So this summer i got a block of 2 weeks off, its a saturday all the way trhough the following sunday. Me and the gf decided to take a cross country trip in the fit, from our hometown of manchester, ct all the way to cali in back. And remember, in the fit. We decided to camp the whole time considering it will cut down on expenses a ton. We want to keep the trip open, without a set plan and just go. The point isnt to race to cali and back, but to experience a lot of the country. If we dont get to cali, wee dont, o well. Now i know that there are a lot of people from all over the country, and i need help on some places to go or see.

There is still a lot that needs to be worked out though, like finding campsites and all that good stuff, so if any of you have some ideas, pass them along, it would be a huge help.

 

sounds fun....i'm thinkin of going campin with my wifey and just pack full the fit

 

San Francisco from the Presidio (One place you can park free in that city).

This is a great idea.

The Fit is a great cross-country car. If you are going west on I-80 through the midwest, you may as well plan on some real long days of driving to cover the distance. If you've never driven it, this is one big country. It feels like the West starts at the Wyoming border. We love stopping in the old western towns along the way. It follows the Union Pacific Railroad. How they ever built that, I couldn't tell you.

You could drive out on I-70 from Denver through the Rockies. Denver to Salt Lake City is a whale of a drive. Do that on a nice day.

Salt Lake City to Reno and then across the desert to the Sierras is really different if you're not from around there. Take water--you'll dehydrate just riding in the car.

If you come into Oakland and drive across the Bay Bridge you'll get a great view of San Francisco. It drops you close to the waterfront. We were there on a Saturday, and parked in a garage very cheaply. Otherwise, forget parking. You'll blow through twenty bucks in an hour.

Go north across the Golden Gate to the Muir Woods. You can stop on the north end of the bridge and look back over the city.

Monterey is beautiful and you can see the aquarium. Go down to San Jose, and then over to Half Moon Bay and drive down to Santa Cruz. Then drive back up through strawberry country.

If you don't want to camp and shop carefully, you can find a reasonable place to stay in San Jose, particularly on the weekend. Then you can head back.

If you take the southern route back (I-40) be sure to stop in Santa Fe (although it's much cheaper to stay in Albuquerque. You can drive from Santa Fe to St. Louis in one very long day.

You may run out of time in two weeks. You can get lost in the Rockies, starting in Denver and working your way south from there.

Man I envy you this trip. That's why we bought our Fit. We're going to Boston and Maine in ours next month. Never been there. Where should we start? We do have tickets for a Red Sox game.

These long trips sure are a lot more affordable in a Fit.

Cheers.

 

get ready for a cramped/sore but lol. Past couple weekends when my fit was apparently sold I had driven maybe 1500-2k mi n yea, first couple hrs I was fine, after that breaks came often
I was gonna do the same thing this summer till I landed a perty sweet internship, goin from ND to AZ n through cali on the way back, goin through the mountains n such but yea. All we were gonna do is stay at restops n sleep in the fit cheaper than campsites lol.

 

Thats why were taking the fit. Between the good gas miles and only camping, were gonna save a good amount of money. The rockies and through Colorado can get a little crazy, been there. Should be a lot of fun, one of those things where you gotta just go and do it, because another opportunity like this wont come along for a while.

 

I just bought my 08 sport and flew out to Las Vegas to get it and drove the 1350 miles in one day back home, to Kansas City. It was a longggggg day for sure and I didn't get to stop and see much but you mentioned Colorado... Awesome drive in the Fit for sure! Curvy roads and plenty of opportunities to hug those corners and no where for cops to run radar. Be aware of the altitude changes and some pretty steep grades though, both up and down. Have fun!

 

Lots of good advice given so far. One recommendation I'd make is to take a more northerly route. Get to Chicago and hook north for a few hundred miles or so, then go west. Beautiful countryside, less traffic, fabulous stuff to see.

 

Check out the Lincoln Highway! It's supposedly as cool as Route 66.
I wish I were going on this trip.

Lincoln Highway: Maps and Information by State

 

Wow, that's real nice!

Take lots of pee breaks, and walk about after every few hours of so of driving. The "lordotic" movement of walking is your back's best friend.

Oh and by the way...try Highway 1 when you do get to California. One of the best roads I've ever seen, especially the leg from Carmel to Monterey. Every time I visit my uncles and aunts in San Francisco from our "home base" in LA, we take that route going there. You'll see why there are so many pull-over slots there, and the winding road itself is pretty good too.

 

thanks for all the great feed back, i cant wait to go on this trip, should be a lot of fun.

 

Do post pics when you're done

 

i plan on taking a lot of pics, no issue there

 

We just returned from a camping trip through the Cascades, about 1800 miles. By downshifting (manual transmission Fit Sport), it handled the mountains fine. The big surprise to me was that the gas mileage didn't drop, even though we had a Yakima roof rack and topbox, plus lots of camping gear. I get 32 mpg in town, but got 33 mpg on this trip.

P. S. I have a great photo to post, but don't have an online photo account. Can I embed the photo in my message?