Traveling from DC to Orange, CA
 

A friend of mine is moving to Orange, CA at the end of July. She asked if another friend and I could join her to make the trip more interesting. Due to a lack in vacation time, we're trying not to drag the trip out. What would be the fastest route to get there and is there anything really cool to see on the way? We're wondering if it's possible to drive straight through and take turns sleeping in the car.

http://maps.yahoo.com/dd_result?newa...mp;tcountry=us

You want to drive 2700 miles without stopping for a night??? I guess it is possible. Is it smart? I guess it is not.

We maybe want to. And I'm just trying to help out a friend, so don't lose your cool over a question. And is that link to show what you think the fastest route is? I've looked it up in different places and looked at a map and have seen a few different routes that look about even, just take you through different places.

If I were doing it (I wouldn't) I would cut down to I-10 & follow the gulf coast. That would also run you through Phx & Abq. I believe. But if you are just trying to get there ASAP, I'm thinking you're not going to take the time to see much anyway ? How are you planning on returning home ?

I don't thinks saps said anything inappropriate. I would agree and say that it is dangerous and not a good idea to attempt this drive without stopping for the evening. Your eyes and body need to rest, and sleeping in a car isn't a comfortable or effective way to do this. Of course it's possible, but so are many other things and that doesn't mean they are a good idea.

Yahoo usually does the shortest route, but there may be some variation. If it is hundred miles or less don't sweat it. You are going to driving for 35 hours anyways.

To be blunt...
Help out a friend by telling her that not only is driving that long without some decent sack time dangerous for you but what about all of us that are on the road as well. You get 4-5 hours of bad sleep in the car and then get behind the wheel for another 500 miles...It just isn't safe.

End of soapbox. I wish you and your friends well.

The most direct route would be to eventually pick up I-40. Can be a pretty hot drive in late July, though, especially through Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and the California desert. I believe I-80 (?) takes you a little farther north and drops you down south by way through Nevada and that might be more comfortable, but it will take longer.

What is of interest along the way depends on the interests of the people in the car, really. And I'm a bit confused. If you are willing to drive straight through to save on time, how much time would you be willing expend stopping for sites? There are major cities along the way. The Grand Canyon would be close by. It depends on how much time you want to spend where.

Is it possible to drive straight through? Sure, it's possible. And you can probably do this in about 4 days - that's with stopping for meals, bathroom breaks, gas, stretching legs, etc. Just make sure the car is in good working order before you leave. There's lots of stretches where there really isn't much of anything out there!

The 2 of us accompanying my friend will fly home. I am the most interested in seeing things, however, my friend moving out there just wants to get there and isn't much interested in the midwest. I'd like to take 2 weeks to get out there, but unfortunately I recently started a new job and don't have the vacation time yet. We were thinking of stopping to see things briefly, but not stopping to sleep overnight. We're really not sure yet.

go to freetrip.com for routing, mileage,time and miles driven and time and miles to go. While youare at it, check off the least expensive priced hotel category. This will list hotels along the entire trip so if y'all do start to get pooped out and think you might want to stop, even for a couple of hours, you will have that info available. Don't even think of catching a few winks at a rest stop at night.

It's not that tough. 2700 miles using I-68/70/44/40/15. Average 70MPH, that's about 40 hours of driving. If both you can manage to actually sleep in the car while moving - whatever way it takes - then it's fine. Passenger seat, rear seat, the trunk, whatever. If one of you can't sleep well, than all bets are off.

For a non-stop trip like this, the two of you need to be organized and disciplined. Switch every 4 hours when you fuel up and go to bathroom. Stop for food every 8. Each of you will only need to drive 5 of these stints - which is really no big deal.

I would start really early Day 1. Like 2am after going to bed early. With the time difference, you can get to LA late evening on Day 2. So, you'll only have one long tough night through the plains.

With a trip that long, I think that you'd want to JUST GET THERE ALREADY by the 20th hour - and you'd be really ambivalent to the sights along the way.

