Long drive from Vancouver to California
 

Any of you done it before? how long did it take you guys? Going with my gf just to get away..we'll drive around for 2 weeks.. Head to SF-LA-SD-Vegas.

I might to stretch every 3 hours or so though lol..

I went all the way to SD in about 20 hours with maybe 5 or 6 breaks for bathroom, stretching, and meals.

Take the scenic route along the ocean.

I did that trip in 3 weeks. Visited the same places you did: SF, LA, SD, LV plus Sacramento and Portland. Stayed on average 2-3 days at each location, some longer, some shorter. You should be able to do it in 2 weeks though.

I think we drove down there in 2 days cause it was too hard... we went vancouver then all the way to salt lake city, then down to LA then cali/aneheim then back up :P

Just fly, u'll save more money that way.

van - cali is roughly 2 days. I had to take a break once in a while and I napped for a couple of hours :D

I know what you mean but we want to try something different and this should be fun times. =D

boy was it ever fun driving to SD with friends. its an exprience.

It's a long ass drive. :D I drove from Denver to San Francisco to Vancouver a few years back. The SF to Vancouver leg is probably 20 hours driving as someone mentioned. I stopped in Portland on my drive up.

Just a word of caution though - if you do decide to take the highway that hugs the coast, it's VERY curvy so you won't be able to make much distance. I tried doing that on the SF to Portland leg of the trip and it honestly took me about 12 hours to hit the Cali/Oregon border. I rarely went over 40mph in that area. If you want to make good time, take I5. If you want to see the coast, then take Hwy1 that goes along the coast.

To be honest, I'd probably fly out there instead unless you want to actually see the cities in between. Should be a nice trip though. It'll put lots of miles on your car though. ;)

van to SF is roughly 18 hours. it took like another 7-10 hours to get to LA from there...and another 3-4 hours to Vegas from LA (latter part im not sure)

411ken - You have PM.

i remember driving from vancouver to cali was like 2 days if i remember correctly with a hotel between to rest

Did the trip from Van - Seattle - San Fran - LA - SD - Vegas - Seattle - Van. Overall we spent 2 weeks and it was pretty fun. No stopping from Seattle - San Fran but we hit up all the fast food joints.

Good experience.

beginning of this month did this with a buddy of mine.

left van @ 1am, got into redwood city @ 10pm same day. would have been sooner but i needed to stop in elk grove to pick up a part. and we stopped in Salem for breakfast.

we switched drivers at every tank.. turned out to be roughly every 5 hrs.

on the way back i think we left at like around 11pm or so i think... got to the boarder at like 9pm the next day. stopped in Eugene for breakfast... honestly...if you're near Eugene in the morning and you're hungry, find Todd's Place ... best damn skillet breakfast i've ever had, for damn cheap... it showed up in our GPS as an IHOP lol..

we also stopped in Kaizer to go to the Circuit City, and in woodburn for the outlets.
if you're going to do any shopping, do it in oregon... they have no sales tax.

i was driving my RX7 and i avg'd about 500-550km/60L tank. fill up was 30-40$ US

Thanks for all the tips/info. I still have 2 or so months to get things figured out so I thought I'd ask you nice folks in way in advance. Base on your estimation, how much did you spend in Gas for that 2 weeks or 3 weeks? I'm thinking of flying out to SF as well but I kinda wanted to try something else that's why the thought of driving out came to mind lol.

Got your PM BCR and replied. you should give us a tour of other places in cali hahaha.

Make sure you bring a GPS!

And plenty of CD's. I couldn't have survived the drive without satellite radio. :D (since I was driving alone)

Hey 411ken,

I'm planning on driving my MR2 down to Los Angeles and just leaving it there for the next few months. I'm planning to do this I think in May or June pending that I find the time to get off work so you'll find me in LA and in Orange County.

Gotta get my BattleVersion rear control arms and Haltech E8 installed and tuned by Alex Pfieffer. :D

^ really? we should chill out one day or so and hit up LA's nightlife lol...i'll talk to you on msn more when I catch you on and it gets closer. How long u staying out there for?

My mazda has the ipod connector so that should last awhile lol. U think finishing the trip in Vegas is a good idea? I know it's a farther drive back home but I prefer to leave it last as that's where it COULD cost me $$ and I don't want to do that during the first few days. haha I'd rather go all in with whatever I have left =P

Vegas is 24 hours drive right?

van all the way to portland is not bad, it's quite easy. it's when you get to Salem and beyong that get epic boring.
remember to obey the laws and drive safely. youaren't in canada and they will gang rape you and arrest you.

when you get to california, be careful cause there are places with high elevation and there are tons of places with snow still in the area.

in cali and on the way to vegas.. traffic is crazy fast so just remember to stay on the right hand side.

I’ve done Vancouver to Cen Cal more than a few times.

My record is a little over 16 hours. Lots of red bull and cigarettes.

The really fun part is when you hit the mountains in Nor Cal/Southern Oregon late at night/early morning, and you start to loose track if your going up or down. It gets pretty weird.

If your not just “trying to get there” take the coast. If you have never driven down the coast of California, it really is an amazing experience. If you’re “driving to get there” stick to the main highway and just keep your foot down. Stops are real easy as there are plenty of rest stops and gas stations well spaced out along the highway.

Have fun!

I can do that vancouver to bay area in one shot and do it once a year. Also done once a year is the drive to Vegas... takes about 20 hours @ 80mph but I don't take the I5, I go east through idaho, utah and arizona before hitting nevada. That, I do with at least 2 drivers with me doing most of the driving. Most people enjoy the destination, I enjoy the driving. Most of my vacations, I tend to drive there. Even last year when I went to Boston, I flew to NYC and drove up to Boston... The foliage in Connecticutt during autumn = beautiful. For the Easter weekend, I'm driving to Vegas with a buddy and I'm taking the California HWY1 aka Coastal Highway back up to Vancouver from Los Angeles

Tip: slam a few red bulls before hitting California...the I5 in the north is a long straight boring line...

nice. i am also planning to a cali road trip this summer.

back a couple years went on a family road trip got the vegas in 24 hours and we took breaks n shit too.