The distance can be driven in any time down to five days but this requires that at least three people drive, and no stops be made for sleep. This is a real hardship and few would care to make such a trip. With two driving it is possible by hard pushing to make it in eight days, but this requires an average of 400 miles a day, which is too much. In comfortable transcontinental driving from 250 to 300 miles a day is sufficient and on this basis the trip can be made in from twelve to fourteen days.
A proper allowance is thirteen driving days and at least three days for rest at some points where the day can be spent in walking or playing golf. If three weeks can be given to the trip so much the better and, if on the eastern roads where the driving is smooth, better than 300 miles a day can be made, the time allowance on the western part of the trip where the roads are apt to be difficult will be increased; here too the scenery may tempt the travelers to make side trips.
The ideal time of year to make the run is in June. The southern routes through Texas are available all the year around and in the winter they are the only open routes.
By June, however, most of the roads as far north as the Lincoln Highway are clear of snow and the mountain passes are open. In July and August all the routes are open but those up to and including the central routes are hot and dusty. In the winter all the central and northern routes are closed on account of the snow in the Rockies but in spite of this it is reported that hundreds of motorists each year get as far west as Reno, Nevada, before they learn that none of the roads over the mountains are passable.
It is generally conceded by experienced people that by far the best route, taking everything into consideration, is the National Old Trails route, particularly from Kansas City to Los Angeles via Dodge City, La Junta, Trinidad, Raton, Sante Fe, Albuquerque, and Route U.S. 66 from there west, a total from the east coast of about 3,157-3,400 miles, depending on the routes covered east of the Mississippi.
A more adventurous route on account of the possibility of bad stretches of road in the early summer is via the Lincoln Highway. It is generally prettier from a scenic standpoint but nothing is more beautiful than the “painted desert” in Arizona and no town more generally attractive than Sante Fe.
The great side trip on the southern route is to the Grand Canyon from Williams, 122 miles round trip; on the Lincoln Highway late in the month a detour from Rawlins may be made to the Yellowstone, returning to the main route either at Salt Lake City, Utah, or at Wells, Nevada. The latter, however, depends on the road conditions and should only be undertaken if the local reports indicate the roads open and cleared.
It is hard for easterners accustomed to open roads practically throughout the year to realize that even as far east as Nebraska in June the main highway may be undercut by a river and a section go out, completely closing that route to traffic for some time.
The roads and routes west of the Mississippi require more careful selection than east of the river because there are greater lengths of gravel road and in Kansas the famous “gumbo,” a thick slippery coating of mud over all the country roads, can only be avoided on any route selected by good luck and a dry spring. It is possible sometimes to get through with chains but at others you must wait for a dry spell. As each year goes by more and more of the road is paved, but I venture to estimate that even with the incentive of the recent road construction rush to aid the unemployed it will be another ten years before the Lincoln Highway is paved from one coast to the other.
People from the thickly populated east where every town is connected by paved roads with every other do not fully appreciate the road problem in the far western states where you can travel sometimes for 50 to 100 miles without seeing more than a cabin or two. So it is not strange that even on the Lincoln Highway from Marshaltown, Iowa, west there are only short sketches of paved road until you get into California. The rest is mostly good gravel and every effort is made to put it into condition as soon as the ground thaws in the spring. The transcontinental busses use this route, however, and in places such as the stretch between Parco and Evanston, Wyoming, in June of 1930 the road was torn completely out with holes six inches to a foot deep. This is unquestionably the worst kind of road to drive over, for it looks well ahead and when you try to work up to speed you suddenly drop into a small deep depression which will frequently rack the car hard enough to break the springs. On the whole, however, the gravel roads are good and the stretches of very bad road cover a comparatively small part of the total distance.
As to your itinerary. The state automobile clubs or the A.A.A. will give you an excellent routing if you are a member and desire to follow their schedule. They make every effort to insure having available the very latest information, but on a fifteen-day trip unless you check up locally at every stop over from the Mississippi west you may have to retrace your steps several times, and it is far pleasanter to ride continually toward your objective and use the additional time for stop-overs or side trips in the more beautiful parts of the country. A good reasonably designed schedule gives you an excellent backbone to work on and prevents hard driving to make up time at the end.
The Rand McNally Auto Road Atlas for the current year has the best general planning maps, with one for distance and one for route numbers. The United States route numbers are now in place on practically all the main highways of the country and are without doubt the greatest motoring aid so far invented.
