Our recipe for a Road Trip

Note: this post is written from the point of view of middle-aged Northern European tourists. Americans and others may find most things discussed here obvious and/or boring.

Our faithful ride, a marvel of Korean engineering, Hyundai Elantra.

Four thousand nine hundred and ninety-six kilometer (three thousand one hundred and four miles). Seven National Parks. Five states. Three canyons. Two weeks. One ocean. Traveling the United States by car can be an unforgettable experience, and many interesting places are impossible or very difficult to reach without a car.

I've been asked some questions about how we arranged our road trip, and I had quite few things to sort out and think about - I was even worried about a few things. Everything went very well after all. So, below a brief account about how we arranged the practicalities of our road trip. Obviously, I do not claim that all our decisions were best possible (or even good), but our recipe produced a very enjoyable road trip.

This post is about a road trip we made in the USA, in the states of California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah and New Mexico in June 2015. One should note that laws and regulations may vary widely between different U.S. states, as may prices of fuel and other things. Of course, the exchange rate between the dollar and euro, or your local currency, will probably fluctuate which has an effect on your projected travel costs. At the time of our trip one euro was worth about 1,1 dollars. About a year earlier the rate was 1,3 - a remarkable difference.

The Car
Rental cars in the USA a very affordable compared to, for example, Finland. We managed to secure our travel dates well in advance, which was fortunate because booking the car months before the actual rental saved a considerable amount of money. We ended up booking our car from Budget, because it was cheapest option available in places that were practical for us. The price of our 2-week rental including unlimited miles was 300,82€. We had also considered renting a campervan from a company like Escape or Jucy, but we came to the conclusion that renting a normal car and staying in cheap motels would probably not work out more expensive and is probable more pleasant for us. That said, the campervans might be great for people with different priorities than us. We actually saw quite a few of them in places like Yosemite and Grand Canyon.

Pros of renting from Budget included that we could return the car in a different location that we rented from without any extra fee, as long as both the rental and return locations were in California. I understand many other companies, but not all, have the same policy. We picked the car up in the small airport of Merced, CA, which we reached conveniently by bus from Yosemite National park. We returned it in San Francisco international airport, as we stayed for a week in San Francisco Bay area after the road trip. Since we were coming to the city from the south, the airport was easier to reach than midtown locations.

Most companies charge a surcharge for under 25-year old drivers and may not allow under 21-year old drivers at all. As we are old, we avoided such troubles. According to a Californian law, the spouse of the signatory of the rental agreement is allowed to drive, provided that he or she has a driving license, and the rental company has no right to collect a surcharge for him or her. This was an advantage to us, and we were not asked to provide any marriage certificate. The surcharges for second (and third, fourth and so on) drivers may be significant.

Of course, different companies offer very different deals, but usually free mileage is included and there seldom are limitations for visiting different U.S. states. Our Budget deal would have allowed us to drive to and in Canada, but Mexico was strictly off-limits. Obviously, one should read the terms and conditions of the rental agreement carefully.

On the Californian desert: good, straight road, easy and comfortable to drive.

The process of picking the car in Merced was straightforward, but took a little bit longer than necessary because the clerk, who, like most Americans, was very friendly and polite, had some problems with Budget's computer systems. This was not a big deal at all. Returning the car in San Francisco was a quick and efficient process. Sometimes an international driving license is recommended for the USA, but our EU-standard licences issued in Finland were adequate for Budget. No police officers or other authorities asked to see our licenses. When picking the car up, a deposit was charged on my credit car, I think it was the same amount as the full price of the rental (i.e. 300,82€). It took some two days after returning the car before the money was returned.

The car we got was a Hyundai Elantra, called "compact" in the U.S. but would be considered a normal-sized small family car in Europe. The transmission was automatic, as it practically always in in the USA. The rental clerk offered us a bigger car (Nissan Murano) for the same price, but we declined since the Elantra was easily big enough for the two of us and probably more fuel-efficient. I've heard that the rental companies often do this. However, we were not offered useless extra insurances, even though I had been warned that it is a common practice. Our rental included compulsory insurances and roadside assistance, and the extra insurances often covers things that are already covered by your travel insurance - never ever set foot in the United States without a travel insurance that covers emergency medical treatment.

