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Hey. My girlfriend and I, and our 2 large dogs, are taking the 4runner, a trailer, and hitting the road from Baltimore, MD to Tempe AZ. What is the best route to take this year, to stay out of bad weather, yet still enjoy our ride. We need dog friendly places too for the dogs to stay. We have never done anything like this and any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
AB
Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!
Read through enough threads and you will note the same advice being given time and again. The safest road will depend on the weather on any given day, and you can't know what that will be until a few days at most before you depart. So have a primary route, but also have a backup plan. The shortest route, and that alone is enough to make it usually the best, is I-70 to St. Louis, I-44 to Oklahoma City, I-40 to Flagstaff and I-17 down to Phoenix. But remember that there was an 80 car pile-up on that in Amarillo about a week ago. If the weather looks bad in the Midwest good in the Appalachians, you can head down I-81 to Knoxville and then take I-40 from there and only have to drive about 50 miles farther. For about another 50 miles you can even drop all the way down to I-20/I-10 through Dallas and El Paso. As Wee Willie Keeler said: "Hit 'em where they ain't."
As far as the dogs go, most motels will make accommodations, but many will have a one dog per room restriction. Check the web sites of the various major chains to see what there policies are, but keep in mind that most locations are independently owned franchisees, so you may want to start looking for a room a little early in case you get turned away at one or more places. Also look for exits with several motels for the same reason as well as the local competition. Here are some other tips for travelling with pets.
AZBuck