First road trip from South Florida to Vegas

[sarabawer]

Hi!
We are planning a road trip from S. Florida to Vegas. So we are wonder about what cities we must include in our trip. We are 4 girls traveling for New Years in Vegas.. so basically we will have 4 days to arrive there. We won't stop in Florida and our first stop will be New Orleans and spend the night there, after this we are kind lost and we don't know what other cities to visit before arrive to Vegas. We were thinking about Memphis, Albuquerque, Dallas, Santa Fe, but in 4 days we don;t know how much we can see. We 4 are from outside USA and live in big cities so we would like to visit small towns, places where we can take great pics, nothing fancy but really American instead.
Any help will be really appreciate it =)

Thanks

[glc]

Welcome!

Assuming Miami, it's normally a full 5 day drive from there to Las Vegas - so if you are going to do it in 4, you have no time whatsoever for sightseeing. You are looking at being on the road for over 12 hours each day. You cannot believe the drive times that computer mapping programs tell you, they do not account for any stops or delays whatsoever.

Miami to New Orleans is almost 900 miles, and way too far to be a safe drive in one day, even with 4 drivers.

[Midwest Michael]

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

I'm sorry, but I just don't think you are really giving enough respect to just how far of a drive you are talking about. We really wouldn't recommend you even try this in 4 days, as it really is pushing the limits of safety, even with 4 drivers.

If you do want to attempt this trip in this timeframe, then there will be no time for fun along the drive. You won't have time to stop and explore small towns, and you certainly wouldn't have time to take huge detours to places like Memphis or Santa Fe which would add far more miles than you have time for. Also keep in mind that in late December, you will have less than 10 hours of daylight each day. Also remember that even though you are traveling in the southern US, it is very possible that you'd see some snow or ice, which will also require you to spend more time on the road.

The only way to even consider this drive in 4 days is to treat it like a job - which is what it will be. That means, focusing on driving hard, but safe, in even legs each day. Your stops would basically have to be in Pensacola, Dallas, and Albuquerque. That means you'll be on the road for at least 12 hours each day, and even short detours to New Orleans just won't work. You need a minimum of 5 days before you can even think about taking a short detour like that, or spending even a little time exploring the cities where you will be stopping. You really need to get to take 6 days before this would be more fun than work, and exploring small towns would come into the picture.

[Southwest Dave]

I have to agree with what has been said and then I presume you need to drive home ? Unless you can find enough time to make it enjoyable, it's one of the rare occsions where I would recommend flying to Vegas over driving. Perhaps then you would have time to rent a car and do a small road trip in the West, perhaps visit the Grand canyon ?