I can't come up with any complaints about the car. It was easy to drive, on a highway it ran more than 40 miles per gallon (obviously less on the mountain roads), the seats were comfortable, the sound system more than adequate and air-conditioning powerful, which is very, very important in June driving around Southwest USA.

The Driving
Our route was, mentioning the places where we picked the car up and returned it, and the places we stayed overnight, Merced, CA - Bakersfield, CA - Las Vegas, NV - Jacob Lake, AZ (2 nights) - Bluff, UT - Many Farms, AZ (2 nights) - Grants, NM - Zuni, NM - Needles, CA - Maricopa, CA - Paso Robles, CA (2 nights) - Santa Cruz, CA - San Francisco, CA. There was lots and lots to see along the route, see our other posts about the road trip.

We do not consider ourselves exceptionally talented drivers, and at home we do not have a car at all. Consequently we were a bit worried about driving beforehand. This was completely unnecessary. Driving in the USA is generally easy, very easy. Most of the roads are multiple carriageways, like Finnish motorways. Signage was excellent, better than in Finland, and most roads we drove on were in very good condition, except some more remote roads in Arizona and New Mexico - and even they were not that bad.

A long straight and no other traffic to be seen, but thankfully the views are beautiful and dramatic. Here we are approaching the floor of the Death Valley.

Traffic was low on most roads we traveled. We met congestion only three times: in the beginning of our trip in Central California, in the city of Las Vegas and on our final driving day from Santa Cruz to San Francisco. In heavy traffic and on highways the American drivers seem to be more civilized than the Finnish ones, they even give way in interfaces if necessary - generally speaking: obviously there are a few dimwits everywhere (my warmest regards to the driver of a blue Chevrolet Suburban in Las Vegas, have you ever heard about turn signals or wondered why they are called turn signals?). The general respect for traffic regulations seemed to be on a higher level than in Finland, the complete disregard for speed limits on Californian highways being an exemption.

We only encountered two problematic situations while driving. Returning from Grand Canyon to our cabin in Jacob Lake, self-destructive deer were constantly jumping on the dark road. Our accommodation in Navajo lands, near Chinle, AZ, was very remote and the last stretch of the road was in a very bad condition after heavy rain. We were seriously worried about our little Hyundai's ability to take us to our destination. The 4WD pickups that the locals drive had few problems, though.

For navigation we used my rather basic Android smartphone and free HERE Maps -application. That worked. However, the aforementioned last stretch of road to our accommodation on Navajo Lands was unknown to the application - according to our host, this is the case with all navigation software. Sometimes it took a while before the phone managed to establish a GPS connection, but this was not a big problem.

We highly recommend driving California Route 1 along the Pacific coast. Bixby Bridge pictured here.

Compared to Finland, fuel is very cheap in the U.S., even in the higher end of the very wide price range. The prices differ wildly from state to state and also within states. I didn't collect all our fuel receipts, but the cheapest we paid was $2.69 for a gallon (1 gallon = 3,79 liter) in Zuni Pueblo, New Mexico, whereas the most expensive was $4.59 in San Francisco. I would say that the total fuel costs on our almost 5000 kilometer (3100 mile) trip were no more than 300€ - try that in Europe! Of course, many factors affect your fuel costs - the roads you drive on, the weather, your driving habits and obviously the car you drive. A big SUV could easily burn twice as much fuel as our compact car.

The Accommodation
We mostly stayed on roadside motels, the like of which you have seen on American TV and movies. They provided comfortable accommodation with very few complaints. Most common problem were very noisy air conditioning devices (solution: earplugs). In addition to motels, we stayed in a cabin near Grand Canyon, in a traditional Navajo hogan in rural Arizona and in a historical inn in Zuni Pueblo, New Mexico. These were all pleasant and recommendable experiences and more pleasant than the motels, even if there was nothing wrong with the motels either.

Aqua Breeze Inn, Santa Cruz, California.

