Fastest route to San Diego from Spokane

[Efarmer]

The last week of July will find me attempting to deliver a 14' u-haul load of "stuff" to San Diego in the fewest hours possible with 2 drivers. I see several options depending upon which mapping service you consult. Google sends you essentially I-90/I-15 via Butte, MT, Salt Lake City, and Las Vegas. Seems to be the long route but follows major Interstates. The other options appear to be the US-395 or 95 to I-15 routes. More direct on paper, but obviously 2 lane in many stretches and slow through towns and behind agricultural trucks/equipment. I am a very patient long distance driver with very quick bio/fuel stops and will carry a cooler. We plan to attempt this in roughly 24 driving hours (with appropriate rest breaks). Does anyone care to weigh in with any advise?

[Midwest Michael]

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

I'm sorry, you've listed something that is one - a contradiction, and two and impossiblity.

Any way you go, you're looking at more than 1400 miles of driving, and even if you didn't need to stop for rest, that's going to physically require more than 24 hours on the road.

But with appropriate rest breaks as you stated, there is just no way you should consider this trip to be even close to that. Even in an all out speed run with 2 drivers, driving this without at least one full night of sleep would be beyond reckless, and quite frankly, doing this in just 2 full days itself is pushing the limits quite a bit further than we recommend, and beyond what a professional driver would be allowed by law to do. They would require 2 full night stops, and I'd recommend you consider doing the same.

If I were doing this trip, I'd take I-90 to I-15, because the alternate routes really don't save enough miles to make them worthwhile. But please do not consider making this trip straight through, even with short rest breaks. There is no way for 2 people to make such a trip safely and if you did try something so reckless, your driving skills and alertness levels will look very much like those of a drunk driver - and you'd be at that point with hundreds of miles still to go.

[glc]

There are 2 good routes. I-90 to I-15, and I-90 to US-395 to I-82 to I-84 to I-5. My mapping program says the latter is about 30 miles shorter and 15 minutes faster, but take that with a grain of salt. You would have to deal with the heart of Los Angeles where I-15 bypasses most of it. The I-15 route also has higher speed limits, which may or may not be a factor with a U-Haul - CA has a 55 mph towing limit (note that U-Haul trailers are only rated for 55 mph anyway due to tire and axle issues).

If you absolutely must drive straight through - or even try to do this in 2 days, please try to find a 3rd driver and use "speed run" procedures.

[Efarmer]

I take all the cautions on time factors and safety very seriously. We will allow more time and we always stop for extended rest at appropriate intervals. Thanks for the great tips and enjoy your trips as well!