NEWBIE planning on driving from Corona, CA to Durham, NC

Hey all,

I’m brand new to all of this and have never towed a trailer before. My SUV can handle up to 7,500 lbs, and I’m currently looking at 20-24 ft trailers (since all my stuff is presently in a 20 ft storage unit). In the process of going through a divorce so I’m moving cross-country to be closer to my mom—her health isn’t what it used to be, and I want to be there for her.

I’d sincerely appreciate any advice you can offer! I plan to leave the LA area around mid-December, hoping to spend the holidays with her. At approx 2500 miles, I’m assuming a five day journey? Specifically, I’d love advice on:

1. The best routes to take that will give me the least hassle.
2. Specific places along the way (if possible) that can accommodate my car, trailer, my dog, and me for bathroom/shower/sleep stops.
3. A suggested schedule (e.g., ideal driving times, how long to drive each day).
4. Any weather or other important considerations I might not be thinking of (under the “I don’t know what I don’t know” category).

Thanks, Road Trip America community, for any help you can provide!

Hello and welcome to the RTA forums !

With your set up and just wanting to get across country I would suggest sticking to the Interstates, checking the weather forecasts/road conditions before setting out to see if one route would be more favourable over another. (I-40 or I-10/20 for example) It's possible to do the trip in 5 days, but it'll be long days behind the wheel, day after day. Personally I would allow 6, and keep one in reserve in case of any weather related delays. With decent rest/lunch stops and to let the dog stretch out and run around, it would work out to 8 to 9 hour days on the road. You can normally find Motels with drive through type parking close to the Interstate, and where possible stop on the East side of any major city so that you will be heading away from the morning rush and not into it.

When you say you're looking at 20-24 foot trailer, I'm guessing you mean you're looking for an RV trailer?

You should know that RV's really don't make great moving vans. All of the things that make them good for living in both take up a lot of space and more importantly take up a lot of weight. If you try to pack all of your stuff inside the RV, there's a good chance you could really be pushing the weight limits of both your travel trailer and your tow vehicle. Going with something like a 6x12 Uhaul trailer might be a better option for this specific trip.

As far as the travel itself, I'm in agreement with Dave. 5 days will be good, if you have good weather, but especially knowing that you'll be traveling in mid-december and will be towing a trailer, having an extra day or two just in case will be a very good idea. 500 miles a day in good conditions will be a nice pace, factoring the slower speeds of towing, is probably going to be about 10 hours on the road a day.

I totally agree with both Dave and Michael that you should definitely plan on a minimum of 6 days. This is not going to be a walk in the park by any means. First, you're going to be pulling a pretty hefty trailer and that alone is going to be work, far more than driving a sedan or even an SUV, and work will tire you out. You are going to have to take a couple more breaks each day than you are probably counting on to clear your head, stretch you muscles and let your dog get some exercise too. Covering just a bit over 400 miles per day is a pace that you should be able to keep up and lets you get to Durham in 6 days. Plan on 6 days, but understand that travel of this sorts almost never goes exactly to plan.

Speaking of planning, once you've decided on the pace you're going to keep and the route you're going to take, you'll know pretty much where you're going to want to pull up for the night. Along the major trans-continental Interstates such as I-40, finding a decent motel with a parking lot that can accommodate a pull through trailer should not be hard. You'll probably have more than 2 choices over any given 25 mile stretch of road. So, plan ahead.

As to routes, I-15 up to I-40 is the easiest to follow and the most direct. but right now sections of I-40 in Tennessee and North Carolina are CLOSED until January!!! The recommended detour would be to take I-81 north after passing through Knoxville and then take I-26 east to rejoin I-40 into Durham.

Having travelled long distances with a dog, the only advice I have is to stop early and often. For the most part you're going to want to use the rest areas available on the Interstates. These can be pretty far apart in some places, so make use of them when you can.

Finally, as noted earlier, once you've determined a route and a pace, look for motels that meet your needs. Given My preferences (I-40, 400+ miles per day). I'd be looking at overnight stops near Flagstaff AZ, Santa Rosa NM, Shawnee OK (an eastern exurb of Oklahoma City), Lakeland or Arlington TN (east of Memphis) and Kingsport or Johnson City TN. Now with planned stops in hand, find a motel that works and contact them to ask if they can accommodate your rig and your dog. Knowing you've got a place at at the end of the day will help relieve at least a bit of the stress that this move is going to entail.

AZBuck

Normally I would suggest I-15 to I-40 all the way. However, I-40 is closed indefinitely at the TN/NC state line. Being that this is December, I'd go south. Take I-10 to I-20 to I-85 back to I-40. This also avoids most mountain driving.

Suggested bypasses:

Phoenix - use Loop-202 south
DFW - stay on I-20 east
Birmingham - use I-459 north
Atlanta - use I-285 north
Charlotte - use I-485 north

Plan on spending nights at chain hotels at Interstate exits away from the big cities, most should have truck/trailer parking available. Try to be east of large cities so you don't have to fight morning rush hour with everyone heading into the city.

If you have never towed a trailer before, try not to get into a situation where you have to back the rig up. That takes practice.

I don't know where you are going to find a rental trailer larger than 6x12, that's the biggest U-Haul has. If all your stuff won't fit in a 6x12 plus your SUV, consider renting a truck and car trailer from U-Haul. Another option is a truck and have your SUV shipped or driven.

