Vancouver, Canada to Jacksonville, Florida

Hello everyone,

I am here to seek some help of members on a trip. We are two guys planning to travel from Vancouver, Canada to Jacksonville, Florida by car. We have good all-wheel-drive BMW car in a very good shape. The main purpose of this trip is to help my friend move car from Vancouver to Jacksonville but I would like to use this time to see a little bit on the way. We will be staying in Motels on the way. What would be the best route to take and any suggestions? Will appreciate the feedback from someone who has already done this trip.

We have 7 days to complete this trip.

Thanks.

Hello and welcome to the RTA forums !

There is no single 'best route' and the one that suits you best really depends on how much time you have and what your interests are, of which you have told us nothing about. You will need a minimum of 5 overnight stops using a direct route option, but if you had 10 days or 2 weeks it would really open up multiple options that you could base a route around things you would like to see. So I would recommend you look at a good map and use RTA to do some research and once you have got a basic idea of how much time you have and a couple of things you would like to include, we can offer some meaningful advice. It would also help to know when you plan to travel as winter can make a difference with shorter daylight hours and the possibility of weather disruption.

If you've read through a few of the trip planning discussions on this site, I hope you will have noted a recurring theme, a philosophy if you will, to the advice given: There is no single "best route to take". There is only the route that best suits you and your friend and your interests. So let's start with just a few parameters, observations and questions.

First, at 5,000 km (3,100 mi.) by the most direct route, this RoadTrip is going to require a minimum of six days of driving, and that's with no stops other than basic food, fuel and bathroom breaks. So if you want to get off the Interstates, see a few national parks or other attractions, or do anything besides slavishly follow a computer-based mapping program, you're going to have to add several more days than that to the time you budget for getting to Jacksonville. Having two drivers will NOT alter that time line. You cannot get any significant rest sitting in a moving car. Indeed it is often the case that having multiple drivers slows you down as you will be forced to make more stops and each stop will take longer.

Second, there are a potentially unlimited number of different routes that you could take, but let's start with the most direct: BC-99/I-5 to Seattle, I-90 to Sioux Falls SD, I-29 to Kansas City, I-70 to St. Louis, I-64 to Mt. Vernon IL, I-57 to Purleys Mill IL, I-24 to Chattanooga TN, I-75 to Lake City FL and I-10 to Jacksonville. That's the most efficient, but not the only possible, route. To give you an idea of what's available to you, you should get yourself a map of the US and draw a big oval with its ends in Vancouver and Jacksonville. The 'northeastern' side of the oval would then run basically along the TransCanada to Winnipeg and then swooping down through Minnesota, Wisconsin and Indiana before ending in Jacksonville. The 'southwestern' side of the oval would curve down through Oregon to the Great Salt Lake, then trough central Colorado and Oklahoma to the Gulf of Mexico near New Orleans and from there to Jacksonville. Anywhere within that oval is fair game for your RoadTrip. But you can't include everything, not Minneapolis AND Denver for example.

Once you've had a look at what's possible, it will be up to you and your friend to determine what YOU want to see, how much time you want to spend at any en route attractions you decide on, and whether you'll have the time, energy and money to include everything you want. If you're still having a tough time making decisions, we can help you out with specific suggestions, but in order to do that we'll need at least a general idea of what sort of sites you'd like to see (scenic, historic, quirky, etc.), what kinds of roads you prefer (Interstates, good 'surface roads', off-the-beaten-track, etc.) and how much time you can devote to the drive.

AZBuck

Thank you for your reply.

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Originally Posted by AZBuck

If you've read through a few of the trip planning discussions on this site, I hope you will have noted a recurring theme, a philosophy if you will, to the advice given: There is no single "best route to take". There is only the route that best suits you and your friend and your interests. So let's start with just a few parameters, observations and questions.

