Drive Across the Contiguous 48 United States

Reading Time: 6 minutes

The United States of America is one of my favourite travel destinations. The people there speak a version of English that I understand and they seem to understand me. The natives are friendly and we fight in all wars side by side. A post-retirement trip on my drawing board is the drive across the 48 states that make up the contiguous United States (CONUS); therefore it omits Hawaii and Alaska. This is a drive, not a leisurely sight-seeing journey.

Table of Contents

Top 50 Attractions

I was inspired by Randy Olson’s list of 50 major attractions across the 48 states:

San Francisco Cable Cars, CA
San Andreas Fault, CA
Hoover Dam, NV
Grand Canyon, AZ
Bryce Canyon National Park, UT
Craters of the Moon, ID
Yellowstone National Park, WY
Pikes Peak, CO
Carlsbad Caverns National Park, NM
The Alamo, TX
The Platt Historic District, OK
Toltec Mounds, AR
Elvis Presley’s Graceland, TN
Vicksburg National Military Park, MS
French Quarter, LA
USS Alabama, AL
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL
Okefenokee Swamp Park, GA
Fort Sumter National Monument, SC
Lost World Caverns, WV
Wright Brothers National Memorial Visitor Center, NC
Mount Vernon, VA
White House, Washington, D.C.
Colonial Annapolis Historic District, MD
New Castle Historic District, DE
Cape May Historic District, NJ
Liberty Bell, PA
Statue of Liberty, NY
The Mark Twain House & Museum, CT
The Breakers, RI
USS Constitution, MA
Acadia National Park, ME
Mount Washington Hotel, NH
Shelburne Farms, VT
Fox Theater, MI
Spring Grove Cemetery, OH
Mammoth Cave National Park, KY
West Baden Springs Hotel, IN
Abraham Lincoln’s Home, IL
Gateway Arch, MO
CW Parker Carousel Museum, KS
Terrace Hill Governor’s Mansion, IA
Taliesin, WI
Fort Snelling, MN
Ashfall Fossil Bed, NE
Mount Rushmore, SD
Fort Union Trading Post, ND
Glacier National Park, MT
Hanford Site, WA
Columbia River Highway, OR

Randy estimates that such a trip could take 224 hours (9.33 days) of non-stop driving in total, but in practice that could be two to three months.

Top Cities Trip

He also suggests a trip that covers TripAdvisor’s list of top cities to visit: http://www.randalolson.com/2015/03/08/computing-the-optimal-road-trip-across-the-u-s/, but they don’t cover all 48 states. See his page for his reasons. Here is this list:

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Wichita, Kansas
Denver, Colorado
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Phoenix, Arizona
Las Vegas, Nevada
San Francisco, California
Portland, Oregon
Seattle, Washington
Boise, Idaho
Park City, Utah
Jackson, Wyoming
Billings, Montana
Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Omaha, Nebraska
Des Moines, Iowa
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Chicago, Illinois
Indianapolis, Indiana
Louisville, Kentucky
Columbus, Ohio
Detroit, Michigan
Cleveland, Ohio
Manchester, New Hampshire
Portland, Maine
Boston, Massachusetts
Providence, Rhode Island
New Haven, Connecticut
New York City, New York
Ocean City, New Jersey
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Wilmington, Delaware
Baltimore, Maryland
Washington, D.C.
Virginia Beach, Virginia
Charlotte, North Carolina
Charleston, South Carolina
Orlando, Florida
Atlanta, Georgia
Nashville, Tennessee
Birmingham, Alabama
Jackson, Mississippi
New Orleans, Louisiana
Houston, Texas
Little Rock, Arkansas
Branson, Missouri

My customised route

Randy has shared the Python code for those who want to compute an optimised route. That does not interest me, as this will be a pleasurable journey and adding my destinations will no longer make it the shortest route.

My route will be in occasional flux, as there is no date (or year) for my bucket-list trip. I’d have to wait for retirement to take off the 2-3 months needed and also need time to research the places and accommodation options, not forgetting an estimate of the cost. I’m not confident to drive on the wrong side of the road in a campervan, so it will be done in a rented sedan and living in motels or with friends. There are two requirements:

Cover all 48 states
Include cities of interest to me, mainly to meet people I know and skip monuments I have seen before

Tentative Route (A work in progress)

Route map URLs (Google Maps can only handle 10 at a time):

As I live in Australia, the entry point will be on the US West coast, hence it will end there. Returning a rental car to the same city is usually cheaper than returning it elsewhere. The following itinerary mentions attractions I am keen to see, but they are not necessarily the “best” for that location. I have seen some cities before, so these are attractions I have not seen before. The driving times will change from hour to hour, so these are simply the ones I recorded when writing the post.

Day 1 – State 1

San Francisco International, California – Santa Rosa – 1:17 hours
(overnight – after a long flight)

Day 2, State 2

Santa Rosa – Leggett, California [Tree you can drive through] – 2:10 hrs
Leggett – Eugene, Oregon – 7:10 hrs
(overnight)

Day 3, States 3 and 4

Eugene, Oregon – Walla Walla, Washington – 5:30 hrs
(lunch)
Walla Walla – Boise, Idaho – 4 hrs
(overnight)

Day 4, State 5

Boise – Salt Lake City, Utah – 4:54 hrs [Tabernacle]
(overnight)

Day 5, States 6 and 7

Salt Lake City – West Yellowstone, Montana – 4:41 hrs [Old Faithful Geyser in Wyoming]
(overnight)

Day 6

West Yellowstone – Billings, Montana – 3:49 hrs [Little Bighorn]
(overnight)

