Driving across America

A question from leeedge: How long will it take to drive from New York to San Fransisco

As Andy Hughes replied, 'That's a bit of a "how long is a piece of string " question because it depends on how fast you drive, how often you stop, and for how long...' but now, thanks to the wonders of the Internet, you can actually plot a route from the comforts of your own computer.

Website MapQuest, for example, has a facility called Road Trip Planner that calculates the current shortest distance from NY to SF (2905.47 miles) rather more accurately than you might need.

It also comes up with an estimated driving time of 48 hours, 48 minutes. Though you might want to stop for petrol and a bite to eat along the way.

But seriously...
If you want to be just as organised, but less saddle-sore, follow the Lincoln Highway. In the 1930s, businessman Carl Fisher came up with the idea of a single, hard-surfaced road from New York to San Francisco, when most of America's roads were little more than dust. His hard work caught the public and government's imagination and resulted in the Lincoln Highway. You can drive it to this day.

What about documentation, paperwork etc

Car rental is straightforward and ubiquitous in the States (though some operators place restrictions on driving rental cars in New York City - they've obviously never driven in London).

A full British driving licence is perfectly acceptable for short visits.

And if I want to buy a car in the States

Be ready for a round of bureaucrats and paperwork - title, registration, insurance -though it is possible.

• The title comes with the car - make sure the seller hands it over.
• You should supply a permanent address Stateside, though there is a 'window' of 30 days before you need to register the car. You might have sold it again in that time!
• For insurance, a local driving licence may be required, depending on which State you are in.

Hang on, haven't I seen all this at the movies
You might be thinking of Gumball Rally (1976) starring Michael Sarrazin, Raul Julia and a particularly nifty Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona Spyder: an hilarious coast-to-coast car race caper.

Or then again, you might be thinking of The Cannonball Run (1981) starring Burt Reynolds, Roger Moore and Dean Martin: an hilarious coast-to-coast car race caper.

Or how about Cannonball Run II (1982) starring Burt Reynolds and Dean Martin...

I get the picture. How original!
They were all based - loosely - on real life. The original Gumball Rallies were semi-underground and extremely illegal races from coast-to-coast with the first prize of... a gumball machine.

Hence Gumball Rally...

And they in turn set out to honour the first man to race coast-to-coast by car, 1930's eccentric Robert 'Cannonball' Baker.

How did Cannonball get his nickname
Cannonball's fastest official cross-country time was 53.5 hours in a 1933 Graham.

The Gumballers brought that time down to a breakneck 33 hours 12 minutes between New York and Los Angeles. Average speed 83.54mph. Maximum speed limit 55mph. Not advisable.

But that was years ago.
Gumball 3000 is an unnerving collection of pop stars, models and hangers on (Jamiroquai, Chris Eubank, Johnny Knoxville, Naomi and Claudia have all been involved).

This year they drove 3000-odd miles from New York to Los Angeles in a variety of Bentleys, Lamborghinis and Ferraris. And Herbie the Love Bug.

It all sounds a bit fast to me.
As San Francisco expanded in the 1850's, the journey from New York took three months - sailing around Cape Horn. By 1870, the Transcontinental Railroad had cut the journey time to a precipitous two weeks or less.

More recently, the Global Peace Walk Project left New York on January 15th 1995. They arrived in San Francisco 156 days later.

Tell me more, tell me more
Sean Condon drove from New York to San Francisco by car and wrote a book about it: Drive Thru America

And if you want more info:

Lincoln Highway
MapQuest
Gumball 3000