NYC to LA Moving Trip

[lschubert]

Hi all,

My husband and I are planning a move out to LA from NYC at the end of November. We will be driving our moving truck, and I wanted to see if you all had any tips for road tripping with a moving truck. We plan about a 10 day trip, in order to be able to site see a little bit. We are not quite sure of our route at this time. So any feedback would be helpful.

Thanks!!

[Midwest Michael]

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

A roadtrip in a moving truck isn't that much different than any other roadtrip. You've got a larger size, that will move a little slower, and because of that, you might have to be a little more careful that you don't get yourself caught in a tight space. But really, your vehicle won't be much different in size from an RV, so any place they can go, you should be able to too.

Are you also pulling a trailer? That does start to make things more difficult as the size gets even bigger.

Were there any specific questions about the trip that you have at this point?

[lschubert]

Thanks for the reply!

That does make sense, that it would be comparable to an RV. I hadn't thought about that. And no, thankfully we won't be pulling a trailer. We are still trying to figure out which route to take. But I do have one question right now. I know the north east uses an ezpass/ipass type of thing, does central and western parts use anything similar. I'm worried we'll be spending a lot more money on tolls than necessary. Or is there an all america toll pass to get?

Thank you!

[Southwest Dave]

Much will depend upon your own interests and what it is you want to site see. Interests vary greatly and nobody knows yours better than you do. I would get out a good map, look around the forums and other RTA planning resources found in the tool bars above [like the Map Centre where you can create routes and find attractions nearby] and once you have a couple of dots on the map and a route in mind, we can help to fill in the blanks.

If you were to allow a week for the journey, when considering the slower moving truck and perhaps wanting more breaks out of it than you would from the comfort of a car, they would be 7-8 hour days allowing you to unwind a little where you decide to stop for the night and possibly have a couple of days off from driving altogether along the way.

[lschubert]

Ok, thank you. I will get on trying to figure out the route and what we want to see. Thank you for your help!

[glc]

Once you get out of the northeast, the only toll roads of any consequence are the Ohio Turnpike, Indiana Toll Road, Illinois Tollway, and I-44 in Oklahoma. Your EZ-Pass (as long as you get it upgraded for truck use) will work on all of those except I-44. I-44 does have cash lanes. You don't NEED to take any of them, depending on the routes you choose. The EZ-Pass does not work anywhere else.

There is a toll road around Denver, but without a transponder it's license plate tolling and the rental company will add the bill to your credit card bill when they receive it. It's quite expensive. You shouldn't need to take it, there are alternates.

There are some toll roads in Texas if you get down that way.

Southern California has some toll roads and toll express lanes, you can't even take most of them without one of their transponders, but I don't see where you would NEED to take any of them. San Francisco has a bunch of expensive toll bridges, similar to NYC.

Grab yourself a Rand McNally road atlas, toll roads are green. You can research toll rates on line.

[DonnaR57]

To avoid the tolls, you could go:

I-80 west into PA, then south on I-81. That would take you through PA, short blips into MD and WV before getting to VA. There you could drive down Skyline Drive (unless winter sets in). In TN, catch I-40 West and stay on that to CA. Along I-40 you could take a short detour into Great Smoky Mountains National Park in TN, and later, into the Grand Canyon. When I-40 ends at Barstow, catch I-15 south to the LA Mess-tropolis. But this is just one suggestion....there are plenty of other routes you could choose.

We've had a little experience with U-Haul trucks now. Bear in mind that they get terrible fuel mileage and have a big tank, so one fill-up is expensive and you have twice as many of those to make as your family car. WIND is not fun in a high-profile vehicle, and plays even more with your horrible fuel mileage, so you have to hope it's a tail-wind (which HELPS). Yes, they move slowly. Doing the speed limit along some of the freeways means flooring the accelerator pedal and then of course, your mileage stinks.

Don't plan on more than 500 miles a day in the truck, because it's slower. That means 11 hours of driving. (My husband is an ex-long-distance truck driver and did the 500 miles a day in 9 hours, but he was alone and only stopped when HE needed to.) Just driving alone coast to coast is a 6 to 7 day drive in a truck, so you won't have all that much sight-seeing days.


Donna

[Foy]

To avoid the tolls, you could go:

There you could drive down Skyline Drive (unless winter sets in). In TN, catch I-40 West and stay on that to CA.


Donna

A side trip, or in this case, a parallel trip (inasmuch as the SD and the BRP roughly parallel I-81 through much of VA) down the SD or BRP is always worth considering, but check ahead first to confirm rental trucks are allowed on either or both. There are strictly-enforced rules prohibiting commercial traffic of any sort on the BRP, strictly enforced to the degree that my old college roomate, a tradesman in Blowing Rock, NC, can't drive his unmarked pickup truck w/ ladder racks along the BRP.

Donna also alluded to the onset of winter down this way, and the meaning of that is the BRP receives little to no snow removal efforts, so snow/ice routinely keeps portions of it closed for days to weeks once it starts flying.

Foy

[lschubert]

Thank you for the road alternatives. And very good to know about the mileage and hours in a day a truck would take. As well as the toll roads on the atlas, haven't had to use one of those in a long time! Very helpful!