Day 7, State 8

Billings – Devil’s Tower, Wyoming – Rapid City, South Dakota [Mount Rushmore] 5:51 hrs
(overnight)

Day 8

Rapid City – Sioux Falls, South Dakota – 5 hrs [Falls Park]
(overnight)

Day 9, State 9

Fargo, North Dakota – 3:25 hrs [Air Museum]
(overnight)

Day 10, State 10

Fargo – Omaha, Nebraska – 6:03 hrs
(overnight)

Day 11, State 11

Omaha – Des Moines, Iowa – 2:03 hrs [State Capitol]
(overnight)

Day 12, State 12

Des Moines – Bloomington, Minnesota – 3:25 hrs [Mall of America]
(overnight)

Day 13, State 13

Bloomington – Oshkosh, Wisconsin [via Taliesin] – 4:15 hrs
Perhaps time it around the EAA Airventure air show
(overnight)

Day 14, State 14

Oshkosh – Chicago, Illinois – 2:42 hrs [Willis Tower]
(overnight)

Day 15, State 15

Chicago – Dearborn, Michigan – 4:02 hrs [Henry Ford Museum]
(overnight)

Day 16, State 16

Dearborn – Indianapolis, Indiana – 4:14 hrs
(overnight)

Day 17, State 17

Indianapolis – Louisville, Kentucky – 1:46 hrs
(overnight)

Day 18, State 18

Louisville – Cleveland, Ohio – 5:16 hrs
(overnight)

Day 19, State 19

Cleveland – Wheeling, West Virginia – 2:36 hrs
(overnight)

Day 20, State 20

Wheeling – Buffalo, New York – 4:10 hrs [Niagara Falls]
(overnight)

Day 21, State 21

Buffalo – Springfield, Vermont – 6:18 hrs [Covered bridges]
(overnight)

Day 22, State 22

Springfield – Manchester, New Hampshire – 1:35 hrs
(overnight)

Day 23, State 23

Manchester – Southport, Maine – 2:35 hrs
(overnight)

Day 24, State 24

Southport – Boston, Massachusetts – 2:49 hrs [Lots to see]
(overnight)

Day 25, State 25

Boston – Providence, Rhode Island – 0:55 hr
(overnight)

Day 26, State 26

Providence – New Haven, Connecticut – 1:41 hrs [Yale]
(overnight)

Day 27

New Haven – New York City, New York – 1:29 hrs [Lots to see]
(overnight)

Day 28, State 27

NYC – Ocean City, New Jersey – 2:06 hrs
(overnight)

Day 29, State 28

Ocean City – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – 1:05 hrs
(overnight)

Day 30, State 29

Philadelphia – Wilmington, Delaware – 0:33 hr
(overnight)

Day 31, State 30

Wilmington – Baltimore, Maryland – 1:12 hrs
(overnight)

Day 32

Baltimore – Washington, D.C. – 0:47 hr
(overnight)

Day 33, State 31

DC – Virginia Beach, Virginia – 3:10 hrs [Kitty Hawk, NC]
(overnight)

Day 34, State 32

Virginia Beach – Charlotte, North Carolina – 5:13 hrs
(overnight)

Day 35, State 33

Charlotte – Charleston, South Carolina – 3:03 hrs
(overnight)

Day 36, State 34

Charleston – Jacksonville, Florida – 3:35 hrs
(overnight)

Day 37, State 35

Jacksonville – Atlanta, Georgia – 4:48 hrs
(overnight)

Day 38, State 36

Atlanta – Chattanooga, Tennessee – 2:01 hrs
(overnight)

Day 39, State 37

Chattanooga – Birmingham, Alabama – 2:10 hrs
(overnight)

Day 40, State 38

Birmingham – Jackson, Mississippi – 3:25 hrs
(overnight)

Day 41, State 39

Jackson – Baton Rouge, Louisiana
(overnight)

Day 42, State 40

Baton Rouge – Houston, Texas – 3:58 hrs
(overnight)

Day 43, State 41

Houston – Little Rock, Arkansas – 6:45 hrs
(overnight)

Day 44, State 42

Little Rock – Kansas City, Missouri 6:06 hrs [WW1 memorial]
(overnight)

Day 45, State 43

Kansas City – Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – 4:58 hrs
(overnight)

Day 46, State 44

OKC – Wichita, Kansas – 2:24 hrs
(overnight)

Day 47, State 45

Wichita – Colorado Springs, Colorado – 7:18 hrs
(overnight)

Day 48, State 46

Colorado Springs – Albuquerque, New Mexico – 5:15 hrs
(overnight)

Day 49, State 47

Albuquerque – Phoenix, Arizona – 6:22 hrs

Day 50, State 48

Phoenix – Las Vegas, Nevada – 4:35 hrs [recoup expenses at the penny slots]
(overnight)

Day 51, Return to State 1

Las Vegas – Bakersfield, California – 4:08 hrs
(lunch)
Bakersfield – San Jose, California – 3:39 hrs [see friends]
(overnight)

Day 52, Return car, Head Home

San Francisco Airport (starting point)

Additional points of interest will be added above from time to time, so bookmark this page.

Planning the 48-State Drive

Air Travel

When the trip decision is made, the entry point to the US will be made based on price of the Melbourne-US return flights. The entry cities are usually (for Star Alliance frequent flyers) Houston, Los Angeles or San Francisco.

Flying via Hawaii to California and then adding a flight to Alaska can make it the full 50 states, if you wish.

Budgeting

For a couple, we are estimating to spend US$300 per day, depending on the cost of accommodation – typically AirBNB, meals and entrance fees. Car rental depends on your choice of company and vehicle. The above 50-day trip would cost a minimum of US$15,000.

Suggestions

If you have any suggestions, please comment below.