Vegas to Orlando in January

[sya1959]

We are a family from Brazil and this will be our first road trip in the United States. We will arrive in Vegas by january 8, stay 3 days and then head to Grand Canyon, Phoenix, Albuquerque, Oklahoma City, Dallas, New Orleans, Tallahassee and Orlando (stay 1 day in each city)
We plan to drive 400 miles per day and we don't want to drive by night. Our great concern is about the road conditions in winter.
Anything we should skip or add?
Any ideas, hints, tips would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you in advance!

[DonnaR57]

Welcome to RTA!

It is difficult to predict the weather in the best of times, but this year's weather has been really unusual in many areas of the country. Road conditions in winter can be varied, but the best thing you can do is to "be prepared". Have an extra day or two in your schedule where you can hold up somewhere to wait out bad weather. If it looks really bad in one area, and better in another, be flexible enough to change your schedule. In most areas, the first roads to be closed are the local ones, and the county roads. Last road to be closed in bad weather are the interstates, because our commercial trucking industry relies on those roads.

As for what to skip or add, you do seem to be focused on cities, other than Grand Canyon. Do you have a paper map of the US, or a road atlas? If not, there's enough time to order one - look below at the RTA Store - it should be there in a couple of weeks. A paper map can show you so much more than a screen can. If you could also help us out here a little and tell us what you and your family like in a vacation, we might be able to offer some suggestions. It would also help us if you can say how long your trip will be, total.

You have a good start, thinking to stay in your port city of Las Vegas for more than a day. You will have hours of flight time to recover from. Las Vegas has a lot to do, from The Strip with all its shows, restaurants and casinos, to museums and a beautiful state park, Valley of Fire, is about 50 miles from there.


Donna

[sya1959]

Thank you for your answer, Donna. Yes, I think that staying 3 days in Las Vegas should be necessary because we will travel too many hours from Brazil to LV, and there are too many things to see there as well! As I said, it's our first road trip and, to us, the most important is to get to know other cities in USA than the ones we are used to. We intend to see the most important attractions in each one of the cities we are planning to visit. I know that 1 day in each one is not too much, but we have only 10 - 12 days to make this trip. If you have any other sugestion for us we would be very grateful!

[Lifemagician]

From New Orleans to Tallahassee, you might like to consider driving on US-90, along the gulf coast. From Tallahassee to Orland look at US27/Alt27 to Ocala. This route is much more scenic than I-10 and I-75, and will take you through some of the smaller cities, which all have their own character, and have a lot to offer.

UIS27/Alt27 is a divided road of almost interstate standard.

I too highly recommend that you get hold of a road atlas as soon as you can, to get a good idea of the country through which you will be driving, the many roads/routes at your disposal and the attractions along the way.

Lifey

[sya1959]

I will certainly keep your suggestions in mind and I appreciate your consideration in taking the time to write. We will arrange the purchase of road map! Thank you!