California to Florida in February

[sbidan]

I'm about to cross the US in my SUV packed with luggage and my dog.
This is a first. I'm planning to make it quick. (4 days)
How would you do it ?

[DonnaR57]

Welcome to RTA!

We've gone from California to Florida, a couple of years ago, and can tell you that it's at least a 4-5 day trip, depending where in California you are starting from and where in Florida you are going to. I used LA to Orlando as a "for instance", which is 2500 miles. Doing 625 miles per day, that isn't unheard of, but it's hard to go at that amount, especially with a dog who has needs of his own. We usually recommend 600 miles maximum per day here, which is roughly 10 hours on the road (the maximum allowed by commercial drivers). Keeping up that pace for 4 days running is very difficult.

That said -- if this were me, I'd get to I-10 as soon as possible, and take that across the country. It would also not be unheard of to see some lousy weather along that route, and they aren't as well prepared to deal with it along that highway. This is the most direct route from LA to Orlando, but as I said, your actual departure point and arrival point in these 2 larger states would be more of a determining factor. If you're in northern California, everything would change.


Donna

[Southwest Dave]

Hello and welcome to the RTA forums !

You don't say exactly where you are starting from or finishing your trip, both are big States. If you were going from LA to Tallahassee then you could make it in 4 days, just. Much further and you are going to need some extra time depending how much further. It's a marathon and not a sprint so look at dividing your travel days up evenly and stop at between 500 and 600 miles per day and make sure you get plenty of breaks for both you and the dog along the way.