So, ive been on this forum for a few weeks doing a lot of research and reading everyones threads. Theyve been very helpful. I figured id share my story, or my plan, and gather any remaining advice or helpful hints from you guys before we set off.
Okay, so this is a one way drive. We're going Boston to Los Angeles, time isnt a huge issue. Ive planned it out so we'll make it in 4 days, 3 nights give or take. Its me (23 year old) and my 18 year old sister and its both our first journey. We're not necessarily looking for the fastest route, but more the safest route. We arent going rt 90 or 80 the whole way because we're leaving Jan 30th and we dont want to get stuck in any bad snow storms and such.
The plan is to take 90 out of Boston, towards New York on 84 (i wanted to avoid NY traffic/tolls but i suppose we'll have to suck this part of the trip up), then through PA on rte 76 to rte 70 which will take us to St. Louis, then take rte 44 through Oklahoma City to 40, through Vegas to Los Angeles.
Ive done a handful of mixmatched interstate systems and this seems to be the best for us. We'll be heading through the Appalachian mtns, which will be a first for me. Im hoping the weather wont be too bad.
Money isnt too limited. We want to get one or two 2 star hotels (50 est) one outside St Louis, and one outside Oklahoma City. We wanted to sleep in the car for a night but im hesitant because, as ive been reading a lot about truck stops (somebody on this forum suggested this http://www.truckstops.com/default.asp ), i havent read anything solid, it all says you gotta make sure the truckstops are okay with a car being there over night. I havent found any solid evidence of people actually doing this, and where exactly. If we did, it would be on rte 40 in NM or AZ. I was thinking Gallup, NM, or outside Flagstaff, AZ
We'll be splitting gas, and buying groceries before we leave. We dont want to sight-see too much, maybe every once in while on a long drive. We basically just want to drive the whole way. Which i dont mind, i have a little bit of long distance driving experience.
Our first day the drive to St Louis is 15 hours, which we'll do overnight (or early the next day) and switch off. I know sleeping in the car (while in motion) really sucks, but im pretty active on less sleep than normal. Our second day will be another 15ish hour drive, which we could break up by getting lunch somewhere on the way and/or taking long pull-over breaks. Our third day will be another long drive to Gallup, NM, then the next day we'll split up the last drive by seeing the Grand Canyon and Vegas. We're actually staying with my Aunt in Vegas that night, so we wont have to cover a hotel cost for that.
So thats that. Any helpful advice, opinions, or small things we could check otu along the way would be wonderful. Thanks guys!