Just wanted to say a big THANK YOU to all those who have chipped in with ideas and lots of very generous offers of help, somewhere to stay, and other practical assistance.

This just reinforces my belief that those of you who frequent this clinic are second to none on this planet.

I really hope there are no show-stoppers to this trip and we get the opportunity to meet as many of you guys as possible. I also hope that some day I get to repay the compliment.

Regards
Darryl (aka Emu)

Bump.. THANK YOU ALL

Looking forward to meeting you and the missus. Bring a good camera and enough memory for it. We'll help with the battery's.

GP

If you're staying on the West Coast in California, rent a bike and travel north on the Pacific Coast Highway. You'll go through some of this countries best areas period and the view around EVERY turn is amazing. You can visit the town of Carmel, The 17 mile drive is AWESOME on a bike as is the Pebble Beach Golf Course area. The towns of Pacific Grove and Monterrey have some nice bed and breakfasts, and continue up to San Francisco and beyond to the Redwood forest.

Once you get outside of LA, there are plenty of great rides.

Need advice guys:

Arriving from Oz in LA on May 14th. We're hoping to catch up with BoatMark for a couple of days if the dates suit him; then planning on joining a coach tour of LA / San Francisco, Yosemite Nat Pk, Las Vagas, Grand Canyon, etc.

After coach tour we are planning on travelling by rail from LA to Wisconsin (Chicago or Milwaukee). This is where it gets interesting as we appear to have 5 route options:

1. LA - Tucson - El Paso - San Antonio - Dallas - St Louis - Chicago. May be too great a distance??

2. LA - Flagstaff - Albuquerque - Kansas City - Chicago. Probably most direct route??

3. LA - San Francisco - Reno - Salt Lake City - Denver - Ohaha - Chicago.

4. LA - San Francisco - Portland - Spokane - Glacier Park - Grand Forks - St. Paul Minneapolis - Milwaukee.

5. LA - San Francisco - Portland - Seattle - (INTO CANADA) - Vancouver - Kamloops - Jasper - Edmonston - Saskatoon - Winnipeg - Sioux Lookout - Sunbury Jct. - Toronto - then either coach of flight to Wisconsin.

Our thoughts are that if we fly direct from LA to Chicago we won't see any of the countryside / scenery and if we hire car and drive it's a long way and we'd have the concern of paying penalties on hire car(s) not to return to point of hire,etc.

Route to Canada really appeals to us as we've been told the scenery up west coast of USA and then across Canada is really worth the trip.

Can anyone offer us their recommendations based on first hand knowledge and experiences?

Thanks for any advice.

Darryl (Emu) and Mandy.

i dont know personally but you could ask my brother crazyron 1369 hes an otr truck driver and been almost everywhere in the country hope you enjoy your trip here though

Listed by order of most scenic:

#5 would be your best bet, if you're looking for awesome scenery, especially on the train. Coastal California(Santa Barbara, Carmel, Big Sur, San Francisco, Redwoods) Oregon, Washington, Vancouver and plenty of Canada. Yea, bring a camera.

#3 choice is nice with San Francisco, Reno (skiing & gambling), Salt Lake City(great skiing)and Denver(beautiful Rocky Mountains)with not much after the Rockies.

#4 the coastal portion would be great, don't know Glacier Park or Grand Forks,

#1 and #2 are pretty uninteresting and not much to see other than what the cities offer.

#1: LA, Tucson to Dallas is desert, pretty barren. Think the outback without Mel Gibson aka The Road Warrior San Antonio has The Alamo and The Riverwalk, St Louis Arch.
#2: LA to Albuquerque is pretty bland by train. Kansas City has great BBQ. Kinda follows Route 66.

Yea, #5 would be my first choice.

Tug wrote:
i dont know personally but you could ask my brother crazyron 1369 hes an otr truck driver and been almost everywhere in the country hope you enjoy your trip here though

Thanks Tug, we're really looking forward to visiting and meeting lots of good people.

Emu@Oz wrote:

4. LA - San Francisco - Portland - Spokane - Glacier Park - Grand Forks - St. Paul Minneapolis - Milwaukee.

5. LA - San Francisco - Portland - Seattle - (INTO CANADA) - Vancouver - Kamloops - Jasper - Edmonston - Saskatoon - Winnipeg - Sioux Lookout - Sunbury Jct. - Toronto - then either coach of flight to Wisconsin.


Either of these would be my pick. The left coast is simply beautiful, but there are a lot of fruits and nuts. You cannot go wrong visiting Glacier NP (amazing) or Vancouver. The problem with the other routes is that much of it is desert or farmland. It has its own beauty, but it is usually far from majestic.

Want to agree with dutchman. Only choose either 4 or 5. If you arrive at LAX in the evening or weekend, let me pick you up...take you where you need to go that night. Keep us posted!