR is easy and inexpensive. Closer to the coast more expensive and you miss the wineries. Next day MB/PR to San Simeon to do Hearst Castle. Hiway 1 with Hearst Castle in the background is below.

PCH from San Simeon is the on the coast above the water trip that is the key to the whole visit. But it only takes 3 hours or so even with RV traffic. However you need to note it is not open now and won't likely be next summer. A couple of major slides with last year's major rains have closed Hiway 1 at Mud Creek with a 1 lane situation at Paul's Slide. And if you are going to have to do San Simeon to Carmel on Hiway 101, my question is why do it at all??

But if you do, Carmel is definitely a bucket list stay and visit for at least a full day. Another day from Carmel to SF with lots of traffic on the way. Stay somewhere around Union Square in SF. From SF to LV, you can go the quick way (don't) or go Southeast to Modesto/Oakdale and than up to and through Yosemite. That should be another stay. You can drive out the East end of Yosemite and get to Mammoth, Ca on 395 pretty quickly and stay there. Down 395 to the 190 through Death Valley than catch 127/128 into Pahrump. Well now you are there and should do the Corvette Owners School. Pahrump to LV is an hour but watch your speed. Lot's of police action watching for speeders. LV as long as your money holds out and then over Boulder Dam to 95 down to Kingman on 40 and you turn left and head for Dallas.

I suppose none of this would I do over July 4th weekend. To darn crowded in California and too hot everywhere else. Sept/October/very early Nov is best. Do note the pass out of Yosemite to the East closes around Thanksgiving most years.

pkincy

Oh, one caveat. July 4th week in San Francisco will require you to bring winter clothes.

Watch both of these for Big Sur and Devil's Slide road closures. First time I ever wanted to do Big Sur from the South I got to San Simeon (when I took the picture) and found out I had to turn around and go to Paso Robles and 101 since Big Sur Hiway 1 was closed. Happens too often.

http://bigsurcalifornia.org/highway_conditions.html

http://www.devilsslidecoast.org/

defaria

Indeed, note that "you cannot get there from here" as pkincy has stated. Route 1 (AKA PCH) is not a route that you can drive at this time because part of the road is closed and probably will not be opened by the time you get there.

As for high season and too much traffic, RV's etc. do not mind this. I've done PCH about 15 times in my life. The part that your thinking of is Big Sur. Carmel's nice but not that nice. It's Big Sur that has the 75 miles of windy roads that PCH is famous for. Vegas -> SD is a 5 1/2 drive. It's about 7-9 hours from SD -> San Francisco. Of course you can stop along the way. There aren't very many great places to stay on PCH along the windy section but there are places like in Carmel and Santa Barbara, etc. North of San Francisco isn't that great either though Sausalito, which is just North of SF past the Golden Gate bridge, is pretty nice.

The drive from SF back to Vegas is also about 8-9 hours. I tend to go through Death Valley as you really can open up your vette there since nobody's around but it's slightly out of the way. When I used to do Vegas from the Bay Area I would go down 5, across on 58 thru Bakersfield/Barstow then up 15 to Vegas. That's a more direct route. On the way back I'd veer through Death Valley, which again is sort of a detour.

I've been in Death Valley for the July 4th holiday where I recorded a temp of 128 degrees. If you open your windows and drive it's like somebody has a blow dryer aimed at your face!

Champ203

To put your timing in perspective we did the PCH from Big Sur (north side where it’s closed) all of the way up and around the Olympic Peninsula in Washington. We spent a month doing it and could have easily spent another month. Simply stunning. You’ll enjoy it no matter how many days and miles you cover....it will leave you yearning for more.

Enjoy!

Peace,
Don

segen77

I appreciate the advice. Summer will be the only option for us to travel for many years as my wife and I are both educators. That being said, while we are stuck traveling during peak season, we do have the benefit of a flexible timeline.

I'd still love to check out the corvette owners school, but I'm not sure I could convince "the boss" that we have the budget for that as well as everything else. The nice part about the Vegas side of things is that we are meeting many friends there, and I don't expect to spend much on hotels. Now the casino floor... that's another story. lol

You mentioned some of the wine country. I'm not a big wine drinker, but my wife may enjoy that. She would also like to see the San Diego zoo, and maybe Disneyland. We haven't been on a really big vacation in almost ten years. This is finally our first summer with our kid away at college. My wife has finished her masters, and I will have mine done mid summer. (yeah, being on the road finishing will suck) Just looking to get out and enjoy some time together.

Neither of us has ever done a big road trip anywhere. Even when we were young, we didn't travel more than about 500 miles.

Thanks again for all the great tips. Gives me a great starting point. (sucks that part of the route is closed though)

defaria

Well they do predict it'll be done sometime next summer but they do say late summer (and they're usually behind anyway).

Anyway you go there's lots too see.

(Pssst... we'll expect a full report - with pics!)

Kevin A Jones

I used to travel out that way quite a bit for business. Whenever traveling from LA to San Fran, it was always the PCH.
Enjoy your trip!

Carlos Thomas

I live here in California. Here is the ultimate guide. It is broken into two parts. Top 24 stops and a Day by Day (which I recommend). If you click on each day it will show you how to plan your trip, where to eat, sleep and what to look for). Just note as another person said that HWY 1 is closed in a certain section. Here is the ultimate step by step guide for all Corvette owners: http://californiathroughmylens.com/p...-highway-stops

pkincy

And let us know as you get closer to your trip. Would love to catch up with you while you are here.

WMark

I've done the PCH half a dozen times in a Corvette, twice on a Harley, and once in our DD Jeep GC. Loved (almost) every trip. If I had the chance to do it again vs driving school it would be the PCH.

HOWEVER, must add to the cautions that neat parts of the PCH are not accessible. As mentioned, could be close to another year. You won't have the same great experience as you would if the whole thing was open. I know. In June, we went to Seattle via as much as we could. We really missed the places we could not get too.

In that case, I would do Spring Mountain next summer, and do the PCH in 2019, or whenever after it is open.

Whatever you decide, you will have a blast.

mdiiulio

Do Spring Mountain this year then PCH the next (or after). You absolutely want to drive through Big Sur (the closed areas on PCH) and going to Spring Mountain first will give you a new appreciation for your car that you can use later on the entire PCH trip.

I've driven the Long Beach to San Francisco section on three separate round trips, it's a great trip. One thing I'd recommend though is getting OFF of PCH in a few areas to explore. For example, there are some great roads and spots to hit up in the Malibu hills, just driving the coast through there will leave you really missing out on some gems.

JoesC5

The drive on Hwy 1 and 101 just north of the Golden Gate Bridge is an awesome drive, all the way north to the Columbia River. Then head east driving the north side of the river on Hwy 14. Then hit I-84 heading southeast towards Texas.

Unfortunately, I can't show you photos that I took on that drive as Photobucket is holding my photos hostage for ransom(that I refuse to pay).