San Diego, CA to College Station, TX (2 college girls, 1 dog) July 26th-28th

Hey all! So I'm doing my first real road trip to get my car, self, and belongings to Texas before school starts in about a week and need to plan out some stops! I will be bringing my dog and a friend (who I will be dropping off in Austin, TX), my car, and all my stuff. I've driven 7 hours solo before on a few occasions (3 1/2 hours each way between SD and LA) but I need help estimating what cities I should stop in and what cities and what sights we should see. Definitely need to get to College Station by the end of Friday the 28th. Planning for 3 days 2 night and obviously need dog friendly hotels and safe areas that my car won't get broken into in. Thanks!

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

With no dog, no friend, and no stops, this drive would take a solid two and a half days. Having more 'people' (including the dog) means you'll have to stop more often and each stop will take longer. Toss in the fact that you're going to lose two additional hours to time zone changes, and have to navigate Austin to drop off your friend and you really won't have a lot of spare time. You'll need to stick to I-8/I-10 until US-290 into Austin. There will be lots of good places to take short breaks even though you won't have time for any major tourist attraction type stops. For overnight stops, you should plan on Lordsburg NM and Ozona TX. Those are both fairly small towns but should have a couple of motel choices. Using them would put one time zone change in each day, and leave you a little bit more time on your third and final day to drop your friend in Austin.

AZBuck