Moving coast to coast...

[ECZenith]

Monday night at midnight is the big day.

 

My profile says I live in CA but I'm actually going to become a resident in about 5 days when I arrive. The drive is about 2900 miles from Warren, Rhode Island to Riverside County, California. My dad's going to be coming along with me and flying home from CA. We're going the Northern route which mostly consists of Rte. 80.

 

I was wondering if any of you have driven from the east to west coast and if you could share some tips/advice/stories about what I can expect. Think it can be done in 3 days with 2 people driving?

 

Thank you all

[Meteornotes]

It can indeed be done in three days, but it will be exhausting. And the last thing you want to be when driving a car is tired. It might be better to take a little more time.

 

I moved to CA in 1988 and moved back east in 2000. I don't really have any amazing stories to tell you, as it was pretty much "drive until both people were worn out, get a hotel for the night, do it over again". We did it in just a bit over three days the first time, and it was brutal. It took an extra day in 2000, and that wasn't as bad.

 

All I can say is try to sleep when you're not driving, take breaks, and be prepared for construction and other delays. Good luck.

 

dt

[SharkTums]

Robb and I drove from Gainesville, FL to Valencia, CA April of 2003.

 

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=&saddr=91355&daddr=I-44+E+%4035.535070,+-97.494260+to:30.410782,-84.506836+to:gainesville,+fl&mrcr=1,2&mrsp=2&sz=5&mra=dpe&sll=31.94391,-100.458985&sspn=24.272623,40.869141&ie=UTF8&z=5&om=1

 

2600 miles if that scary link doesn't work!

 

We left Thursday morning about 10am and got into Valencia Sunday evening around 4pm. This included stops at SFoT, Frontier City, Wonderland Amarillo, and Cliffs. And we did check into a motel and sleep each night. Only other stops were for fast food lunches or dinners. We don't like to stop a lot while driving.

 

It can totally be done.

[CoasterEricHP]

Good luck! My friend and I drove from Tucson, AZ to York, PA a few years back. I drove nights, usually from 10am to 11pm, and she drove during the day. We only stopped for food (McDonalds in Amarillo, TX, Cracker Barrel by SFStL, and then a rest stop by Pittsburgh) and gas! We left Tuscon around 10pm and made to York 36 hours later and then I took the best shower of my life!

 

I definately don't reccomend that though. We were moving to Florida later that week so we didnt want to waste any more time than neccesary, especially time spent crammed in a car. So, take your time and hit up some parks on the way!

 

Some tips:

 

Cracker Barrel's rock! When you get tired of CDs/Radio you can "rent" books on CD at Cracker Barrels. You pay the full price there but then you can return them at any Cracker Barrel and get all but like.. $5 a week back.

 

Kansas is possibly the most boring place in the world in a car. Kansas City is nice though.