So many personal considerations governing route selections enter into the question, particularly east of the Mississippi, that it is hard to select any particular route from the Atlantic coast to the river, but after you pass the “Father of Waters,” unless on a far southern route, you should go out through Omaha or Kansas City. West of these points more careful attention to the stops is desirable on account of the fact that in some of the towns the hotels are much better than in others. Here is where the National Old Trails road excels, for the “Harvey” system of hotels give uniformly good accommodations, the best meals, and good water. On the Lincoln Highway, however, there is a vast difference, and as much of the comfort of the trip depends on a good bath and comfortable bed at the end of a long day’s run, this part of the trip should be well planned.
It must be borne in mind that the consideration of previous advertising and steady support of many hotels is necessary for the continued publication of the more regular automobile guides, so that if an up-to-date independent guide can be found it may give more recent and less biased information. Such a guide is the “Mohawk Hobbs” guide issued by the Mohawk Rubber Company and on sale at most tourist bureaus and news stands. Considerable experience with these guides has shown them to be very dependable and entirely based on carefully acquired data without fear or favor. The information is up to date, accurate, and full on all matters of primary interest.
Using this guide for the Lincoln Highway west of Chicago one finds good daily runs as follows:
Chicago to Cedar Rapids................... 231.5
Cedar Rapids to Omaha.................... 288.4
Omaha to North Platte...................... 309.6
North Platte to Laramie.................... 280.2
Laramie to Rock Springs.................. 230.8
Rock Springs to Salt Lake................. 199.5
1,540.0
From Salt Lake to the coast the selection of a route to Los Angeles or San Francisco may be made on local information, but this must be noted: generally speaking, from this point the sooner you get into California the better. Roads in Wyoming and Nevada are all through sparsely settled and mountainous country and while every effort is being made to develop them it is naturally a slow process. Route U.S. 91, 751 miles through Las Vegas, makes a one day shorter run as far as distance is concerned but the trip down the San Joaquin valley is well worth the additional time if it is available, and going via Sacramento the distance is only 1,089 miles, a difference of 338 miles.
The Victory Highway is of course the one usually taken, but by 1931 the road around Lake Tahoe should be in good shape and while the climb up from the lake to the top of the mountains is a steep and hard one the beauty of this route recommends it.
To Reno a good itinerary is as follows:
Salt Lake City to Elko....................... 245.8
Elko to Reno.................................... 294.1
From Reno the direct route to Sacramento is 143 miles but via Lake Tahoe it is 169 and a comfortable run for that day would be to Stockton, a total of 217 miles.
The run from Stockton to Los Angeles, 361 miles, all over paved road can be easily made in one day or an intermediate stop may be made at any one of the delightful small inns on this route.
The run into San Francisco from Sacramento is only 99.4 miles and from Los Angeles to San Diego is only 130 miles.
Chicago, 715 miles from Washington or 865 from New York, can be made easily in three days running time and a recapitulation of the time and distance shows:
| Days | Miles | |
New York to Chicago | 3 | 865.0 |
|
Chicago to Salt Lake | 6 | 1,540.0 | |
Salt Lake to Reno | 2 | 540.0 | |
Reno to Stockton | 1 | 217.0 | |
Stockton to Los Angeles | 1 | 361.0 | |
| 13 | 3,523.0 | |
To San Diego | 1 | 130.0 | |
Total | 14 | 3,653.0 |
Driving three days and resting one is a good schedule so that this trip should take from sixteen to seventeen days, which is a good average trip across, without forcing.
All the best hotels have golf playing arrangements with golf clubs so that guests can arrange a game in any city. A day on a good golf course makes you feel in fine trim for next day’s run.
Going by the Old Trails road the schedule works out as follows:
| Days | Miles |
Chicago to Kansas City | 2 | 510 |
Kansas City to Salina | 1 | 207 |
Salina to Dodge City | 1 | 241 |
Dodge City to La Junta | 1 | 221 |
La Junta to Santa Fe | 1 | 302 |
Santa Fe to Gallup | 1 | 237 |
Gallup to Williams | 1 | 190 |
Williams to Barstow | 1 | 370 |
Barstow to Los Angeles | 1 | 136 |
| 10 | 2,414 |
New York To Chicago | 3 | 865 |
| 13 | 3,279 |
San Diego can be made on the last day, giving a total of thirteen days driving and a distance of 3,409 miles. The run from Williams to Barstow, 370 miles, is a bad day’s work but is necessary for there are no good hotels in between. To Los Angeles from New York via Baltimore and St. Louis this distance may be reduced to 3,157 miles but again a matter of a hundred miles or more on a trip of this kind makes little difference.
