2026 Road Trip Plans

[D-Dey65]

Unless my crazed but cute Jack Russell Terrier keeps me up all night, and/or my mother has to be taken to the hospital again at some odd hours, my St. Augustine/North Central Florida trip is early tomorrow morning.

[pderocco]

I'm officially going forward with plans for a Northern California trip this spring which, though it will require me to fly out from the east coast, will involve a few hundred miles of driving between San Francisco and Ashland/Medford, OR.

Most of the roads between SF and Medford are very nice. Do you have a plan, or do you have any questions about the area?

[epzik8]

I'm officially going forward with plans for a Northern California trip this spring which, though it will require me to fly out from the east coast, will involve a few hundred miles of driving between San Francisco and Ashland/Medford, OR.

Most of the roads between SF and Medford are very nice. Do you have a plan, or do you have any questions about the area?

Fly into SFO, stay in Napa that night, Medford the next, then back into CA and stay in Sacramento the next night, then my final night somewhere back in the Bay Area (either SF or Oakland) before flying home. Will thus mainly involve I-5 and I-80. Guess the only question I can think of is the typical weather/climate for that part of the country for early May.

[pderocco]

I'm officially going forward with plans for a Northern California trip this spring which, though it will require me to fly out from the east coast, will involve a few hundred miles of driving between San Francisco and Ashland/Medford, OR.

Most of the roads between SF and Medford are very nice. Do you have a plan, or do you have any questions about the area?

Fly into SFO, stay in Napa that night, Medford the next, then back into CA and stay in Sacramento the next night, then my final night somewhere back in the Bay Area (either SF or Oakland) before flying home. Will thus mainly involve I-5 and I-80. Guess the only question I can think of is the typical weather/climate for that part of the country for early May.

They might still have some rain, no freezing. Wikipedia has a fair amount of monthly climate averages for most places.

[Quillz]

I'm officially going forward with plans for a Northern California trip this spring which, though it will require me to fly out from the east coast, will involve a few hundred miles of driving between San Francisco and Ashland/Medford, OR.

Nice. Interstate 5 between Redding, CA and Eugene, OR is one of the best drives you can do. It completely makes up for the boring drive through the Central Valley. On a clear day, you'll see Mt. Shasta from as far south as Sacramento, and as far north as Medford. (It's also visible from Crater Lake if you go there). You also follow Shasta Lake for a while, and then you enter some sort of high desert/grassland region that is bounded by the Modoc Plateau to the east. This is a volcanic area, with both Shasta and Lassen nearby.

EDIT: Oh, you will be farther south so none of this will really work out for you. Maybe on a future trip.

Some nice side trips to consider: Klamath River Highway (CA-96). A very popular motorcycle drive, and one of the most beautiful drives in the state. The western half goes through some redwood groves, and this area is where a lot of famous "Bigfoot sightings" have taken place. If you can detour all the way to the coast and see the redwoods, highly recommended. (Stout Grove in Jed Smith is a personal favorite of mine).

Another would be Lava Beds National Monument. Also a bit out of the way, but very interesting and very underrated. It's never crowded because it seems no one ever goes here. Huge area for walking, there are caves, some small hills, and some native cave paintings.

[pderocco]

I'm officially going forward with plans for a Northern California trip this spring which, though it will require me to fly out from the east coast, will involve a few hundred miles of driving between San Francisco and Ashland/Medford, OR.

Nice. Interstate 5 between Redding, CA and Eugene, OR is one of the best drives you can do. It completely makes up for the boring drive through the Central Valley. On a clear day, you'll see Mt. Shasta from as far south as Sacramento, and as far north as Medford. (It's also visible from Crater Lake if you go there). You also follow Shasta Lake for a while, and then you enter some sort of high desert/grassland region that is bounded by the Modoc Plateau to the east. This is a volcanic area, with both Shasta and Lassen nearby.

EDIT: Oh, you will be farther south so none of this will really work out for you. Maybe on a future trip.