An interesting thing about motels is that there seemed to be little, if any, correlation between price and quality. The law of supply and demand seems to work. The most expensive night, almost 100€ for two, was in Santa Cruz, California (a lot of demand, limited supply). The lowest prices we paid, all slightly less than 40€ for two, were in Las Vegas, Nevada (enormous demand, endless supply), in Bakersfield, California and in Needles, California (limited demand, a lot of supply). Most Europeans will find the American habit to advertise accommodation prices (and many other prices) without taxes strange. It is a common practice in the USA and does not imply dishonesty. This means that if the price of a room is listed at $50 you will actually pay some $55-65. The taxes, too, vary from state to state and locality to locality.

Many but not all motel prices included a breakfast of usually questionable quality. All rooms we stayed in were equipped with a coffee maker and/or water cooker and free coffee and tea. Usually there was a refrigerator and a microwave oven, too.

The average nightly accommodation price over 14 nights was about 67€ for two including taxes. Those traveling in groups of more than two can probably get slightly lower prices per person, most motels seemed to have rooms for four or even larger groups. Obviously, the seasonal variation in prices may be considerable, especially in popular holiday destinations like Grand Canyon. Of the motels we stayed in, the one in Bakersfield probably offered best price/quality ratio, as the rooms were newly renovated and the breakfast was adequate. The place in Santa Cruz was considerably more expensive than others of similar quality. There, too, we had no complaints about quality or service, everything worked, even though the furniture, refrigerator and air conditioning dated from the days of Ronald Reagan's presidency.

We booked all our accommodations well beforehand, before we even left Finland. In case of popular destinations, such as Grand Canyon, this is highly recommended. Of course, having everything pre-booked seriously limits flexibility: on the other hand, it provides a certain level of safety. Bookings made on booking.com usually include free cancellation in case of change of plans: however, this is not always the case. In this age of smartphones and tablet computers it would probably be easy to make bookings on the road a day or two in advance, and I'm confident the traditional way, walking to a motel reception and asking for a room, works as well.

The nutrition for body and spirit
One needs to eat on a road trip, too. Finding somewhere to eat shouldn't be a problem, there are numerous roadside eateries with long opening hours almost everywhere. Unfortunately the most common fast food chains do not provide the best quality, or even price/quality ratio. The prices are only a little lower than those in Finland. Living two weeks on, say, Taco Bell and Denny's food will probably result in a considerable weight gain. Of course, self-catering is an option, too: also supermarket price levels are close to Finnish levels, particularly California seems actually more expensive than Finland.

Zion was one of the national parks we visited.

We highly recommend purchasing an annual National Park pass for $80. It provides access to all National Parks, National monuments and other sites administered by the NPS for a year starting the day of purchase. Usually a car and up to three people accompanying the pass owner are admitted, too: this was the case in every national park we visited. Because the greatest places in the USA are mostly National Parks, it definitely is worth buying. If you visit three parks or more, you probably end up saving money.

So, how expensive is it exactly?
We paid:

• for car rental about 301€
• for fuel about 300€
• for accommodation for 14 nights about 938€, if you can travel off-season you can potentially save a lot of money here
• for national parks about 72€

In other words, slightly more than 1600€ for two people in two weeks, or about 115€ a day.

In addition, of course, there are other costs that everyone has to budget for according to their needs and preferences:

• Prices of flights vary greatly, if you can travel off-season you may save lots and lots of money.
• For food you should budget at least as much as for food in Western Europe.
• Entrance fees to places other than National Parks. They are sometimes steep. For example, we paid, not including tips for the guide (unless you have real complaints, do tip the guide, this is, after all, the USA), $48 a person for a guided tour of Antelope Canyon and $23 a person for tour of Acoma "Sky City", not cheap but worth it. 
• As much money as you want to spend on souvenirs, shopping, gambling in Las Vegas or Native Casinos, drinking beer and wine, and whatever you want to spend your money on: the United States in general provides ample opportunities to spend money.

