If you want a truly mind blowing scenic drive to rival anything the Pacific Coast Highway (CA Highway 1), Sea to Sky Highway (BC Highway 99) or anything that New Zealand can throw at you try the US four corner states for scenery. One of my favourites is Vail (CO) to Flagstaff (AZ) via Moab, Blanding, Mexican Hat and through Monument Valley down to Flagstaff using I-70 and state roads 191, 313, 95, 261, 163, 160 & 89 each element has their own highlights and it is worth taking several breaks to allow time to visit the National Parks and Monument Valley.

Particular highlights on I-70 is the spectacular stretch of road through Glenwood Canyon, surely the most picturesque and stunning motorway in the World and a marvel of engineering as the motorway hangs on the side of the canyon walls while the Colorado river winds its way through the canyon below you, thereafter I-70 continues to follow the Colorado river to the Utah border and the rest of I-70 is just as amazing. Turn off I-70 just after Thompson Springs down 191 to Moab.

Moab should need no introduction with the Arches & Canyonlands National Parks. You may not realise it but I'm sure most people will have seen pictures of the Fragile Arch and Dead Horse Point without realising where they are located. Take a spare oxygen bottle as the real thing will leave you breathless in awe especially Canyonlands which many rate better than the Grand Canyon.

Follow 313 down to Blanding an take the 95 to the Bridges National Monument if you want some more jaw dropping natural phenomena. Then the scary drive down 261 which is tarmac to the top of the 4,000ft high mesa plateau which gives an amazing vista below you of Mexican Hat and Monument Valley stretched out below you into the distance for a “top of the World” experience on the edge of the Colorado Plateau. Then take a deep breath before the fun really starts driving on the dirt track switchback that takes you down the face of the mesa to the road 4,000ft below you, easy on the brakes and cornering as the surface is loose and steep. When you are down you can look back and take in the view back up the mesa before heading off to Mexican Hat and on to Monument Valley.

There can't be many people in the western World that have not seen Monument Valley from some angle in films, TV and magazines. It is still an awesome sight despite the fact you may think you have seen it all before via the media. The long run down to Flagstaff is a bit disappointing compared with the spectacular sights seen thus far but is not entirely without its highlights (Wupatki NM & Sunset Crater NM). You can also go off to the Grand Canyon at Cameron if you want or continue down to Flagstaff.

Flagstaff is a great old western town if you ignore the modern parts on the outskirts and it’s the scene of much early western US history. A stopover also sets you up nicely for the drive up to Grand Canyon so you can decide for yourself if Canyonlands is indeed more spectacular, both have been carved out by the long winding Colorado river over the midst of time. The bad news, war reports, oil prices and global recession suddenly seem totally irrelevant when you try to contemplate the scale of the majestic natural wonder before you together with that already seen on the journey to get here.

The drive of my life would have to be the very first time I decided to take the plunge and rent a car in the USA. Having visited the US many times before I’d always managed to resist hiring a car, which was more to do with nerves and driving on the wrong side of the road rather than unwillingness to explore. With a four city tour break booked, I decided Anchorage, Alaska would be an ideal place to start what was to become my new found obsession, driving through the United States.

My logic for choosing Anchorage was based on two factors, the first being curiosity. I had never been a great outdoor type and yet I had this compelling urge to experience it at least once in my life time. Alaska seemed as good a place as any to start. The second and probably most important factor was based on anticipated levels of traffic. For my first driving experience abroad, I wanted minimal traffic but without the sacrifice of losing all remnants of urban city living. On the face of it, Anchorage fitted the bill perfectly.

Anchorage is about as remote as it gets in terms of big city environment. The inner city was like any other I had previously visited, but with a slower pace of life and less traffic. However, venture out into the vast open space that surrounds the city and you have Alaska’s biggest draw, the last frontier. To say its spectacular would be an understatement. It is simply breath taking and was a perfect choice to begin my new love affair of driving on the right hand side of the road.

The following year I drove from Chicago to LA in just under three weeks. Without the Alaska experience I often wonder whether I would have had the confidence to undertake such a trip. For that reason alone, Anchorage and the surrounding areas was the drive of my life.

We left Tahoe after working there as Snowboard Instructors for 5 months - Our Chevy HHR rental car ready to whisk us away to our next adventure. It was packed to the hilt with 5 months worth of stuff and 4 snowboards. The HHR then drove us through Nevada, Idaho, Montana up to Alberta where we visited friends in Calgary & went boarding in Banff. Over to Whistler, BC to reunite with friends and then to Vancouver - more friends, sightseeing and to pickup my brother-in-law who had come over from Scotland to join us for the last leg of our tour - Onwards in the HHR, now even more packed down through Washington state, & right down the Oregon & Northern California coast, finishing off with our drive over the Golden Gate Bridge. Finally, we had arrived in our destination - San Francisco and brought our HHR home to it's underground dwelling with the rest of the rental cars. An AWESOME Awe-Inspiring drive through the diverse country that is the USA. Can't wait to do it all again!