My husband drove the U.S. West to East in three days after a leisurely East to West journey. He took 40 to California - the more northerly route back (I can't remember which highways). The sights in the middle of the country were few and far between. Really, the quickest route, for your plans, would be best.

My only question, in addition to the question of whether all of you can really sleep in a car, is your experience in driving long BORING distances. My husband and I recently did about 14 hours of driving in a 20 hour time period, and by the end, the shifts were not 4 hours, but more like 2. It's really hard to stay awake. And that gets dangerous quickly.

Seriously, if your moving friend has more time to go, and you and the other accompanying friend are the reason it has to be in one non-stop stretch, I don't think you're doing the moving friend any favors. Sorry. I've done a 13 hour nonstop trip with friends, and lots of car travel in a short time with my husband, but a 40 hour trip without stopping would lead me to the brink of delirium.

haha, finally someone with my attitude! I figured I'd have to get 1 reply of someone who said it was possible. Now, there's actually 3 of us, so even less driving time and more sleeping time.

I agree with kgh8m. No way can I do sightseeing but not sleep. It's either take 4 days with 3 nights of hotel stay plus brief sightseeing, or it's straight through. Not both.

The thoughts of 3 sleepy people driving coast to coast at 70 mph for 40 hours frightens me. Life is too short to be careless, and for what? - if it takes a day or two more, would that be the end of the world?

Three people is easier because less driving for each, and when one's driving overnight, a second person can be chatting with him/her while the 3rd one sleeps.

However, depending on the size of the vehicle, 3 people may mean less room to spread out and sleep.

That's what we were thinking. 2 people would always be awake at once.

Oh and another day of vacation time could mean no more job, which is very bad. And she has no one else to drive out there with, and I think driving alone is not good for her either.

Are we moving her, or just riding out there w/her ?

Riding out there with her. She isn't taking much in the first place and it will be arriving slightly later.

I will make the same suggestion I tell everyone, it may or may not apply to you.

When travelling for more than a few days, find the nearest store (or even drug store), and buy the cheapest (foam) ice cooler you can get, some are around $4-5, (Wal-Mart) or then find a grocery store, and stock up on bottled water or your favorite soft drink, buy it by the 12-pack or case.
If you have to stop and buy individual drink items, I have seen a single small bottle of water go for $3 - $3.50 - EACH. And cans of pop go for $1.50.

At the end of your trip, see if you can find someone else travelling and give them the cooler, or, just throw it out.

Regardless of what you do with the cooler in the end, you will have saved a ton of money on your trip.

Safest and easiest way: Have her car shipped out to the west coast and have her fly out. You won't lose your job and nobody will be in or cause an accident due to sleep-deprived drivers.

First of all - you ain't gonna average 70 mph. No way, no how. Sure there are areas where you can go 80 or 85 and not get arrested (but w/ sleep deprivation that is plain stupid). But there are also lots of areas where you will be in cities or construction zones and maybe averaging 35 or 40 mph or less and if you hit it at the wrong time 20 mph. On this sort of trek you can't plan to miss commute times.

I would bet your average speed over the whole trip is closer to 55 than to 70.

And you aren't going to be doing ANY sightseeing since the sites are off the interstates and you simply don't have time for even 2 or 3 mile detours.

So it really is a pretty lame idea - not the driving coss country, but doing it straight through. If you took 6-7 days - sure. Otherwise - fly . . . . . .

My young cousin and her dad did it in less than three days. She was a newly hired United Flight Attendant, needed her car to get from LA to DC to be at her first base. She didn't have money to ship the car, had just paid for all the uniforms, apartment, etc. We all shook our heads, but they made it. They did pull off the road during the nights to get a few hours rest in the car. At least you will be three.
Please be careful.

Since I am the one who said "average 70mph", I guess I need to respond. First, I did say it's 40 hours of driving, so the 70mph is the average speed actually on the road.

