Massive Road trip! need ideas!

Alright well me and a few friends have planned a roadtrip.
going straight south.
We want to check out a bunch of stuff on the way.
This is the plan:
Saskatoon to san francisco -2685 kms
Sanfrancisco to Las Vegas - 914 kms
Las vegas to San diego - 534 kms
San diego to tijuana - 30 kms
Tijuana to Corpus christi-2308 kms
Corpus christi to New orleans - 895 kms
New orleans to Nashville - 856 kms
Nashville to chicago - 758 kms
chicago to minneapolis - 658 kms
minneapolis to Saskatoon - 1451 kms
Total KMS = 11,089 kms


So my questions are. Anything really cool you guys would suggest to check out along the way?
Im not to familiar with anything north of new orleans so that part of the trip can be altered.
Plans so far are to go Gator hunting haha, I want to drive a race car in Vegas, San diego zoo!
give me some ideas guys!

 

Jeez every city there has cool stuff. I'm sure you'll see awesome stuff along the way too! I would skip Tijuana though hahaha....

 

monument valley, UT?... Tombstone, AZ?...

...your proposed route covers a (hell of a) lot of miles, .so there's any number of things that would qualify...

 

Yellowstone National Park is pretty sweet and its only about an hour and a half drive to the west entrance from Idaho Falls (which you appear to be passing through). Late spring is a good time to see a lot of wildlife if you time it right. I went last year in May and saw 14 Grizzly bears, 6 wolves and a bunch of less exciting animals all in one day.

 

http://www.legendsofamerica.com/roadsideattractions.html
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/
http://www.travelandleisure.com/slideshows/kitschiest-roadside-attractions-in-america
http://travelingmamas.com/odd-roadside-attractions/
http://www.concierge.com/ideas/family/tours/502463

bon voyage!

 

x2 on Monument Valley or Moab, UT. You have to check out the red rocks.

 

I would recommend dropping down into the states from nothern WA. and take the costal route all the way south if you have the time, it is one of the most beautiful drives in the western hemispere. Also, when you get down here to San Diego, leave your trucks on this side of the border before you venture into TJ.

 

Wow thanks for the ideas guys, I wanted to go to tijuana just to say we drove to mexico!
We plan on checking out the grand Canyon to.
We're pretty much trying to check out both coasts.

 

Really? I heard it is bad. What's your honest opinion of checking it out? Is there any other close places in mexico that would be better to check out?

 

Ya we were gonna stay in Idaho Falls, The first nite.
I may have to reconfigure my routes!
Our original plan was to drive straight west from saskatoon and thenew follow the coast right down.
Then we decided to just try to skip everything and get to the warm states!
I think new Orleans will be fun

 

If all you want to do is check out TJ, park your vehicle on this side of the border, walk accross, then catch a cab. You really don't need a vehicle unless you are travlring into the interior. The SD/TJ border crossing is the buisest border crossing in the world, waiting times to get back accross of 2 1/2 + hours are not uncommon. If you do decide to drive accross, make sure you buy Mexican insurance before you cross, most US insurance is not valid down there and some are good only for a certain distance from he border.

 

The original bass pro shop in springfield Missouri is cool. They also have drive thru caves. You could see the arch on the way to Chicago. But this is off your route. And to be honest I would rather go to Nashville than Missouri.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantastic_Caverns

 

Might go to Pismo. Even if you don't camp, just driving on the beach is pretty cool.

 

Big Bend National Park and State Park - it's on your way to Corpus, be a damn shame to miss 'em! I've got several trip reports posted on this site (as do many others). Well worth a few days diversion...

David

 

Don't waste your time going to Tijuana. That's a whole day you could spend some place much better.

 

Where to after MN? heading NW back to Saskatoon? Reason im asking is that you could head west from MN and come check out the Black Hills of SD. We've got a lot of great off-roading here! And you could check out MT Rushmore, then head straight north back home.

 

The Trans America Trail!!! It goes from Eastern Tennesee all the way to Caliofornia..I did a while back with the wife.. Best...time of my life!!

 

I would try to travel on the 101 as much as I could and then jump on the 1 by Oxnard , CA. Like Michael Roberts said, costal drive if great. As far as Tijuana goes, it all depends what you want to do down there. If you just want to go during the day walk around downtown have some great food and finish up with some drinks I would take a taxi and not deal with the traffic trying to come back. Also the driving down there is way different than in the states (very aggressive).

 

Weve been to the black hills and sturgis many times, right now we are talking to maybe not even go to the east coast and just travel down the west coast. plans are up in the air, either way were going. we have 14 days and with my route thats 5 days of driving.
everyone want to go to sandiego and over threw texas so im not sure what else to do!

 

this sounds like a good idea, ! like if we were staying in sandiego its not bfar to the border eh ?