If we try to even out the mileage say from New York city and San Francisco it puts us in either Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska or South Dakota.
From what I remember, there's a sign outside Kinsley, KS that claims that it's half way between New York and San Francisco. Just in case anyone was wondering.
Or are we going too far west?
My opinion is "absolutely not!" While I live in the Plains and can always find something interesting to see here, not many others that I've met feel the same way. As a friend of mine once said, "it takes a certain type of person to live here" meaning in our very rural area where there's generally one stop light in each county and that's at the intersection of two highways in the county seat. I've loved going to the mountains for longer than I can remember, but I went to the Colorado/Manitou Srpings area so often as a kid, I really have no desire to go back to those areas and do the tourist thing. Pike's Peak is fine, it's going up to the top of a mountain. I can stand to see the Royal Gorge again, especially with new friends. I usually prefer to go farther west than the Front Range since it's less crowded. There's a lot more obvious things to see in Colorado than there is in the Plains so I think that would be a better choice. Also, since this will be around/right after July 4th, as we go higher into the mountains, it will also be cooler. There won't be as much need to run the A/C at night. The daytime temps are also much easier to tolerate. There's also a lot that I haven't got to see yet in Colorado and I always enjoy going to new places and seeing new things. Also, as I mentioned earlier, there's off roading to be done for the more adventurous. There's also many places to rent an ATV or SxS if anyone feels like doing that. I will be bringing along at least one off road toy myself.
So if that's too far please say so.
Remember I'm that guy who can drive from Bear Lake Idaho to Atlanta Ga in one sitting so I really need help coming up with realistic daily mileage numbers.
My opinion on this one is that while the journey is part of the adventure, I think that the end destination is by far the bigger part. The longer it takes to get there, the longer the overall trip will be or else the time at the final destination will be much shorter. I'm also thinking about trying to beg and plead my step brother and his wife to come along on this trip. He would be there in a heartbeat, but she is not the outdoor type at all. The longer that we could spend in Colorado seeing the sights, the more likely she would be to agree to the trip.