Relocating Mass to Albuquerque NM this June....Best route??

Hi everyone! I came across this website and thought it was awesome!! I will be relocating in June to Albuquerque NM form southeastern MA. I would like to avoid NYC ( and going through other nightmarish cities) if possible as, quite frankly, it freaks me out to think of driving through it and my son is following us in UHAUL truck. I would like an 'easy' route. We will have 5-7 days to get there. I will have my 12 year old daughter with me as well, so would like info on some interesting/nice things to see on the way. Any info on a route would be MOST appreciated. I look forward to LOTS more roadtrips in the future...but we will start with this one. Thank you all!

Welcome to RTA!

The most efficient route avoiding NYC is the following:

Depending on exactly where in SE MA you are, you want to get to I-84 in Hartford or Waterbury. Take that to Scranton, PA, then take I-81 to I-80. Take that west into OH, then take I-76 to I-71 to Columbus. Take the I-270 NW bypass to I-70. Stay on that to Indy, take the I-465 bypass around the south side, get back on I-70 to east of STL, then take I-255 around the south side to I-44. In OK, you will have a toll between the MO state line and Tulsa, take I-44 through Tulsa. There will be another toll between Tulsa and OKC. At OKC, take I-35 south to I-40, take that to ABQ. There are bypasses around Tulsa and OKC, (Creek Tpk and Kilpatrick Tpk) but they are toll and may require exact change. The mainline tolls on I-44 are always manned.

If you do nothing but drive 10 to 12 hours a day including normal rest, food, and bathroom stops this is a 4 full day trip, overnights in Akron, STL, and OKC.

If you have an EZ-Pass, this will NOT work on the OK toll roads, they have their own system, you will have to pay cash. Each mainline toll on I-44 is $4.00 for cars, more for the U-Haul truck.

To avoid the worst of traffic in the cities, try to get through or past them before stopping for the night, that way you won't have to fight morning rush hour getting into the city. There will be plenty of hotels in the suburbs at the Interstate exits. If you are between cities and need to stop for the night, there will be plenty of hotels at exits for the smaller towns and those are generally cheaper than in and around big cities. The hotels at the exits generally have yards to park oversize vehicles such as the U-Haul truck.

Welcome aboard RTA!

It's hard to get an exact amount, since "Southeastern MA" can be a lot of places, but you're looking at a 2200-2300 mile drive. (I used Fall River, MA, as a guide, and it said 2215 mi.) If you are planning to caravan with two vehicles, that will mean 6 days of just driving -- so you don't have a whole lot of time to poke around and sightsee, sadly. The U-Haul truck will need to stick with 55-60 almost the whole way. 400-500 miles in a day ought to be your limit because of the truck. (My husband drove a U-Haul truck from MO to CA about 2 years ago, by himself. He said 500 miles was his max, and he would do 600 in a car without blinking.)

If you used this route, your stops would be Dubois, PA; the western side of Indianapolis, IN; Springfield, MO; Sayre, OK, and then Albuquerque. All of these are drives between 400-500 miles.

If this were me, I think I'd take I-90 to I-84, then I-81 down to I-80 which I'd take straight across PA into OK. There I'd catch I-76 to I-71 and down to I-70. I'd be on I-70 to the other side of St Louis, where I'd catch I-44 down to Oklahoma City and I-40. You can use the belt-loops around any city.

Your 12-year old might enjoy the St Louis Arch, though parking can be tight there especially for two vehicles. Near Springfield, MO is Marshfield, which has Rocky Ridge Farm/, where the Laura Ingalls Wilder books were written. A short diversion is Cadillac Ranch outside of Amarillo -- lots of fun. If any of you enjoy aviation history, you're going right through Dayton OH, home of the Wright Bros. There are all kinds of Wright Bros sights there, and the free Museum of the USAF with lots of history and aircraft in it. It's huge!

My husband and I have had to travel in tandem several times over the years. Communication is a lot easier these days, with cell phones and Bluetooth, but we still like the older Family Radios for just idle chit-chat between vehicles. ****

Albuquerque itself has a lot to do and see, once you're there, and is central enough to be able to do lots of road trips from! We spent a couple of days there and still didn't see everything I'd like to see eventually, but it's a good excuse to go and visit a friend of ours there.



Donna

*** For an explanation about what FRS is and how to use it, NoFanofCB provides a primer in this thread..

Thank you all!! Is it worth it to completely avoid NYC?? I will not be using a uhaul for my stuff now. Looking for a cost effective way to 'ship' my stuff now. Pod, maybe??

Trying to get through New York City, unless you're vary familiar with it, have nerves of steel, and don't mind running the risk of getting tied up in traffic, is not a way I would ever recommend to someone. I used to have to drive through it frequently and the only thing that made it bearable was that I normally worked the graveyard shift and so could time my transit of the city for 3:00 AM. If I had to go through the area in the daytime, I would swing well around the city, using the Bear Mountain Bridge as my way across the Hudson. Even without the U-Haul, I would still second glc's suggestions for routing. The beltways around Columbus, Indianapolis and St. Louis are not too bad and the direct routes through Tulsa and OKC are also bearable and save on the tolls.

Not having the truck in convoy also means that you're less limited in the paces you can get to easily and can make a little better time, so that you and your daughter can make a few stops each day to break up the drive and experience a bit of the country you'll be driving through.

AZBuck

Just to endorse the route above. I have driven it several times, at the suggestion of glc, sometimes with minor detours. I can highly recommend it. Each time I was either headed to, or leaving from Boston. It is a pleasant drive for most of the way with very few 'hassles'.

Have a safe trip.

Lifey

Thanks so much!

Thanks so much for your help! I really appreciate it very much!
God bless!
Kris

We've used a POD for storage in our driveway, but never had it picked up to move it anywhere else. If you call them, be sure to ask what the structure of the POD used for shipping is like. The one in our driveway had two things that I'd be concerned about: a plastic room that let a lot of light in it (we had to cover all of our clothes to keep them from fading), and the clothing rods were not very sturdy. Pack your clothes in boxes meant for hanging clothes and tape them shut.

Get quotes from various places that ship your goods. FWIW, when we sent my daughter to college, we shipped everything to her in boxes for $300. It was cheaper than driving her there or a U-Haul (1800 miles away).


Donna