I concur with the above -- travel trailers are not good moving trailers. What your SUV can tow, and what it should tow, may be two different things. Trailers in themselves are weighty (even those touted as "lite" or "feather-lite"). Add in your stuff, and your SUV may blow a tranny in the midst of your move. What you'd spend to buy a travel trailer, you can use for motels.

What I'd suggest is renting a U-Haul-type truck that will hold what you own, and rent one of their car-trailers to put your SUV "4-up". You can put your overnight stuff in the SUV so it's accessible when you stop at night. You can find motels with "truck parking" available all along the Interstates. Hubby and I stayed in 5 different motels on our most recent trip, and only 1 motel did not have "truck parking" -- but it was also not right on the Interstate.

I used to live in CA, and on our east coast adventure one time, it was 6 days of driving comfortably. Moving our kids from CA or CO in the set-up described above (U-Haul towing one of their cars on a trailer 4-up), we did 550 miles the first day and it was hard travel. (It also didn't help there were two time-zone changes that day.). Keep that in mind as you plan. When we moved from CA to MO, we were towing, and kept our mileages under 450 when we could.

You probably don't *need* to, but if planning to stay in motels with truck parking, reservations are helpful. Call the place you are looking at, online, and ask them 1) how many trucks can park in their lot, 2) how is the access to said lot. Sometimes "truck parking" to them means you can park out on a street, other times they have nice pull-throughs. Sometimes "truck parking" means a lot of backing up -- not fun.


Donna

Appreciate the input!

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Nope, you have that wrong. My fault for not being precise. I’m buying an enclosed trailer. NOT rv

Thanks so much for the detail, buck. Are there any websites/tools you might suggest that Can help with locating the places along the route?

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Thanks for the detailed route. Much appreciated. Yes, I’m buying a 20ft or 24ft enclosed trailer.

For what it would cost you to buy a trailer, you could use a moving service or rent a truck and have your car shipped.

A single map that showed ALL the motels along a trans-continental route would be unwieldy to say the least, But once you've decided roughly where you plan to stop you can use the Map Wizard button in the menu bar at the top of this page. If you click on it a map of North America will come up. Use CTRL-scroll to zoom into a particular location, such as one of those I listed in my original response, until icons appear on the map. Motels will be designated by a red circle with a bed icon. Continuing to zoom in will show more establishments and/or give you a bit more info such as the motel's address and rating. With the name of the town and the motel, you would just do a web search and get the price and contact info for the motel.

AZBuck

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Originally Posted by AZBuck

Motels will be designated by a red circle with a bed icon. Continuing to zoom in will show more establishments and/or give you a bit more info such as the motel's address and rating.

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Actually, just to be clear, the maps used in the Map Wizard and the Advanced Maps are custom to RoadTrip America and we don't use any of those generic icons (like the red circle by a bed icon.)

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Edit: Ah, yes, it is true that one can scroll in and see those icons, but RoadTrip America has no influence on what motels are shown. At the point of scrolling in, those motels appear on the map pane because they pay a fee to Google Maps.

Whereas the lodging options identified by the White Flag with the "L" indicates those establishments that we recommend and have visited and written about.

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The attractions that are visible on the Map Wizard and Advanced Maps pages were identified by bonafide roadtrippers who personally visited them and wrote about the places. And there are several "Lodging" options, but they tend to be unique lodging experiences and not ones found as part of chains on the major roads.

As a member, you can use the Advanced Maps options and search for Lodging attractions that we have written about.

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...and I apologize to AZBuck, he was accurate with his comments. I had never noticed, because I don't use the background images that are on the Google Maps.

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Mark

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Originally Posted by glc

For what it would cost you to buy a trailer, you could use a moving service or rent a truck and have your car shipped.

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I was thinking similarly. Renting a truck-car trailer would be cheaper, too. However, at least if you own it, there are no "must return by X/XX/XX date" - generally, 8-9 days on a cross-country move.


Donna

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Originally Posted by glc

Normally I would suggest I-15 to I-40 all the way. However, I-40 is closed indefinitely at the TN/NC state line. Being that this is December, I'd go south. Take I-10 to I-20 to I-85 back to I-40. This also avoids most mountain driving.

Suggested bypasses:

Phoenix - use Loop-202 south
DFW - stay on I-20 east
Birmingham - use I-459 north
Atlanta - use I-285 north
Charlotte - use I-485 north

.

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Using this route (a good one for towing a truck full of stuff), and using the formula of about 500 miles per day, here are some suggested overnights:

Willcox, AZ (520 miles)
Odessa, TX (520 miles)
Marshall, TX (500+-) miles but one must traverse DFW as pointed out)
Birmingham, AL (510 miles if you stay on the EAST side of it)
Then Durham is about 530 miles from there, but you have to traverse ATL.

That's your overnights for driving this in 5 days. If you'd like to take 6 days (as I would do), your mileage per day would be less and of course, different towns/cities. (My husband and I prefer to stay in the suburbs rather than in the cities, especially when towing.)


Donna

Wherever you stay, always speak with the front desk and see if you can park where you can see your tow rig and trailer from your room (first choice) or where it is visible from the front desk (second choice.)

Hotel/motels are often accommodating for this request.

And park so that your tow vehicle is turned in such a way that it can easily pull out of the space without having to back-up if the parking lots fills up overnight.

Mark