We made our Roadtrip on June 10th to 24th 2015

The valley of Rocks

When approaching Monument Valley from Northeast on route 163, it seems to be mandatory to take a picture like this.

On the Arizona - Utah border, there is a place called Tse'Bii'Ndzisgaii, "The Valley of Rocks", one of the great natural wonders of Southwestern USA. The white man calls it Monument Valley. It is one of the most photographed places in the World, and has appeared in numerous movies, cartoons and games. That's no surprise, the sandstone formations look like Salvador Dali's feverish hallucinations, but they do exist, however difficult it is to believe in them.

Places like Monument Valley make a visitor - at least me - feel very, very small. The formation of the strange natural sandstone sculptures have taken millions of years, and not even stone is forever. What meaning can my temporal existence have compared to that?

"The mittens", left and right.

Monument Valley is administered by the Navajo Nation. From a visitor's point of view there is no significant difference to federally run national parks of the USA. There's an entrance fee and a visitor center and a small but nice museum with exhibitions on Monument Valley and Navajo history. The restaurant at the visitor center is less overpriced than I would have expected. There's also a shop where one can buy, among other things, art by Navajo artists, with a proof of authenticity. There's even a hotel within the Monument Valley area, but that was a bit too pricey for us, even though a sunrise and sunset seen from the balconies would, no doubt, been quite an experience.

We do not buy many souvenirs, but from Monument Valley we purchased this sand painting made by Navajo artist Anna Chee. In YouTube, there's a 1949 film about the making of a traditional sand painting (it's silent and the sand painting begins at 18:50, before that there are other interesting things like Monument Valley landscapes). 

In Navajo lands, there is a lot of very fine red sand. When it rains, the sand either turns to mud or flows away with the water. When we visited Monument Valley, it was baking under a merciless sun, but it had rained on the previous days. Conequently, the 17 mile gravel road in the valley had either turned to mud or flown away with the water, and we decided not to drive it. We did, however, visit the John Ford point, a vantage point named after the movie director known for his westerns.

Monument Valley has "played" the role of a foreign planet in many movies. No surprise.

In August 2015, as I wrote this, there was a miserable natural disaster going on near Monument Valley. More than 11 million liter (3 million US gallons) of waste water contaminated with heavy metals was accidentally released to San Juan river, to the north of Monument Valley. Many Navajo farmers rely for the river for irrigation water, and their crops are in danger when the water is unusable. Most of them are not particularly wealthy people to begin with, and their entire livelihood is endangered by the waste water spill.

We visited Monument Valley on June 15th 2015.

Surrounded by Sacred Mountains

A Mesa on sunset. This is a typical landscape in the land bordered by the Sacred Mountains.

East of Grand Canyon is the homeland of the Navajo, who call themselves Diné, "the People". According to their own traditional origin story, the Creator has told them to live in their land bordered by four Sacred Mountains. Most of this land is today included in Navajo Nation, a self-governed territory of the Navajo. It occupies parts of three U.S. States, Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.

On our travels we prefer small private accommodations over chain hotels. For example the "Grandma accommodations" in the Balkans and small B&B's in Ireland offer great deals in regards to price, quality and, above all, ambience. This time we spent two nights on a farm near Many Farms village. We booked it through Airbnb. The place was rather basic - earth floor and no running water, but functioning WiFi. During our short visit we got at least some insight into modern day life among the Navajo, much more than we would have had we stayed in a roadside motel.

We stayed in a hogan, a traditional Navajo dwelling. The Arizona summer was hot, but even during the day the hogan remained reasonably cool. As the farm was situated in a high elevation on a mesa, it got almost chilly at night. We didn't need the wood-burning stove for heating, though, but I'm sure it's necessary in winter.

Hogan from the inside...

...and from the outside. This is a "female" hogan: a "male" one has a porch-like extension in front of the entrance. "Female" hogans are for accommodation, "male" hogans for ceremonial purposes. The entrance always faces east and the rising sun.

