How fast can I get from east to west coast?

[JRogers71]

Wondering how fast I can reasonably expect to do NJ to San Diego, CA with rest and sleeping breaks.
I know what I think I can do, am used to long periods of driving. I think I could do that distance in 3 days. I would appreciate any input from some one who's done it. Thanks
JR

[AZBuck]

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

You're looking at nearly 3,000 miles of driving depending on where in New Jersey you start from. To make the drive in three days would require driving a thousand miles a day. As I've noted before, I've driven one thousand mile day. It took over 24 hours and I was bone tired at the end of it, sleeping for nearly 12 hours. To think that you can pull off three thousand mile days in succession is the worst sort of self delusion. Sorry to be so blunt, but for your own safety I want to make sure you know how foolhardy such an endeavor would be. If you want to make this trip with some semblance of safety, you should be planning on taking 5 days. You might make it in 4 very hard days driving as you propose, but with NO side trips to the Grand Canyon or anywhere else. Just driving 16 hours a day (including time for gassing up the car, eating and going to the bathroom) and then trying to get a decent enough night's sleep to be able to do it all over again the next day, and the next...

AZBuck

[glc]

If you NEED to get from NJ to SD in 3 days, buy plane tickets. It takes me 3 days to get to SD from Joplin, MO - and it takes me 2 days to get from Joplin to Philly. The only way you are going to make it in 3 days by auto is on a "speed run" with 2 more drivers.

My mapping program says it's 41 hours from Philly to SD - that's 41 hours driving at the speed limit with no stops whatsoever (fuel, food, stretch, sleep) and no traffic, weather, or construction delays.

[JRogers71]

I appreciate the replies. Planning this for april, a lot to think about. Could use any help and info you have to offer.
JR

[Foy]

I appreciate the replies. Planning this for april, a lot to think about. Could use any help and info you have to offer.
JR

Hello JRogers,

You've gotten some sage advice above.

At a point nearly 30 years ago, I also put in a 1,000 mile day, solo. I had every seemingly rational motivation to get moving and stay moving: I was getting out of Michigan's UP in advance of a November blizzard, had been away from home for 6 weeks, wanting to get home to Virginia before Thanksgiving, and I was young and foolish. I was very much in a daze by the time I arrived and didn't really feel like getting back in the pickup truck for days thereafter.

More recently, I shared the driving on a 1,000 mile day with my 20 year-old son. It was pretty dodgy by the end of that day, and we had the remainder of an XC speed run still ahead of us at Tucumcari, NM. But, we then took two much more leisurely days to get to Ventura, CA.

I simply can't imagine how good, or bad, my driving skills would be in a second and third 1,000 mile day. The second half of your third day would include negotiating some Gawd-awful Sou Cal traffic, too. I'd hate to find out, and I'd hate to think I was on the road with someone who himself was at the long end of such a journey.

I'd find some other way to do this.

Foy

[glc]

There is another issue - driving long long days will have you tired right when you need extra alertness - in the dark!

In my younger days I actually preferred driving at night - no more. When I'm traveling cross country just to "get there" I hit the road about 7am and drive till dark, and get a hotel. If you need to push the envelope you may want to consider adjusting your schedule to hit the road at "zero dark thirty" and calling it a day when it gets dark. It's also easier to find a hotel room at 7pm than it is at 1am.