Western States Trip in Honda S2000


The S2000, washed, waxed, serviced, full of gas, and ready to go.

This trip started out as a desire to drive the Pacific Coast Highway from the Canadian border to the Mexican border.  However, I didn't want to drive the same highway both ways, so I decided to go inland for half of the trip. Since I have relatives in Utah, I decided I might as well visit them and show off the car.  Plus I don't have to pay for a hotel when staying there.

In looking at the small road atlas that I had at the time the trip idea was still growing, it became obvious that with careful route selection I could visit more states.  Eventually, this included all of the states in the Pacific and Mountain time zones with the exception of Nevada.  I drive through Nevada between Utah and California several times a year and there is nothing that I want to see in that state.  However, I eventually decided that I should drive through a corner of Nevada just to make the trip complete.

Since I had another trip planned a month earlier, I joined AAA and picked up a whole pile of maps for all the states I would be traveling to.  The following are the two sides of the Western States map, showing the final route plan.  The yellow line is the route I intend to follow.  The apparent confusion near Page, Arizona comes from marking the map before I has decided to visit all national parks that are close to the route.  "Detours" to see more sights are marked in green.  Each of these routes is marked in more detail on the larger individual state maps.
   
Click on the images to see more details.

The goal is to drive only during daylight hours, stop for anything interesting, see as many states and National Parks as possible, stay on roads that are enjoyable in a sports car (i.e., avoid freeways as much as possible), and generally have fun for two weeks.  Oh, and take lots of pictures along the way to document the trip.

The date of the 2nd and 3rd weeks of May was chosen as being as late in the year as possible, but before the tourists hit the road.  It provides the best chance of good weather as well; not too hot and not too rainy.

The General Plan

An initial plan was worked out with expected mileage between stopping points.  The first week will have an average of about 350 miles per day with the weekend spent in Utah with friends and relatives.  The second week is more like 400 to 450 miles per day and will likely end late Saturday night.  Here's the general plan:

Monday - Week 1

Leave my home in Pleasanton, CA, drive to Half Moon Bay as the official starting point, drive south, staying on Highway 1, as close to the Pacific Ocean as possible.  Take time to go on the 17-Mile drive in Monterey/Carmel and stop somewhere between Santa Barbara and San Diego, depending on how far I feel like driving that day and when it gets dark.

Tuesday - Week 1

Head towards St. George, Utah, avoiding freeways as much as possible.  Drive through Joshua Tree National Park.  Drive through Las Vegas without stopping unless it happens to be dinner time.  Of course, if I only make it to Santa Barbara on Monday, I'll be behind and might not make it this far.  However, this section includes about 120 miles of freeway that appear to be unavoidable, so they'll go faster.

Wednesday - Week 1

Drive through Zion National Park, take a short detour to Long Valley and Bryce Canyon, drive to both the North and South rims of the Grand Canyon, drive to Four Corners, then on to Farmington New Mexico.  Look at the pictures later to figure out what all I saw on this day.

Thursday - Week 1

Drive to Durango, Colorado, visit Mesa Verde National Park, drive into Canyon Lands and Arches National Parks, then head towards Provo, Utah.

Friday - Week 1

Visit family in Provo, drive to Salt Lake to visit more family.

Saturday and Sunday - Week 1

Stay with family, visit family and friends, stay in Logan, Utah, Sunday night to be an extra 100 miles further along.  Meet with a few Utah S2000 owners Saturday morning.

Monday - Week 2

Drive up Highway 89 past Bear Lake and a little piece of Idaho, head to Grand Teton National Park, then on to Yellowstone.  Take a picture of the car in front of Old Faithful, then head on to Bozeman, Montana.

Tuesday - Week 2

Drive up Highway 89 some more through Great Falls, Glacier National Park, and Kalispell.

Wednesday - Week 2

Drive through another little piece of Idaho and on into Canada.  Follow Highway 3 and Trans-Canada 3 west towards Vancouver.

Thursday - Week 2

Take the ferry to Vancouver Island, drive south to Victoria and take another ferry to Port Angeles, Washington.  If all goes well, meet two more S2000 owners in Port Angeles and drive the Hurricane Ridge Road together in Olympic National Park.  Head to the coast and start driving south towards Oregon.

Friday - Week 2

Drive down the Oregon coast, visit Redwood National Park, stay in Arcata.

Saturday - Week 2

Drive the rest of the coast south.  If there's enough time, drive out to Pt. Reyes.  Take a picture of the car with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background, cross it, head onward to Half Moon Bay, then east back home.  If it's still light, wash all of those awful bugs off of the car.

Summary

Total expected mileage: somewhere between 4200 and 5000.
Total states visited: 11 + one Canadian Province.
Total national parks visited: 12
Total expected number of bugs smashed onto front of car: 549,192

Monday - First Week Home

Go order a new set of tires, since the current ones should be worn out.  Do laundry.  Download digital images and get film processed.  Start writing a summary of the trip.