How the Southwest Summer Drive was Conceived
Ten Tips for Your Road Trip to the Southwest
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Ten Tips for Your Road Trip to the Southwest
If you’re ever planning to ride the roads of the Southwest during summer, here’s ten things to remember to make the experience as pleasant and inexpensive as possible:
1. If you’re planning on staying within a national park, strongly consider making your hotel reservations as early as possible; at highly popular parks like Yosemite and Grand Canyon, you’ll need to book up to 13 months in advance, which is as early as they’ll allow. For motels outside the parks, we found that the cheapest rates could be found in February, roughly six months in advance. If you’re going Vegas, you can find great deals as late as a month in advance, since the resorts we’ll be hurting to fill the rooms at that point.
2. Get a membership to AAA and further reduce costs; many motels offer discounts up to 20%.
3. If you want to get a feel of where in town you’re going to stay, download Google Earth and find out if a motel you’re interested in is walking distance to numerous restaurants and marts (good) or a busy railroad or 24-hour wrecking yard (bad). The Street View feature will further give you a good idea of the motel’s surroundings.
4. If you think you’re going to stink up your motel bathroom, do yourself a huge favor and use the public restroom in the lobby. Calling room service for a plunger is not a pretty thing.
5. Don’t lounge around in the morning and then head to the national parks at noon. By then they’ll likely be crowded, hot and more susceptible to early afternoon monsoonal weather. Avoid the crowds and heat by getting there shortly after—or even at—sunrise, when the scenery is more dramatic anyway.
6. If you’re bringing kids, for God’s sake, bow to their demands and let them tote along any portable video games or DVD players they may have. Car games that are far cheaper and just as fun may not last as long—except the pursuit of spotting license plates to all 50 states, the District of Columbia and any province/state from Canada or Mexico, as you’ll discover throughout this photo essay.
7. Bring as much food as you can to make for breakfast, lunch or even dinner—and diversify the meals. We burned out on the same sandwich meat after ten days of the trip. Many motels offer free breakfast, the quality of which will vary. Be aware that a basic meal for a family of four, even in bergs with low costs of living like Winslow, Hanksville or Tonopah, will likely cost you $40 and up.
8. If you’re low on gas and driving into a town, don’t pick the first gas station you see—because they know many people will stop for that reason. Gas stations buried in the center of town are usually less expensive. (Tip 8B: Avoid buying gas in California if you can possibly avoid it, or sticker shock will ensue.)
9. Don’t plan to split your time between motels and campgrounds. Between all the luggage and camping gear, free space in your vehicle will become non-existent.
10. If you’re planning a trip with visits to more than a few national parks, buy yourself a National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Annual Pass ($80, in 2009) that will save you in the long run and give you access to all national parks and monuments, anytime. These will be available at the port of entry at any park.