San Diego to Austin!

[ysilva]

Hi there,
I am planning a trip tomorrow from San Diego to Austin. Our goal is to get to Austin by Saturday evening.

Any recommendations (advice) on good motels/hotels to stay that are past El Paso (we're driving a few more hours past EP)?

Please let me know.

XOxo,
YSilva

[Southwest Dave]

Hello and welcome to the RTA forums !

I am not sure you will get a response to Hotel recommendations with so few regular contributors and so many options, but you never know !

You would have been the road for 13 hours or so by the time you get to El Paso and adding "a few more hours" beyond there is going to leave you pretty exhausted next day and in a zone where safety is of concern. If you make it there on day 1, or even Las Cruces area you would be able to get a good nights sleep and with an early start get to Austin early evening. It's a little over the maximum we would recommend to travel over 2 days but doable, just pace yourself for the long haul and take plenty of short rest breaks.

Have a safe trip !

[AZBuck]

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

Getting from San Diego to Austin in two days is just within the range of a very purposeful, no frills, slog down the highway for a few good long haul drivers. You will have no time for anything but the barest food, fuel and bathroom breaks, and even then everything must fall in line - no traffic delays, no serious construction detours, no unexpected time outs, nothing untoward. You will also have to pace yourselves and stick to a very demanding schedule so that you can all get a solid eight hours of sleep overnight. Note especially, that is eight hours of sleep, not just eight hours off the road. Typically that means ten hours off the road including an hour to check into your motel, shower and wind down, and an hour in the morning to get up, packed, organized, fed and back up and driving. Note also that both of your days will only be 23 hours long as you lose an hour each day to time zone changes.

All of the above is by way of saying that aiming for "a few more hours past [El Paso]" is absolutely the wrong way to go. You want to cover no more than 650 miles or so on the first day, half way. That is already more than you should really attempt on a multi-day drive, but is just at the outer limit (being generous) of what you can accomplish with 2 to 3 drivers. Trying to cover more miles on the first day will leave you groggy in the evening and a danger to yourselves and others. And you will be totally exhausted the second day. NOT a recipe for a safe trip. You should plan to stop overnight in Las Cruces, NM. Use the "Hotel" tab in the green toolbar above to see what's available there and book ahead so that you waste no time looking around for something when you should be sleeping instead.

AZBuck

[glc]

The halfway point is Las Cruces. Your second day would be a bit shorter due to the 80 mph speed limit on I-10 across most of West Texas. If you are still feeling alert, it's only about 45 minutes from Las Cruces to El Paso. I would NOT travel past El Paso, as your options between there and Fort Stockton are VERY limited. Your choices in both Las Cruces and El Paso are quite wide and reasonably priced, just stay away from the Mexican border.

To get to Austin, US-290 from I-10 cuts off about 45 miles and avoids the San Antonio metro area.

[AZBuck]

Those are perhaps the most dangerous words in RoadTripping. "Oh, it's just another hour." - "Oh, I can force myself to get another 20 or 30 (or 40 or 50) miles down the road." - "A cup of coffee and I'll be fine."

No.

When you hit the wall you hit the wall and no amount of rationalization will make you an alert or safe driver. Neither will caffeine or amphetamine or any other drug. And certainly not will power. Your body is limited in its endurance. That is a physiological fact. You need to plan for it. Las Cruces is already more than half way in miles. It is well more than half way in time (I took the higher speed limits in west Texas into account in my recommendation). Trying to push on farther than you should and further than your body is capable of is unwise, unsafe, and NOT recommended by this forum. As noted by Dave, glc and myself, Las Cruces (at nearly 700 miles from San Diego) is already more than we would usually recommend. Do NOT plan on going farther than that, and do NOT think that you CAN go farther than that.

AZBuck