Some nice side trips to consider: Klamath River Highway (CA-96). A very popular motorcycle drive, and one of the most beautiful drives in the state. The western half goes through some redwood groves, and this area is where a lot of famous "Bigfoot sightings" have taken place. If you can detour all the way to the coast and see the redwoods, highly recommended. (Stout Grove in Jed Smith is a personal favorite of mine).

Another would be Lava Beds National Monument. Also a bit out of the way, but very interesting and very underrated. It's never crowded because it seems no one ever goes here. Huge area for walking, there are caves, some small hills, and some native cave paintings.

Or if less time is available, and you want to do some road-geeking, there are pieces of the old US-99 next to I-5 in southern Oregon (OR-99, OR-273), and here and there in California (CA-263, I-5-BL in Weed, Mt Shasta, Dunsmuir, Castella, Redding, and more).

[US 41]

I just drove from western Indiana down to Vicksburg to check out the civil war battlefield site. From there I drove down to Baton Rouge and then east on I-10 to go cross Lake Pontchartrain on the causeway for the first time. From there I traveled all of I-49 / the I-49 corridor from New Orleans to Kansas City before heading back home. Over 2200 miles and ~36 hours of driving all done within a 72 hour period in a rental Mitsubishi Mirage. The car was a lot more fun to drive than I expected.

In the Spring I will probably be heading out to Montana for family reasons. Not sure if that will be a drive or a flight yet.

In the summer I am going to be flying into Edmonton, Alberta and renting a car to drive to Alaska. I found an agency in Edmonton that allows their cars to go into Alaska (many don't from Canada), so I am all set there. Will be driving the Alaska highway up, will hit Anchorage and Fairbanks, and then head back the longer way via BC 37 and Hwy 16. This will be a 10 day trip including the flights.

In the fall, if things cool down a bit in Mexico by then, I am in the early process of planning a potential trip from Monterrey to Cancun. The last time I did a trip in Mexico was 3 and a half years ago when I drove my own car from Indiana to California and all the way down to Los Cabos. I intend on taking 57 down, doing the 180, 307, 186 loop in the Yucatan Peninsula, and then taking 180 / 85 back via the fastest routes possible. Normally I am anti-toll road, but in my mind spending $300 in tolls to be able see everything I want to in one trip is better than spending $600 on another flight plus another rental on a separate trip in the future. If I were to take the free roads (libres) I would probably have to add 2-3 days to an already 10 day trip (same as the Alaska trip) and I'm not really interested in doing that. Planning on stopping at the Teotihuacan, Palenque, Tulum, Chichen Itza, and El Tajin ruins.

My goal is to visit all 92 states and provinces in North America (49 US, 12 Can, and 31 Mex) that I can drive to from Indiana. Currently I'm at 66 and if all goes according to plan I could be up to 81 by the end of the year with only 11 remaining. No matter what this will be a big travel year for me with the Alaska trip.

[kphoger]

In the fall, if things cool down a bit in Mexico by then, ...

What's going on in Mexico?  I was just there in August, and I haven't heard anything from my friends down there.  Is something up?

[Max Rockatansky]

In the fall, if things cool down a bit in Mexico by then, ...

What's going on in Mexico?  I was just there in August, and I haven't heard anything from my friends down there.  Is something up?

Likely the stuff occasionally circling the news about the U.S. threatening to use military force against Mexican cartels.  I'm probably headed that way myself in late February and I'm not paying it any mind. 

[Quillz]

I swear I've heard that same song and dance for decades now. I'll believe it when it happens.

As for the Alaska trip, what parts are you visiting? You can do a pretty big loop between Anchorage and Fairbanks, Parks Highway on the west to see Denali, Richardson Highway on the east which gives you nice views of the Wrangell range. There's then a long detour you can do down to Valdez, see some glaciers.