Now as to accommodations and cost for two people. The first rule is to stay at European plan hotels if you are making a hotel trip, at tourist houses for less expense, and at camps and cabins for still less. In this schedule I will give only the best hotels on the above plan and figure meals as they cost in the best restaurants for very little is saved, particularly west of the Mississippi, by going to any but the best.
| Lodging |
|
| Meals |
To Chicago | (3x 6) | $18.00 | (3 x 6) | $18.00 |
Cedar Rapids |
| 4.00 |
| 5.25 |
Omaha |
| 5.00 |
| 6.00 |
North Platte |
| 4.00 |
| 4.00 |
Laramie |
| 4.50 |
| 4.60 |
Rock Springs |
| 4.00 |
| 4.60 |
Salt Lake |
| 4.00 |
| 5.00 |
Elko |
| 3.50 |
| 4.60 |
Reno |
| 3.50 |
| 5.00 |
Stockton |
| 4.50 |
| 5.00 |
Los Angeles |
| 4.50 |
| 5.00 |
Totals | $59.50 |
| $67.05 |
A safe allowance is $10 a day for two people for lodging and meals.
Gasoline varies in price. In 1930 it ran from $0.33 in Nevada to $0.18 in Wyoming, the average being $0.24. As it takes with the usual modern car about 250 gallons the cost is about $60 for the best grade. Tires should be good and the trip takes from one- fifth to one-quarter of their mileage or about $12 worth of wear unless you have a bad break. With about one gallon of oil per 300 miles the oil is a small item, in round numbers about $12. Repairs depend upon the age and care given the car. Everything should be kept in best condition for particularly in the far west the stretches between garages are long and towing expensive.
The totals are therefore something like this :
Food and lodging........................... $130.00
Gasoline .......................................... 60.00
Oil....................................................................... 12.00
Repairs, upkeep, storage, etc.......... 40.00
Incidentals—movies, golf, etc.......... 65.00
13)307.00
Daily ............................................... $ 23.62
By cutting down on the incidentals and by using the camps and cabins, which in the west are frequently very good, considerable saving can be made but more time will be required on account of buying, cooking, and handling meals.
In this way the total daily cost can be reduced as low as $15 a day for two people. However, unless you know how to camp and have good equipment this method of making the trip is not recommended. A safe estimate on your money allowance for the trip is $12.50 per person per day. Travelers’ checks in units of $25 are by far the best means of carrying money.
For a sixteen-day trip for two people this means $400. Railroad travel from New York to Los Angeles costs as follows:
Fare (2 x 110) ........................................... $220.00
Berths to Chicago ........................... 17.00
Compartment ................................. 67.00
Meals .............................................. 40.00
Tips, etc........................................... 10.00
$354.00
The train trip takes five days and as you must pay for your living for eleven days to make the time equal, at a rate not less than $10 a day for two people, the cost for the same period of time as the trip, sixteen days, will be $354 plus $110 or $464. The trip via Panama costs $550, first cabin for two people, and takes two weeks, but by neither of these routes do you get your car immediately available or without additional cost for transportation.
The wear and tear on the car and tires is not excessive and while it is difficult to put into dollars and cents, looks something like this:
Car Original cost................................ $1,600
Probable life 5 years or 60,000 miles Value at end $ 200
Depreciation.................................... $1,400
Per year—12,000 miles....................... $280
Run—3,000 miles
Value taken from car....................... $70
Value taken from tires..................... $12
$ 82
For a cheaper car:
Original cost ................................... $500.00
Probable life—3 years or 36,000 miles
Value at end.................................... $ 50.00
Depreciation.................................... $450.00
Per year—12,000 miles....................... $150.00
Run—3,000 miles
Value taken from car....................... $ 37.50
Value taken from tires .................... $ 4.00
$ 41.50
Good weather is, of course, the greatest single asset for a comfortable trip and in June the chances are usually the best. In 1928 and 1930 in that month there was very little or no rain on the trip. With the modern closed car, however, except for the road conditions rain makes little difference.
It is well to carry luggage in as few bags as possible as they must be handled in and out at night or locked in the car. Luggage should be carefully packed so that it does not chafe, as a day’s run on a dusty rough road soon rubs a hole, unless care is exercised. Adhesive tape put on temporarily at points of contact will save both car and bags. Good sun glasses are a necessity to prevent headaches and they should be used right from the start. A small driving pillow for the small of the driver’s back gives the spine a comfortable curve, and prevents pains in the back of the neck at the end of a long day’s run. For the far west a good thermos of water is necessary and for the Old Trails road some good grade of non-alkaline water will be found very necessary even in some of the hotels in Arizona and New Mexico.
This schedule and the suggestions contained herein were obtained from the records of two transcontinental trips which were both easy and comfortable. It is hoped that the information will be found accurate and useful and that it may encourage others to “See America First,” as in no other way do you get as fine an appreciation of the extent and variety of the people, climate, and scenery in this wonderful country in which we live.