from Houston, TX to LA

[imported_amanda]

Hi all,

I am planning to drive up to LA during Christmas time. It will be me, my husband and our 2 yrs old daughter. We never drive outside texas before (we usually fly) and i heard that it takes about 12 - 15 hrs just to get out of texas. do you have any suggestion to make our trip easier. right now, i plan to leave houston early and stop at el paso. leave from el paso the following morning and hoping to arrive in la later that day. is that possible? is there any other place i should consider as a stopping point other than el paso? what else out there between texas and california that worth seeing?

thanks in advance,

amanda

[Mark Sedenquist]

Amanda.

If the roads are dry, clear and un-congested and you wanted to make the fastest time you could drive the required 1500 miles in about 25 hours -- stopping only for fuel. But the route is far more interesting than that you and you might as well have some fun.

If it was me, I would take 2-3 weeks and really explore the country in between. But I doubt you have that much time.

It is less than 3-1/2 hours to San Antonio -- home to the Alamo which has special tours around Christmas each year.

If you have time, head south at Ft. Stockton, TX and visit the Big Bend National Park -- one of the wildest in the nation.

El Paso has some really great restaurants and makes a nice place to pause for overnight.

The mountains surrounding Las Cruces are some of the most beautiful in the world.

A trip to Tombstone is really fun (http://www.roadtripamerica.com/places/tombstone.htm)

Saguaro National Park is also along the way and there are plenty of fun places to explore in Southern California. The very best strombolis in the world can be on your route to Los Angeles: http://www.roadtripamerica.com/eats/temec.htm

Have an adventure -- there are hundreds of things to see and explore along that route of travel.

Mark

It takes about 25 hours directly as said above. We made it in a RV stopping for food and gas in 30 hours. We also drove most of the desert- El Paso to Phoenix during the night. Personall the Alamo is a great place to stop and see, and the river walk. It takes 12 hours to get from Hosuton to El Paso. I did not find anything to intersting about the drive from phoenix to LA, except that you will have to go through customs at the California Border. Good luck on your journey and make sure you have a camera to get some good pictures of land forms off the highway.

[Don Woodmancy]

As much as we Californians sometimes think ourselves a unique country, that is not really a customs checkpoint you go through as you come into California from Arizona, Nevada, etc. They are agricultural checkpoints designed to keep insects damaging to the fruit and vegatable industry out of the state. The checkpoints along major highways coming north from the Mexican border are immigration checkpoints designed to curb illegal immigration. The only custom checkpoints are right at the Mexican border.