First, at 5,000 km (3,100 mi.) by the most direct route, this RoadTrip is going to require a minimum of six days of driving, and that's with no stops other than basic food, fuel and bathroom breaks. So if you want to get off the Interstates, see a few national parks or other attractions, or do anything besides slavishly follow a computer-based mapping program, you're going to have to add several more days than that to the time you budget for getting to Jacksonville. Having two drivers will NOT alter that time line. You cannot get any significant rest sitting in a moving car. Indeed it is often the case that having multiple drivers slows you down as you will be forced to make more stops and each stop will take longer.

Second, there are a potentially unlimited number of different routes that you could take, but let's start with the most direct: BC-99/I-5 to Seattle, I-90 to Sioux Falls SD, I-29 to Kansas City, I-70 to St. Louis, I-64 to Mt. Vernon IL, I-57 to Purleys Mill IL, I-24 to Chattanooga TN, I-75 to Lake City FL and I-10 to Jacksonville. That's the most efficient, but not the only possible, route. To give you an idea of what's available to you, you should get yourself a map of the US and draw a big oval with its ends in Vancouver and Jacksonville. The 'northeastern' side of the oval would then run basically along the TransCanada to Winnipeg and then swooping down through Minnesota, Wisconsin and Indiana before ending in Jacksonville. The 'southwestern' side of the oval would curve down through Oregon to the Great Salt Lake, then trough central Colorado and Oklahoma to the Gulf of Mexico near New Orleans and from there to Jacksonville. Anywhere within that oval is fair game for your RoadTrip. But you can't include everything, not Minneapolis AND Denver for example.

Once you've had a look at what's possible, it will be up to you and your friend to determine what YOU want to see, how much time you want to spend at any en route attractions you decide on, and whether you'll have the time, energy and money to include everything you want. If you're still having a tough time making decisions, we can help you out with specific suggestions, but in order to do that we'll need at least a general idea of what sort of sites you'd like to see (scenic, historic, quirky, etc.), what kinds of roads you prefer (Interstates, good 'surface roads', off-the-beaten-track, etc.) and how much time you can devote to the drive.

AZBuck

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Thank you very much for your detailed response. I will return after having a look.

Some more information in helping us answer questions we've been butting our heads about:

Departure From Vancouver : Oct 17 (expected arrival Day of Oct 25th)

Priority #1 Road Safety- as in road conditions and weather. The car has new all season tires and good brakes, but we want to avoid bad weather particularly snow - thats high priority.
While the route through Washington state, Idaho, Montana and South Dakota is shortest in terms of distance it may not be ideal for the reasons above.

In addition, is driving by Salt Lake City and Denver advisable considering the time of the year. I think we won't be able to avoid either or , if we choose the southern most route eastwards through Albuquerque - Oklahoma city - Memphis - Atlanta - Jacksonville.

In terms of weather it's just too early to get an accurate forecast and it's a common myth that heading south will automatically avoid bad weather, there are no guarantees. It could be that the Northern most route is the clearest while the south experiences an early winter storm and if all things are equal the northern states are much better equipped to deal with it. Having said that, I have travelled a lot during October and have been lucky to experience some wonderful weather without disruption each time. What I would do is pick my preferred route but leave my options open and check the weather a couple of days before departure and carry on doing so throughout the trip. You won't have any trouble finding lodgings at this time of year but you could research lodging options that suit your needs and make a note of telephone number so you can call ahead, check out the 'Lodging' link in the green tool bar at the top of the page. The most important thing to remember is a long drive like this is a marathon and not a sprint and it's important not to push too hard at the start of your journey, when you are fresh and excited, fatigue will creep up on you and then slap you right in the face. 500 miles/800km's is a full, but fairly comfortable day on the road and I would advise you not to exceed this, not by much anyway and if you should come across some nasty weather, it's often best just to pull off the road and let the storm pass rather than adding hundreds of miles trying to drive around it. With 8 days you have enough 'wiggle' room to do just that and if the weather co-operates you have a bit of time to sightsee if you so wish. You seem to be well prepared in your mind so don't over think it and make it a bigger problem than it is, just use common sense and enjoy the ride !