Our hogan was equipped with all necessary things for accommodation, but also with travel guides and books on the Navajo and their land. The surrounding landscape was incredibly beautiful. We took a walk in the evening, to a small canyon situated literally on the back yard, and were accompanied by our host's two friendly dogs. When it got dark, we got to see the stars without any disturbing artificial light. My personal highlight of our four-week trip was a morning coffee sitting in front of the hogan, the dogs and horses keeping me company, while Jóhonaa'éí (the Sun, literally "He who rules the day"), rose from behind  a mesa.

We don't have a canyon like this in our back yard.

Blossoming cacti neither.

As an urban dweller I am unaccustomed to the company of white horses when I'm having my morning coffee.

"...the indian sun is rising instead of going down..." (Johnny Cash: Navajo)

Navajo Nation is the largest self-governing Native American territory in the United States. According to official statistics the Navajo are the second most populous Native people. They are more than 300 000, majority of whom speak Navajo at home. It seems that the existence of the Navajo as a nation is secure. I think it can be stated that they have been more successful in dealing with settlers from Europe than many other Native American peoples.

However, there are many tragic and horrible chapters in the history of the Navajo. The most sinister probably is "The Long Walk", a forced relocation by the U.S. Military to Bosque Redondo reservation in New Mexico in 1864-1866. The conditions in badly overcrowded reservation and on the way there were unbearable. Thousands died of hunger and disease. The relocation caused also spiritual suffering, since according to their traditional beliefs the Navajo were meant to live in the land the Creator gave them, the land bordered by the four Sacred Mountains, and it would be impossible for them to succeed elsewhere. In 1868 the Navajo leaders managed to negotiate a treaty granting them the right to return home. This is exceptional in the story of the United States, land once taken from Native Americans has not often been returned.

A historical hogan in the Canyon de Chelly visitor center.

There is also another interesting chapter in Navajo history connected to the U.S. Military. During the Second World War young Navajo men were drafted to signal troops an deployed on the Pacific front. Based on their complicated mother tongue, they created a radio signal code which the Japanese were never able to break. The impact of the "Code Talkers" to the outcome of the war was significant, and their effort for the United States is a great source of pride for many Navajos even today. There were Code Talkers from other Native American peoples, too, but the Navajo were by far the biggest and consequently most influential group.

Navajo code explained in the Monument Valley museum.

Today the Code Talkers are remembered as national heroes, but during the war they were treated as second-class citizens. For example, in New Mexico the Native Americans were banned from voting until 1962. Most Navajos of the Code Talkers' generation were educated in Federal Indian Schools. There they were prohibited from speaking languages other than English. As schoolchildren they might have been beaten for speaking their own language. As adults they were awarded medals for it. Oh, the irony of history.

From a traveler's point of view, the Navajo Nation isn't that different from other regions of the Southwest United States. The small towns are no different than others in Arizona, Utah or New Mexico. However, alcohol is prohibited, like in most other Native American-governed areas. Spoken Navajo can be heard sometimes, also on  radio, but English is far more common. Like all Americans, the Navajos we talked to were very polite, helpful and friendly, and wanted to know where we are from. In one respect they were a little different than most other Americans: the Navajo generally speak less loudly. I understand that needlessly rising one's voice is considered impolite.

There's one thing connected to the Navajo self-government that may cause confusion fo the tourist. In the USA, the states can decide many things themselves, for example whether to observe the daylight saving time or not. Arizona doesn't, but the Navajo Nation does. Consequently, the Navajo are an our ahead of the rest of Arizona in the summer, but at the same time as all of Utah and New Mexico. As if that wasn't complicated enough, the Hopi, whose lands are completely surrounded by the Navajo Nation, observe the Arizona time. Make sure you consider this when asking about opening times and such!

The fusion of Navajo traditions and modern popular culture has created some interesting results, such as  Navajo Metal and a Navajo-language version of the original Star Wars movie. Generally speakin, I couldn't care less about any beauty contest, but I do respect Miss Navajo Nation, who has to prove her skills in sheep butchering, among other things. To people interested in contemporary Navajo culture, I recommend Jim Kristofic's book Navajos wear Nikes, which is also available as an e-book from  Amazon. And of course, travel to Navajo lands and see it yourself!