[1995hoo]

I scored a ticket for the New York Transit Museum's flagship tour, "Jewel in the Crown: Old City Hall Station." As the name indicates, it's a tour of the IRT City Hall loop station that's been closed since December 1945. I've wanted to see it for years. It'll be a day trip to New York, but there's no way I will drive up for a day trip anymore. Northbound Acela in the morning, subway to downtown for the tour, take the tour, subway back to Penn Station, southbound Acela back home in the evening. Maybe I can use some of the spare time before the tour to try to ride a terminating 5 train around the South Ferry inner loop, though because the outer loop station was decommissioned I suspect it may be too dark to see anything through there.

Somewhat interestingly, despite Old City Hall having a street-level entrance, they don't use it—instead, the tour walks over to Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall and you board a 6 train to ride the 600 feet to Old City Hall. The tour guide uses a key to open a door in the subway car to let everyone on and off the train and they bring over a small metal bridge to span the very large gap from the train to the curved platform.

[kphoger]

Likely the stuff occasionally circling the news about the U.S. threatening to use military force against Mexican cartels.

I swear I've heard that same song and dance for decades now. I'll believe it when it happens.

Yeah, I'm sure that if Mexico wanted our help, they'd be asking for it.  They don't want our help.

But anyway, that's not Mexico heating up and needing to cool down.  That's just The Orange Man doing what he does.

[US 41]

As for the Alaska trip, what parts are you visiting? You can do a pretty big loop between Anchorage and Fairbanks, Parks Highway on the west to see Denali, Richardson Highway on the east which gives you nice views of the Wrangell range. There's then a long detour you can do down to Valdez, see some glaciers.

In the fall, if things cool down a bit in Mexico by then, ...

What's going on in Mexico?  I was just there in August, and I haven't heard anything from my friends down there.  Is something up?

I'll be driving Hwys 2, 3, and 1 in Alaska.

If things are the same as they are right now I will be going as things have calmed down since the summer. There were some flare ups in Mexico in 2025, but not in any of the places I will be traveling through besides Tamaulipas, but most of those areas were closer to the border and I will be no where near the border. A vast majority of the states I will be traveling through are actually considered "Level 2" (Use increased caution) and a couple are even "Level 1" (normal / same rating as Canada) by the State Dept, while 8 of the 9 states I've drove through in the past were either "Level 3 or 4" (Avoid non-essential travel & Do Not Travel) at the time I drove through them. Note that Coahuila and Durango were Level 3 when I drove through them in 2017, but they have both improved to Level 2 since then.

I've been wanting to return to Mexico for the past couple of years, but my step-dad died in the fall of 2024, so I have delayed going as I didn't think it would be appropriate to put my mother through that much stress. She absolutely hates when I go down there. Makes things worse that I'm an only child also, so I try to be as cautious as possible for her sake.

[Max Rockatansky]

Are you a Federal employee?  That travel advisory stuff is pretty overblown unless you are actually beholden to it like I am. Even still, I travel to Level 3 states often and have never had an issue.

[kphoger]

If things are the same as they are right now I will be going as things have calmed down since the summer. There were some flare ups in Mexico in 2025, but not in any of the places I will be traveling through besides Tamaulipas, but most of those areas were closer to the border and I will be no where near the border. A vast majority of the states I will be traveling through are actually considered "Level 2" (Use increased caution) and a couple are even "Level 1" (normal / same rating as Canada) by the State Dept, while 8 of the 9 states I've drove through in the past were either "Level 3 or 4" (Avoid non-essential travel & Do Not Travel) at the time I drove through them. Note that Coahuila and Durango were Level 3 when I drove through them in 2017, but they have both improved to Level 2 since then.

I've been wanting to return to Mexico for the past couple of years, but my step-dad died in the fall of 2024, so I have delayed going as I didn't think it would be appropriate to put my mother through that much stress. She absolutely hates when I go down there. Makes things worse that I'm an only child also, so I try to be as cautious as possible for her sake.

You know, of course, that I've been going to Mexico for the past 17 years.  I used to keep track of data as much as I could, I used to monitor what was going on where, all that stuff.  But I've stopped.  Expats in Mexico have talked online about how you just have to make your peace with the remote possibility of having your car stolen at a cartel checkpoint somewhere sometime, and there's nothing you can really do to prevent it.

