1 Week Coast-to-Coast: Sac to Philly

Hi everyone, I've been spending lots of time on this site the past couple weeks. Really great community and info here! I'm planning a one-week drive with my wife at the end of this month to bring a car from Sacramento to Philadelphia, and could use some feedback on our route so far. This is the first major road trip for both of us.

We have 7 or 8 full days to do the trip and will be leaving from Roseville on a Friday or Saturday. So that's not much time to veer off for spontaneous adventures, which we're okay with. As long as we get to pass through the country, make a few fun stops here and there, we're good. We are also taking slight detours through Missouri and North Carolina to visit some friends.

Here's the current plan:
Day 1: Roseville, CA >> Salt Lake City via I-80
Day 2: Salt Lake City >> Denver via I-70
Day 3: Denver >> Somewhere in Kansas via I-70
Day 4: Kansas >> Cape Girardeau, MO (south of St. Louis)
Day 5-6: Cape Girardeau >> Nashville >> Charlotte, NC
Day 7: Charlotte >> Philadelphia.
(which leaves one day for adjusting things around)

Questions:

1. Is Roseville to SLC doable in a day? Advisable? I've done 6hr SF to LA drives several times, but I think this is something like twice as long. Any recommendations on places to stop in between?
2. Most of the travel distances come in at 500-600 miles per day. Is that a good breakdown or will it be too much after a few days?
3. Any recommendations for good towns to stay in along the way around Denver and Kansas? Our ideal would be rooms under $100 with an explorable town to walk through at night. But we're willing to spend more to stay in a nicer town.

Thanks!

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

I think you're in really good shape, and it looks like you've done a very nice job planning. SLC is a bit long on day one, but it should work just fine. Its actually about the same distance as Cape G to Charlotte.

Kansas City would be a possible stop, but you could also look at Topeka, or if a college town is more to your liking, Lawrence would also be a stop to consider.

As you said, you already understand that you won't have a lot of time for stops, but you should still have a chance to stop a couple times a day get get out and do a little exploring.

Roseville to Salt Lake City comes in at 633 miles ... about 11 hours on the road depending on how much you stop, for how long, and what type of vehicle you're driving. It's all interstate, but you are crossing the Sierras.

Michael suggested Kansas City as a possible "Kansas" stop. Recommendation: if you stop there, be sure to stay on the Missouri side. You really don't want to drive into KC during rush hour if you can help it! Take a look online here at the hotel deals (for pricing) and also at hotelcoupons.com. It should be fairly easy to get something outside of KC fairly reasonably, such as in Independence. Oh, there's a nice mall in Independence -- exit 16, if memory serves -- with hotels around it. Also a bunch of hotels in Blue Springs.


Donna

Thanks for the quick replies! I broke down the Roseville > Salt Lake trip into two-hour chunks and it seems pretty reasonable.

We'll see if we can stop somewhere before KC then. Will look into some hotels and such.

For a Kansas stop, K State U is in Manhattan, and the U of K is in Lawrence. It's about 500 miles from Denver to Manhattan, 570 miles from Denver to Lawrence. Note that the speed limit on that stretch is 75 almost all the way.

Manhattan to Cape Girardeau via KC and STL is about 470 miles.

In general, when traveling from west to east, it's best to stay on the east side of major cities, to avoid morning rush hour. Otherwise, stay far enough west so you can hit the city after morning rush. Of course, the converse is true - you may have to get through the city in evening rush!

Taking I-435 and I-470 around the south side of KC in rush hour is not THAT terrible, but definitely stay out of downtown - road construction is making that pretty hopeless these days. If you stay in Lawrence, take K-10 to I-435.

Getting around STL isn't too bad if you take US-40/I-64 at Wentzville to I-270 to I-55.