We visited the land bordered by the four Sacred Mountains from June 14th  to 17th 2015.

Pleasant surprises in Utah

Zion National Park.

At least in Finland the name of Utah conjures images of fundamental mormons, restrictive legislation and generally conservative social climate. For us Utah was one of the most pleasant surprises of our trip. Of course we cannot claim to know the state very well at all. We only popped in twice from Arizona to the southernmost part of Utah and spent only about 24 hours in the state, including one overnight stop.

A small Scutellosaurus in St. George.

Our first stop in Utah was the St. George Dinosaur Discovery site. I have wanted to have my own pet dinosaur been very interested in dinosaurs since an early age. Actually I'm kind of fanatic about them. As there are no dinosaur fossils where I come from (thanks a lot, Ice Age), I was very keen to see an authentic fossil site. Some exceptional footprint fossils, about 200 million years old, were discovered in 2000 at Johnson Farm, close to central St. George.

Now there is a small but well-kept museum displaying footprints and other fossils, and real dinosaurs but unfortunately one is not allowed to pet and feed them life-like reconstructions of jurassic dinosaurs.

I know that some people lead empty and meaningless lives are not as enthusiastic about dinosaurs as I am. Maybe not everyone would be as interested in the St. George museum as me. However, I highly recommend the place for those who care about dinosaurs even a little. It is not a huge museum, so it makes a good stop in a long day of driving: if your schedule is busy, four hours half an hour is enough to get a meaningful overview of the exhibitions.

Dinosaur fottprints from 200 million years ago.

From St. George we continued towards the Grand Canyon, but decided to make a detour through Zion National Park. We drove through it on a scenic mountain road constructed in 1930. The scenery was awe-inspiring, and very different from what we had seen in Yosemite, for example. Through millennia water has eroded red sandstone, which is soft and crumbles easily. This has resulted in some peculiar, dream-like shapes.

Checkerboard Mesa in Zion.

Up on the mountains the temperature dropped to a tolerable level, well under 30 centigrade (86 Fahrenheit). Of course, there's much more to see and do in Zion than we had time for.

Up in the mountains of Zion.

Soon after leaving the National Park we stopped by a beautiful small pond for a snack and to switch drivers. At the same time, a group of six bikers pulled to the same parking lot. They looked exactly the kind of bikers one sees in American movies, long hair and beards, black leather vests, and they definetely did not wear helmets when riding - a bit of a scary-looking bunch. I admit that I was prejudiced and a little concerned when  they approached us. There was absolutely no reason to be afraid - they asked us, very politely, if we could kindly take a picture of their group in front of the pond!

A couple of days later, after visiting the Grand Canyon, we made an overnight stop in the small town of Bluff, Utah, close to the Arizona border. I have been to the USA once before, then in New York and Boston. Then I heard many Americans describe New Yorkers as a unfriendly and rude. I was surprised, as I found them very nice and helpful.

On this trip I understand where this comes from. All the people - really, every one - we met in rural Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and California were incredibly friendly, polite and helpful. We, reserved Finns as we are, sometimes even felt awkward. I see that in comparison, even a friendly and easy-going city like New York may indeed seem unwelcoming.

An example of this helpfulness: we needed to do laundry in Bluff. We arrived in the town late in the evening, and the only laundry shop was just closing. Before I could say anything, the manager told me she lived right across the street, so I could take my time washing our clothes and knock on her door when I'm done so she can close the shop after that, no problem, hope you've enjoyed your trip so far, oh you've seen the Grand Canyon, magnificent isn't it, make sure not to miss Monument Valley...

"Polygamy Porter, proudly brewed in Utah". A Utah brewery pokes fun at fundamental latter-day saints. Quite tasty, too.

If you ever visit the region, Bluff gets my warm recommendations even though there's not much to see and do in the tiny town itself. Landscape is beautiful and there are many interesting places nearby. We stayed in  Kokopelli Inn and liked it. There are a couple of other motels and inns, too.

We visited the dinosaurs of St. George and Zion National Park on June 12th 2015. We stayed in Bluff June 14th to 15th.