American Roadtrip

Beware. This is going to be long.

It is 2300 miles from Atlanta to California (and that is actually Fresno, which is pretty close to the middle of the state. Fresno is not a big tourist destination; you will probably be happier heading to either Los Angeles, which is to the south, or San Diego, which is farther south, or San Francisco, which is to the north). That is the most direct route according to Google Maps and they say it'll take 33 hours (almost a day and a half).

They are probably wildly underestimating how long it will really take, as that is assuming an average speed of 69.7 MPH. On a route that long, you are guaranteed to hit construction, plus you may have to slow down for traffic and/or tolls, and maybe even railroad crossings. I have no idea what the speed limits are, but there are likely to be a few that are for less than 70 MPH. Plus no car can go that long without refueling, and neither can you.

A much more reasonable estimate is about five days for a direct route. That has you traveling just under 500 miles every day and, at 60 MPH, it means you are doing about 8 hours of driving every single day.

That does not leave any time for sightseeing or getting lost or taking a scenic route, so you should be considering at least a week of driving for this.

In order to give you some perspective on this, that is a little farther than Barcelona to Moscow.

So let's assume you're going to go to Los Angeles, which is slightly closer than Fresno. At 2175 miles, it's not going to change the time estimates too much. I would still assume a week of travel.

Google Maps shows two somewhat direct routes. For both of them, you start off by driving from Atlanta to Birmingham, Alabama. If you're interested in the history of the American civil rights movements, that could be a place to go.

Then the two routes diverge. For both of them, Google Maps shows several construction areas.

Route #1 (more northerly) - go from Birmingham to Memphis, TN
then through Little Rock, AK to Oklahoma City, OK
then through Amarillo, TX to Albuquerque, NM
then through Flagstaff, AZ eventually to Anaheim, CA and then to Los Angeles.

Pros:

• Memphis is a big music city and should be a fun stop
  
• Oklahoma City will be of interest if you are a US history buff
  
• Albuquerque is nice; the mountains are pretty
  
• Same with Flagstaff
  
• Disneyland is in Anaheim

Cons:

• Aside from Little Rock, you're not going through a terribly built-up area of Arkansas. There may not be a lot of places to stop, not just for tourist stuff but for basics like food and gasoline
  
• Same thing with Oklahoma until you get to Oklahoma City.
  
• And the same past it to Amarillo and through that very northern part of Texas. This is not to say the scenery won't be lovely, but don't expect huge choices for food and lodging
  
• Outside Albuquerque to Flagstaff, you are heading through or skirting reservations. Again, there may not be many accommodations
  
• Once you get into eastern California, you will skirt the Mojave National Preserve. Plus that entire part of California can be very hot in the summer, even the parts that technically aren't desert.

Route #2 (southerly): through Birmingham, AL to Meridian, MS
then to Shreveport, LA
then to Dallas/Fort Worth, TX
then to El Paso, TX
then through southern NM to Tucson, AZ
then to Phoenix, AZ and then to Los Angeles.

Pros:

• If you are big on US history, particularly of the civil rights movement, you will see a lot of the places where important things happened
  
• Dallas is a beautiful, modern city (I've been there, but it was over 30 years ago)
  
• El Paso is on the Mexican border if you want to detour into Mexico at all
  
• Phoenix is also a really nice city
  
• It's not much of a detour to Anaheim if you must go to Disneyland

Cons:

• Those areas in Alabama and Mississippi are more small towns, much like in Route #1
  
• These are also areas where the Klan is more active. If anyone in your group is a person of color, these could turn out to be very uncomfortable places to go (I don't want to paint the entire area with one broad brush; I am sure most people are wonderful. But I recall vividly seeing a sign in rural Georgia which proudly announced, "This is Klan Country." And these areas of MS and AL have the potential to be a lot like that)
  
• Past Dallas, it is going to be a lot of scrubby oil fields, many desert-like until you get to NM
  
• Plus, as before, these are going to be a lot of small town areas so accommodations will be scarcer
  
• Yes, El Paso is on the Mexican border with Juarez, which may or may not be a place of interest to you
  
• I would also be cautious with leaving and reentering the country given the current political climate. You are a citizen of another country and of course you will have a passport, etc. But you could still be setting yourself up for headaches, so be aware of that
  
• The route from Phoenix to Los Angeles will be rather desertlike

My advice? Either land elsewhere in the US (either closer to California or farther north, particularly if you want to avoid deserts) or resign yourself to some of your requirements not being met. I have no idea how extensive AirBnB is in the smaller towns; you may not have a choice there, in terms of where to sleep at night.

Personally, I would land in Denver, CO and drive from there. It's over 1,000 miles closer (so you have just taken about 2 to 2 1/2 days off your travel time), and the route takes you through national forests. The southern part of Utah has the same small towns problem, but from there you go to Las Vegas - which I admit is a desert. And then you skirt the Mojave National Preserve.

Denver also offers a much better route if you would rather go to San Francisco. It's a bit longer (about 1200 miles versus around 1000 from Denver to Los Angeles) but the route goes through southern Wyoming, then Salt Lake City, UT, and then northern Nevada (more small towns) to Reno and then Sacramento, CA before going to Los Angeles. The only really hot part will be around Sacramento if you decide to do that.

I've been across the country twice but never along these particular routes. I've also traveled for business and have seen a part of every state but Alaska and Mississippi. There are some really beautiful parts of this country. Have a fun and safe trip.

Stay to the north and that should keep you out of the desert. Most of the central US is pretty boring. There are some sights, some nature, but it gets really pretty once you get into the West with the Rockies and whatnot.

Motels through the central US, especially in small towns are going to run 60-80 a night for the basics. If you want breakfast and clean comfort expect at least $100 a night once all the taxes get added in.

As a disclaimer, I live in Arkansas and have traveled the central US quite a bit.

I had a good childhood in lots of ways that I thank my parents for, memories now in my elder mind. One of the good parts was that while we then lived Chicago adjacent, we had long time family in the Los Angeles area. Thus we drove Chi to LA and back a bunch of times, and took train rides another bunch of times, me, an only child, loving both of those. As it happens, I was born in LA and lived there off and on for decades. And I've long loved driving and scenery because of those childhood trips.

I agree with those who say head north. More north than I'm sure you are thinking. One of the places I've lived was in the Eureka/Arcata area of California is where the Redwood Forest meets the Pacific Ocean. If memory correct, it's approx 250 miles from San Francisco, a route I drove many times, every time gorgeously beautiful. If you like real forests, that is: that highway 101 segment is hard to beat. Check it out on a map.

After that, I suggest continuing down 101 all the way to LA, as it's relatively coastal and much more beautiful route. Highway 1, which shows up later is very coastal, but can be slower for sure.
If you want to be faster, take highway 5, which is filled chock full of speed demons and huge speeding trucks, and last I knew, only fast food places.

Of course you can skip that part north of San Francisco that I wrote about, but you'd be missing a wonderful drive.

Some people really dig Arizona, I lived at Ft Huachuca for 4 years and get around, I say it is just OK. That being the case I third the call to head north.

The only thing is I also say that just across the border into Mexico is worth three days.

On Mexico. I went there with my smartass girlfriends somewhere in my twenties. Most of them were fascile in spanish, so I picked up at least some of it..

After first visit, I've been there many times, also with boy friend. Later, w/husband, those not the same people.
Years go by, now, back to dumber.

Or not. I read a bunch of books, saw a lot of great art, and also read about tough stuff happening.