From Kansas City to Colorado Springs. I took this drive with friends shortly after leaving university. The monotonous flatness on all sides, the endless games of cards, the fear that behind every lone tree or water tower there was a bored traffic cop waiting to book us for going 2mph over the speed limit. But we loved it and the Rocky Mountains finally emerging in the horizon and rising up like a cliff face was breathtaking.

From Seattle to Vancouver to Jasper. Travelling south down the Icefields parkway to Banff. Continue south into Yellowstone National park. Head West through Idaho and follow the Oregon trail back to Seattle via Mount Rainier.

Two weeks ago I drove a Ford Focus I had rented via yourselves back from Cape Coral to Orlando, Florida. Instead of using the Interstate I opted for State Road 17, which took me through Arcadia, Wauchula & Barlow, cattle country & a million miles from Theme Parks, Shamu & Mickey Mouse.

I think that day I saw the real Florida & thoroughly enjoyed my drive.

THE DEADLY SERIOUS MOONSCAPE - Not literally the moon, but close to it - in fact Death Valley in the United States. It is one of the hottest places on earth, arid, sterile and stunningly beautiful. Different coloured quartz embedded in the light grey canyons walls sends laser-like shards of light across the chasms. The sun reflects from the sandy floor where nothing moves in the 140F heat until dusk. Place names loom up out of the old Technicolour cowboy films, such as Twelve Mule Pass, Badwater Creek and Stovepipe Wells. Early settlers died here in search of their fortune - not gold, silver or oil but the rock that was turned into boracic foot powder. It is also the scene of the first organised tour in the US by Thomas Cook, in a stagecoach. But it can be deadly before the long evening shadows bring out the creepy crawlies. Don't venture far without telling someone where you are going and always carry plenty of water.

Like the scorpions that scuttle through its sands it can be deadly as well as beautiful.

I have been lucky enough to travel to lots of other countries, but it wasn’t hard to come up with the best ride. A few years ago we were touring around western USA and one of our stopovers was in Oakhurst, California, a few miles from Yosemite National Park. We spent a whole day in Yosemite (not nearly long enough) and the scenery is so breathtaking it’s beyond words. I am passionate about photography, but photographs simply do not do it justice. You have to be there to experience the sheer size of El Capitan, and to gaze at Half Dome from Glacier Point.

Our drive didn’t end there. The next day we left Oakhurst, jumped into our open topped Sebring, and drove through the Mojave Desert towards Las Vegas. The road is straight and very, very long! But at the end of it what a sight greeted us. So spectacularly different to Yosemite, but my first view of Vegas will stay with me forever.

Just start that drive through the streets of San Francisco in a convertible Mustang. Maybe remembering Bullitt and Steve McQueen from the great film of 1968, driving the hills in San Francisco is like riding a roller coaster, driving up to the crest of a hill you can't see the street coming up to greet your front wheels until the very last second. Head to Russian Hill then Filbert Street for some of the city's steepest; the drop east from Hyde Street has a great view of Coit Tower. From Green and Jones streets, head North on Jones for a gravity-defying two-block drop and a view of Alcatraz framed between the high rises and don’t miss the most twisty street in the World at Lombard Street, just after you’ve stopped to photograph some of the famous Trams.

That’s just the beginning, pop down to Fisherman’s Wharf, then with the roof still down drive over the magnificent Golden Gate Bridge. The bridge can loom out of the mist appearing to sit on the clouds on some summers mornings and then take a route out to Yosemite, if you are doing this in a day its roof up and freeways, though there are country ways to get there if you are staying over in a lodge.

Once into the National Park put the roof down again, the Glacier carved valley of Yosemite adorns the Sierra’s with some of the most beautiful views you can imagine. Half Dome and El Capitan then Tuolumne Meadows and the High Country, Yosemite is really something special to remember. Beautiful waterfalls, rounded domes, towering cliffs and massive monoliths make it a natural marvel and then to add to the day on our fantastic journey a stop in the woods in the National Park and the excitement of a close encounter with a Brown Bear, well not too close, just close enough for the photo, then we drove on, even if they look cuddly! This journey just couldn't be beaten... I'm back there again, just writing this. Should add thanks to Carhire3000 for supplying the car!