Florida to California next week

[grissom]

Hi all,

am planning to travel next week to San Jose and require guidance on how to go about it.
I had few things in mind but feel free to share if am missing on some more relevant information here required for this trip

1.the best route now since its rainy season
2. I need to join my work on 29th Monday and the latest I can travel is by Thursday early morning hours
3.am travelling with my wife so just the two of us with driving licenses to support each other
4. how much weight can I carry on this trip in my 2.4 litre sedan

[Midwest Michael]

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

You didn't say where exactly you are starting from (Florida is a big state), but I suspect you have a very big problem.

Pretty much everywhere in Florida is at least a 5 day drive from San Jose, so if you can't leave until Thursday, you can't plan to be there until at Monday Night at the earliest. Driving more than 550-600 miles in a day, even with multiple drivers, on a multi-day trip quickly becomes dangerous because of fatigue.

There are a lot of factors that impact how much a car can carry, beyond just engine size. As long as you can fit it inside the car, most cars will do just fine, but the details of what you plan to carry and the specific kind of car you have really will make all the difference.

[grissom]

thanks Michael!

Am travelling from Palm Beach to San jose. the only reason for this short time is my wife doesn't get her leave until Thursday from her work here.

am looking for the fastest route possible through road. And I plan to drive close to 1500+ the first day. as am starting early morning at around 3am. I know this sounds crazy but yeah that's the soup am in.

I plan to carry two three cases of least 50 pounds each so total weight combined not over 200 pounds. I have a camry 2014 sedan.

[Midwest Michael]

What you are planning is not crazy, it's homicidal. What you are planning to do is every bit as dangerous as driving drunk. Not only will you be a real danger to yourself and everyone else on the road, but if you somehow manage to avoid killing someone the first day, you will be so exhausted from driving for nearly 30 straight hours that there is no way you'd be able to safely drive the rest of your trip.

Miss a day of work, so you - or someone else on the road - doesn't miss the rest of their life. Seriously, your idea really is that dangerous.

[grissom]

got it !

so if I start Thursday early morning say 3am
can this be done in 4 days meaning reaching San jose sunday evening - night ?
without having to kill someone or myself.

[Midwest Michael]

No!

There is no safe way to drive more than 3000 miles in 4 days, with 2 drivers. 5 hard days is the bare minimum amount of time you need to make this a safe trip, and frankly, even that is pushing it. 6 days would really be recommended.

If you need to be in San Jose by Monday, you need to leave early Wednesday Morning, or purchase a plane ticket.

[grissom]

ok!

which route would you suggest the I 10 or the I 40 ?

[glc]

Turnpike to I-75 to I-10 to Mobile, US-98 to Hattiesburg, US-49 to Jackson, I-20 to DFW, US-287 to Amarillo, I-40 to Barstow, CA-58 to Bakersfield, CA-99 to CA-46 to I-5 to CA-152 to US-101. Leave WEDNESDAY morning after breakfast and give your wife a plane ticket (or have her start her leave a day early), or don't go to work till Tuesday. That would be better so you go through DFW on Satuirday morning instead of Friday morning. Don't even think about hitting the road at 3am, that will totally screw up your body clock.

200 pounds of cargo is no big deal in a Camry - 2 adult passengers in the back seat weigh more than that.

Overnights:

Pensacola FL
Tyler TX
Santa Rosa NM
Kingman AZ

[DonnaR57]

I'm going to chime in and agree with GLC and Michael: this is NOT a 4-day drive, in any stretch of the imagination. We drove San Diego to Orlando a few summers ago. It was 5 very long days in the car, very long 550 or 600 mile days. You are going even further than that, into the south Bay Area.

The things you have going for you are the gaining of 3 hours along the way as you drive into Central time, then Mountain and finally Pacific. However, your body will ignore that hour each time, as it still gets tired.

And, don't believe any electronic mapping program's "Driving Time". It's just that, Driving time, and does not account for fuel and food stops, rest areas, changing drivers, construction zones (and you WILL find those), convoys that you have a difficult time getting around, city rush hours and more. All of those are added to the "driving time", which is assuming that you will drive exactly the speed limit all the time, never slowing down for anything.


Donna