Stonekeeper road trip

Hi all

I am planning a road trip from Chicago to Las Vegas via Memphis then back to Chicago.

And will pass through your State.

From my research so far i believe it to be around 5000 miles the whole trip.

Am i optimistic to expect to do it in a fortnight?

Has anyone any views on the best motel chain to stop at each night or do they vary from state to state?

Any advice on places NOT to stay in would be appreciated.

Stonekeeper road trip

5000 miles in 14 days makes for an average of 360 miles per day. This distance is easy on US interstate highways. You will not be able to spend a whole lot of time at any attractions. Stringing together the sights that you want to see along the way and traveling off the interstates will make your trip more challenging.

My preferred motel chain is Comfort Inn. They are fairly modern, almost identical, most have indoor swimming pools, and they have a better than average breakfast included. Most would be under $100 per night. They are part of the Choice group, www.choicehotels.com. Choice%26#39;s other brands are: Cambria Suites, Clarion, Quality, Comfort Suites, Sleep Inn, MainStay Suites, Suburban, Econo Lodge, Rodeway Inn. All these chains are acceptable. My perception is that the latter two are less expensive and less luxurious.

My father in law will not stay at any place that has English as a second language desk clerks/owners. He feels that these are run too cheaply to be well maintained.

Avoid any place which seems to have lost its franchise. My worst experience was at the Armada Inn, where the owners had lost the Ramada Inn franchise and had rearranged the sign letters.

Stonekeeper road trip

I agree with hoogo%26#39;s advice. In addition to the Comfort Inn and related chains, I%26#39;ve had good luck at discount chains run by some of the major hotel groups: Fairfield Inn or Courtyard Inn (Marriott properties), Hampton Inn (Hilton properties) and Holiday Inn Express.

If you happen to stop for the night in the Des Moines, IA area, I recommend the Sleep Inn or Comfort Suites by Living History Farms in Urbandale (at the Hickmann Rd. exit off I-35/80). Both have been clean and good values for the money when we or our visitors have stayed there. It also is next to a restaurant (The Machine Shed) and an attraction (Living History Farms) that provide insight into rural life in the Midwestern US.

Have a wonderful, safe trip!

If you stay at Comfort Inn, Sleep Inn or Quality Inn get a choice preliege card. This way you can build points for a free night.

I try to stay at one of these motels. They are Usually clean and I get points.

Also get a book that will show you locations of the motels. I do not leave for a trip without mine.

Hi again

Thanks for all the input from all the states that have so far. Still some notable exceptions (maybe them are the ones to drive through as quickly as possible:~) )

The respondees so far seem to be getting an idea of what we intend. It is obvious that the initial trip may be significantly different than the trip we complete.

At the moment it still seems to be ;

land Chicago (looking for direct flights from Manchester possibly Glasgow)

pick up car and go to a motel reasonably quickly heading for Memphis. (Tet%26#39;s advice on not too much travel after flight noted).

We will then head for Memphis

We have now decided to use the sat nav to head for suggestions made on here E.g Rockies,grand canyon etc. Again Tets recommended trip is also printed out and ready for implementation.

Depending on how far west we have got by day 8 we will head north slightly to change interstate to start heading back to Chicago.

I believe i have to take into consideration the time zones, going west to east in USA will i not lose a couple of hours on the return trip.

If fuel is around $2.50 - $3.00 @ 30 mpg i am looking at $400.

Anyone any suggestions to the best car to hire?

Do NOT stay in Council Bluffs, Iowa!! We headed back to Chicago from Las Vegas on Sunday, and we had a wonderful experience at the Best Western in Salina, UT, but in Council Bluffs our cartop carrier with all of our camping gear was stolen in the night! I wish we would have driven straight through, or not taken the I-80 route. My sister-in-law says that the I-70 route through St. Louis is much better, and I really wish we would have taken that route. I am now $1,600 less in camping gear, and a wee bit wiser about Council Bluffs, Iowa!

Well, we are now back.

Trip Data:

Airline American Airlines

Car hire Alamo

Hotels see itinery.

Mileage covered: Odometer start 19091 finish 23529

Vehicle Chevrolet Malibu.

Average MPG according to computer in car 37.5 mpg.

Day 1 Manchester - Chicago, drive , Best western university, Traders circle Normal Illinois.

Day 2 Drove to memphis stopping at King Tuts for lunch, i would tell you where it was but for technical reasons that i will explain later i cannot.If you can find it i would well recommend. Hotel Scottish Inns near Graceland on Elvis Presley Boulevard.

Day 3 Stayed all day in the Graceland area and went to Beale Street in the evening. Absolute must for fans, too emotional for words. Ate at the Piccadilly on EPB. Stayed at Scottish Inns 2nd night.

Day 4 Headed West got as far as El Reno after many stops at Indian Trading posts hotel Mobil 8 again i did keep a record of all the eating and stopping places but more on that later.

Day 5 Drove as far as Grants i think NM.

Day 6 Grand Canyon by afternoon, South rim, awesome. Williams Hotel Best western Grants.

Day 7 Hoover dam after being wished a nice day by a policeman on the way up. Stayed Sahara Casino Hotel. After all the peace we have experienced so far Vegas is a bit busy.

Day 8 Green River Utah, Comfort inn The scenery is now indescribable.

Day 9 Fort Morgan stayed Days inn.

Day 10 Avoca Iowa Stayed Mobil 6

Between days 8 and 10 we visited Buffalo Bill memorial and John Wayne%26#39;s birthplace.

Day 11 Schiller Park Near Airport Mobil 6

Day 12 This was unexpected we decided to head to Lake Michigan stayed Kenosha on the lake in a Best Western (used to be Holiday inn.It was whilst at Kenosha on a trip out to Gurnee mills that my PDA/sat nav had a mystery illness it froze just before dark whilst i was inputting the days events into the diary.tried a soft reset,no response Unfortunately a reboot was required and guess who never backs anything up. Not only did the diary get obliterated on it%26#39;s reset to Jan 2005 but the sat nav programme was in the RAM.only the maps on the card. Luckily i was at Gurnee mills but because of my reliance on the machine i did not know where Gurnee Mills was in relation to the hotel,it was now dark and after a visit to the car park to see if i could get any form of bearings for a guess where i live drive, we nipped back in and bought a Tom Tom.Home in Half an hour.

Day 13 2nd night Kenosha, are you sure thats not the Ocean.

Day 14 Back to O%26#39;Hare for hte flight home.I had hoped to give details of every shop and eatery. We met some wonderful people, ate some very hard vegetables and had an absolute beano with camera 924 pictures now burned to cd and backed up twice.

I told you it would not be what everone considers a holiday. But it was brilliant.The driving was easy the truckers an inspiration and the views, mostly, spectacular.

Regards

Stonekeeper

Thanks for the update. I%26#39;m glad you had a good trip.