I will stand by that average. It can easily be done by driving less than 10mph over speed limit - which everybody does anyway. That means maybe 72-73 in the east where speed limit is 65mph, and 77-82 out west. Nothing that unusual.

Also, the route I described doesn't have a lot of traffic. She's leaving DC early in the morning, so no problem; and arriving late in LA, so again no traffic. No traffic in the west. So, the only place that can slow her down a little are Columbus, Indianapolis and St. Louis.

Still, I'm talking about driving at 72-82mph. Even if she hits traffic at all those three cities, she can still make 70mph. Easy. In fact, it's a very conservative estimate.

Now, just want to make sure I am not misunderstood, this does not include stop time for food and fuel. It's just driving time. 40 hours. Add 5 hours of stopping, it's 45 hours. Start 3am Day 1 east coast time, 45 hours later is 9pm Day 2 pacific.

It's not that crazy.

BTW, let me correct the route. Out of DC, use I-68 all the way into WV. Then I-79 to Charleston and then I-64 to St. Louis. You won't hit Columbus and Indianapolis this way.

Traffic is not a problem in Charleston or Lexington, and just minor in Louisville. In St. Louis, one can take the I-255 bypass if it's rush hour.

&quot;<i>It can easily be done by driving less than 10mph over speed limit - which everybody does anyway. That means maybe 72-73 in the east where speed limit is 65mph, and 77-82 out west. Nothing that unusual</i>&quot;

You must not drive much on roads like I-80 and some other congested interstates. Sure there are stretches where one can comfortably go over the speed limits. But there are LOTS of places where you are lucky to get up to the speed limit for most of the day - maybe at 2:00 in the morning but from 0600 to about 1930 speed limits aren't even an issue.

BTW - they often have zero tolerance weekends in CA - where they write tix for even one mile over the speed limit. Always announced ahead of time - like this weekend is going to be a full saturation/zero tolerance. You can't ever assume 10 mph over is safe - even in the wilds of NV.

janisj - I have driven on most interstates in the US, so I know my routes. We're specifically talking about I-68/79/64/44/40/15 or I-70/44/40/15. We're not talking about I-80 through Chicago.

Those routes I mention, there's indeed light traffic. And I am telling people to drive <b>less than 10mph</b> over. NOT 10 OVER! That's a big difference.

And California? Try driving speed limit on I-15. You'll be run off the road by the traffic (unless it's congested).

Let's do some calculations. 2,800miles. I say 70mph for 40hours. Let's say you get stuck for traffic in St. Louis for a whole hour, going 0 miles. You now need to do 2,800 miles in 39hours - holy cow, you need to average 71.8 mph now! If you also got stuck in congestion somewhere wasting another hour, you need to go 2,800 miles in 38 hours. Meaning 73.7mph. With speed limit at 70-75 for the most part of the drive, even that's totally doable.

BTW, here are the state limits:

MD - 65
WV - 70
KY - 65
IN - 70
IL - 65
MO - 70
OK, TX, NM, AZ - 75 (I-40 doesn't get 80 in TX)
CA - 70

As you can see, if you average out the distance, the average limit on the route is above 70; with almost half of it at 75.

Well the trip is completed! We got there in less than 3 days and I didn't think it was very difficult at all. We stopped in Vegas for 4 hours, the Hoover Dam for one, a National Park in Utah for 3 hours, stopped at Oz in Kansas for a little while, got off the road and saw the arch, stopped at a prairie dog museum, stopped at Buffalo Bills gravesite for almost an hour and stopped and had a nice dinner towards the end of Colorado in a really neat town.

Oh and thank you 'rkkwan' you were fairly accurate about speeds and such. We hit traffic, well construction, very very briefly once, early on in our trip. The rest of the time we didn't have any trouble. We went straight through all the big cities and didn't use any of the bypasses and traffic through Las Vegas even wasn't too bad.

Thanks for getting back to us. I wondered if you had returned from your trip to CA. Three days with three drivers worked for you.