Best web resources for planning roadtrip from WA to CA?

There’s MapQuest, for starters.

Also, you can use GoogleEarth to locate hotels, motels, restaurants, etc., on the road.

I would use my AAA membership. Here’s a list of free trip planners – try them all for the best results.

AARP used to have a good trip planner.

When I plan my trips, I look at MapQuest to get an idea of the route I will take. Then I ask other people if they have any recommendations around that path. Then I go back and add it whatever recommendations sound good to my plan.

My son went the other way, Bay Area to Vancouver, and spent a lot of time planning it, with the aim of spending most nights at campsites in state parks and seeing all the great sights en route. He used a combination of maps, books, and online resources.

One thing he learned is not to schedule too tightly. If everything depends on your reaching a certain park by a certain hour to claim your reservation, and you get waylaid or miss a turn or linger too long at a photogenic spot and fall 3 hours behind, there’s a cascade effect if you have all your driving time planned to the hilt. You can end up losing all your reservations one after another if you fall a day behind. Best build in a little slack every few days.

Another thing was to plan a motel stop at least once a week to sleep in a real bed and take a private shower.

@YARNLADY is absolutely right. AAA invented trip mapping.

AAA is also your friend on the road. I have kept my sons’ premium memberships current since before they had their drivers’ licenses. They used AAA’s help as passengers more than once.

The very few times I have ever had to call have been more than worth the cost of membership when weighed against the hassle of a dead battery or a flat tire somewhere miles from home.

@Jeruba I second that – we pay for memberships for several members of our family.

We are taking a similar trip this summer and we loaded up on the free-with-membership-books from AAA. They are pretty thorough.