dhc905
Distinguished Member
- Joined
- Apr 16, 2007
- Messages
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Well, I just bought my one way ticket to SFO for June with the ambition of driving back to Chicago. My search of other forumites who had made a similar sojourn turned up Arethusa's gem (http://www.styleforum.net/showthread.php?t=16905), but I'm trying to do exactly the opposite in many more ways than one. First I'm going West to East. As a result, my playlist does not include any Michael Smith (for edification: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_West_Young_Man). Second, I'm traveling with a life partner and I'm setting out with the ambition of not being raped in either a figurative or literal sense. In case you were wondering, I'm not gay, it's my fiancee, who is of the womanly persuasion. Third, I want this to be fun. It's a vacation. The plan is currently Berkeley (where I will take possession of one of my parents cars) -> Tahoe. Eat at Evan's American Gourmet Cafe. Gamble, sleep. -> Carson City. Visit their Nevada history museum that used to have a cool mine and a room full of guns. -> Reno, pass through, throw $20 on the table in hopes of paying for gas. -> SLC. Visit our gambling, drinking mormon friends. -> Moab. Get in touch with Nature. -> Grand Junction (check out Colorado wine country, maybe). -> Vail. Sleep, hike, etc. -> Denver/Boulder. I want to check out the craft beer scene in Boulder, but it's kind of out of the way. -> Get on 80 and high tail it to Omaha. Visit Berkshire, eat some Sees candy, move on. -> Eyes wide shut through Iowa, arrive back in Chicago. I've been doing a fair amount of independent research on places to see, routes to take, etc, but I was hoping to pull on the immense knowledge of SF's to fill in gaps. We haven't settled on that being the route, although we do need to go through SLC to visit our gambling, drinking mormons. Route 66 was an option, but since we're only taking 7 days to do this, we figured SLC + Denver was a better option than Amarillo and Tulsa. I've resigned myself to the fact that the last 1,000 miles is going to be utterly boring. By way of information, we're taking a (very) small car that won't have any off-road capabilities, and the small trunk will be filled with wine and clothes. We're not planning on taking anything else. I'm having a mechanic go over the car, put new tires on, etc to ensure that it will make the trip. SO, 1. Any recommendations for things to see along this route? 2. Anyone done this route, just following Route 90, not 80? 3. Is there any good way of getting iphone music to play through the CD/Cassette player without having one of those silly cassette machines attached to my phone? I'm currently planning on burning CD's, but avoiding that might be nice. 4. Tips? Anything from anecodotes of similar trips to suggestions of roadside cafes would be much appreciated!