I've never encountered anything like that, personally.  But our friends who live down there as full-time missionaries have.

Once, a few years ago, a car attempted to block him in and force him over onto the shoulder—while he had one of his daughters and his pastor in the vehicle with him.  Because he was driving a Pathfinder with off-road tires, he simply drove off the pavement and kept going.  This was on Monterrey's toll bypass—generally considered one of the safest places to be in one of the safest cities in Mexico.

More recently, he and his family passed through a cartel checkpoint on a four-lane divided highway in central Coahuila, then saw the military heading the other way to break it up after they had passed through it.  I'm familiar with both highways, I've never "felt" like I was in any danger on them, and they don't tend to show up on anyone's no-go list.  But there you go.  It can happen.

Nowadays, my advice is more practical.  Carry some extra cash in case you need to pay some unofficial "toll".  And make sure your don't skimp on your car insurance policy.

For what it's worth, our friends and those in his church in Coahuila travel back and forth to northern Veracruz every so often.  Sometimes they avoid Tamaulipas because of its reputation for cartel violence, but other times they don't.  When I was just down there with them at the beginning of August, they drove back by way of Tampico and Monterrey—that is, 219 miles of driving in Tamaulipas—just to avoid the mountains of eastern San Luis Potosí.

[Rothman]

Are you a Federal employee?  That travel advisory stuff is pretty overblown unless you are actually beholden to it like I am. Even still, I travel to Level 3 states often and have never had an issue.

Survivor's bias.

[kphoger]

Are you a Federal employee?  That travel advisory stuff is pretty overblown unless you are actually beholden to it like I am. Even still, I travel to Level 3 states often and have never had an issue.

Survivor's bias.

I mean, even with all that I've just said, I still agree that it's overblown.  Puerto Vallarta is in a Level 3 state, and that's just silly.  On my most recent trip, I flew in and out of a "do not travel" state and took local transit to and from the airport without any worry.

Normal life keeps going on in Mexico, and it's amazing how anticlimactic a trip there ends up being, if you were worrying about it ahead of time.  Run-ins with violent criminals are very rare.  Quite possible, as I've shown, but sill very rare.

[Max Rockatansky]

Are you a Federal employee?  That travel advisory stuff is pretty overblown unless you are actually beholden to it like I am. Even still, I travel to Level 3 states often and have never had an issue.

Survivor's bias.

I mean, even with all that I've just said, I still agree that it's overblown.  Puerto Vallarta is in a Level 3 state, and that's just silly.  On my most recent trip, I flew in and out of a "do not travel" state and took local transit to and from the airport without any worry.

Normal life keeps going on in Mexico, and it's amazing how anticlimactic a trip there ends up being, if you were worrying about it ahead of time.  Run-ins with violent criminals are very rare.  Quite possible, as I've shown, but sill very rare.

The way I look at it is that unless you are actively looking for trouble your chances of finding it are pretty low.  My wife's family is just about two hours from Colima.  Right now Colima is the hotbed of gang violence in Mexico.  I haven't seen a hint of the activity in southern Jalisco.  Then again I don't seek out things that would put me in the path of gang members. 

About the worst thing that has ever happened to me in Mexico was being mildly annoyed by kids asking for "candy money" at the town plaza.  The other was two decades ago when a Federale asked me (and my brother) to pay for his "morning coffee." 

The thing that I never understood is how some highways end up on the State Department site with advisories of "do not travel."  As far as I can tell some of it had to do with traffic accident statistics.  Presently there is such an order for Federal Highway 80 in southern Jalisco.  As far as I know there isn't much in the way of criminal activity in that part of the state. 

[Quillz]

I've recognized that the most dangerous part of all my vacations is either driving to the airport, or driving between destinations. At the actual locations themselves, I've never felt worried or unsafe. Any issues I run into are self-inflicted. Usually from trying to overexert myself when hiking.

I'll be driving Hwys 2, 3, and 1 in Alaska.

