New at this Portland to phoenix

[Lisab9555]

Hi I'm new here and have never driven a long distance before. Hoping to get some advice. Me and my 9 year old are moving from Portland to phoenix. I think I can drive 6 hours a day. And need to find hotels that take our two 5 lb dogs. I would like to stay on interstates and avoid bad weather. Mountains and windy roads. Any advice. I'm really afraid but have to do this

[Charlie H]

When are you going to make the trip?

You'll have no problem staying on Interstates - I-5 and I-10 all the way.

You'll find a lot of online listings for pet-friendly hotels, including the following links. I have no idea which one of these sites is best, but you'll probably find some possibilities by checking them for the area(s) you plan to stay:

http://www.pethotelsofamerica.com/ho...ts.html‎

http://www.petswelcome.com
http://hotels.petswelcome.com/chains
http://www.doginmysuitcase.com/

http://www.tripswithpets.com/‎

http://hotelguides.com/pet-friendly-hotels.html‎

Some hotel chains provide online information about their own pet-friendly hotels; here are a couple:
http://www.choicehotels.com/en/pet-friendly-hotels‎

http://www.bestwestern.com/travel-pl...ets.asp‎

Of course, you can find plenty of other pet-friendly lodgings with Google.

You can also use the lodging searcher here on the Forum and it has a pet friendly option which can be selected.

[AZBuck]

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

Spending only six hours a day on the road would mean that you'd need four days to get from Portland OR to Phoenix AZ, or seven days from Portland ME. I'm assuming that you'll be starting in Oregon, not Maine. The straightforward route would be to simply take I-5 south to the Los Angeles Basin and use I-210 to connect with I-10 east to Phoenix. You will need to cross a couple of mountain passes on I-5 into northern California, but Interstates are required to have easy grades and gentle curves so that, other than the scenery, you might not even notice that you're in the mountains.

If you'd rather avoid L.A.'s traffic and are willing to use some good-quality non-Interstate roads through flat-lying terrain, then you'll want to look at leaving I-5 at Sacramento and getting on CA-99 (Interstate quality) to Bakersfield. There use CA-58 east to Barstow and I-40 past Kingman AZ, and finally US-93 into Phoenix. That would nominally add about an hour to your drive, but you could easily end up spending far more than an hour stuck in L.A. traffic.

Overnight stops, assuming six hours of driving with reasonable stops for fuel and bathroom breaks, would be around Redding CA, Wasco CA, and Bythe CA using the I-5/I-10 route and Redding, Bakersfield CA and Kingman AZ using the CA-99/CA-58/I-40/US-93 route. While some national motel chains such as Motel 6, Choice Hotels International (Quality Inns, Roadway Inns and others) and Super 8 have corporate policies that are pet friendly, it is always imperative to check with the actual facility where you plan stay since many are independently owned and operated and may have policies that differ from the parent company's.

AZBuck

[glc]

Other options to get from I-5 to CA-99 are CA-4 at Stockton or CA-120 at Manteca or CA-46 at Lost Hills.

Another option to get to Phoenix from CA-58 is US-395 to I-15 to I-215 to CA-210 to I-10.

Another pet-friendly hotel chain is La Quinta.

No need to be afraid if you know how to drive on Oregon freeways and main highways. Roads are pretty much the same everywhere!

[Lisab9555]

This has been so helpful. Thank you so much!!!!!

[Lisab9555]

Do you know if there are any areas that my gps won't work on this drive?

[Lisab9555]

It's Portland Oregon thanks

[Southwest Dave]

Your gps should be just fine, but you should always carry paper maps and know how to read them to stay safe. People have got into serious trouble before by taking a detour and blindly following their gps instructions as you can see here.

[AZBuck]

GPS is the Global Positioning System. It is meant, and designed, to work everywhere. If you have a true GPS receiver all you need is a clear view of the sky. That just means you need to be outdoors, clouds are not a problem. Roofs are a problem. Occasionally a thick, lush woodland canopy will also prevent your receiving sufficient signal. Cars generally do not present a problem as long as you have sufficient glass area. True GPS does not depend on local cell towers as phones and 3/4G reception does. Your receiver gets its position and time information from a constellation of 24 satellites in orbit around the Earth. You only need to be able to 'see' four satellites for the GPS to work.

However, if you have a simulated GPS app (and I doubt that's the case) it will only tell you where the nearest cell tower is and show you as being 'there'. In that case you will have problems finding your location away from cities and Interstates. But if you have a GPS unit that shows you to be exactly where you know you are, or that is giving you turn-by-turn instructions, then you will never be out of contact with your information system which is in orbit.

AZBuck

[Lifemagician]

... then you will never be out of contact with your information system which is in orbit.

But be sure it is not your only information, for all the reason's Dave indicated. (I wouldn't be without my GPS, but my paper maps tell me where I am.)

Dave's link did not work for me, so just in case it did not for you, this is what he wanted you to see.

Lifey