Nice, sounds like you'll be doing something similar to that loop I mentioned. Sounds like you'll be coming in from Canada (2) and then taking 3 and 1 down to Anchorage? If so, that's a great drive. Denali is always worth a stop, there are some viewing stations and you can enter the national park any time, although depending on the season, it's not open beyond a few miles.

A nice alternative is the Glenn Highway, which would mean you'd not be taking the Parks Highway at all. This is one of the best drives I've ever done, you follow the Chugach Mountains nearly the entire way to the south, you'll see tall peaks and some huge glaciers that you can get pretty close to. Near Glennallen, you get a great view of Mt. Drum if the skies are clear. It's smack dab in the boreal forest so you get sections where it's just nothing but Christmas trees in every direction, did this drive once when it was snowing and it was great.

If you go south of Anchorage at all, some places worth seeing are the Portage Glacier and Seward, specifically the Exit Glacier in the national park there. Going all the way south to Homer isn't worth the drive, it's much longer and there is nothing there for most of the year, since it's basically a seasonal fishing village.

[CoreySamson]

For what it's worth, our friends and those in his church in Coahuila travel back and forth to northern Veracruz every so often.  Sometimes they avoid Tamaulipas because of its reputation for cartel violence, but other times they don't.  When I was just down there with them at the beginning of August, they drove back by way of Tampico and Monterrey—that is, 219 miles of driving in Tamaulipas—just to avoid the mountains of eastern San Luis Potosí.

I recently saw from a website that Tamaliupas has made some great strides in safety recently, though I don't know how true that is. Maybe your friends' routing decision reflects that downtick in cartel activity?

I didn't have any trouble in Coahuila when I went in August.

[kphoger]

I recently saw from a website that Tamaliupas has made some great strides in safety recently, though I don't know how true that is. Maybe your friends' routing decision reflects that downtick in cartel activity?

I didn't have any trouble in Coahuila when I went in August.

A lot of it had to do with the fact that they were in a 1993 zillion-passenger van full of people and luggage and supplies, fitted with non-load-rated tires, which had already had one blowout on the drive down, and which also had a broken ball joint while we were there.  I think Pastor was trying to avoid as many mechanical risks as possible on the way back.

[pderocco]

In the fall, if things cool down a bit in Mexico by then, ...

What's going on in Mexico?  I was just there in August, and I haven't heard anything from my friends down there.  Is something up?

I thought he was talking about the weather. Cooling down in the fall is typical.

[Max Rockatansky]

In the fall, if things cool down a bit in Mexico by then, ...

What's going on in Mexico?  I was just there in August, and I haven't heard anything from my friends down there.  Is something up?

I thought he was talking about the weather. Cooling down in the fall is typical.

Depends on which State.  the variance through the year in Jalisco is fairly nominal.

[kphoger]

Depends on which State.  the variance through the year in Jalisco is fairly nominal.

Well, he'd be starting in Monterrey and then heading straight up into the Sierra Madre before making his way south.  I've seen temps above 100°F in March in Monterrey, but it's quite an elevation gain between there and the 40/57 junction.

[D-Dey65]

On my previous day trip to West St. Augustine via FL 19, very few of my pictures going north along the road turned out to be any good. There's a possibility, I may sneak over to Howey-In-The-Hills via former State Road 48 to get some of the pics I couldn't grab before.

The ones in West St. Augustine were duds too. I thought taking advantage of the lack of sunglare would solve some of the problems capturing images, but I was wrong. On the positive side, at least I got some pics I wanted along SunRail. Unfortunately, I skipped the chance to take some of the Colonial Drive Pedestrian Bridge near Lynx Central Bus Terminal.

I still want;
*Folkston, Georgia.
*Florida's Big Bend, mainly for the westbound I-10 Jefferson County Rest Area.
*The southernmost Florida's Turnpike Service Plazas (Pompano Beach and Snapper Creek).
*The four Broward County I-95 rest areas.
*The two Saint Lucie County I-95 rest areas.