It is just possible to make it from Sacramento to Charlotte in the time you have available, IF the weather cooperates. Unfortunately, your current plan almost guarantees that you won't make it. Let me put this as bluntly as I can. Trying to drive 2,000 miles without real sleep is suicidal if you're lucky, and homicidal if you're not. Trying to avoid weather by adding miles to a trip that is already at the limit of what is possible is foolish.

Instead of trying to bull your way through on sheer obstinacy, you should plan to bend with the wind, go with the flow, do what needs to be done. And none of that entails trying to do the impossible. First, set out several different routes that you could take. These include the one you have outlined, but also staying on I-40 after Amarillo and just continuing straight through to the Charlotte area, using I-77 for the final leg south. Another, very different route would be I-80 to Lincoln, NE, I-29 to Kansas City, I-70 to St.Louis, and I-64/I-57/I-24 to Nashville and I-40. Look carefully at each route and see where 600 miles a day gets you. For example, on the I-80 route that would be Wendover, UT; Cheyenne, WY; St. Joseph, MO; and Nashville, TN. Those should be your targets on each successive day. And no farther! Yes, you might feel like you can get farther the first day when you are fresh. But make no mistake, this is a hard job you are setting out on and will require that you pace yourselves. Otherwise, you will simply run out of adrenaline somewhere on the plains, hit the wall and crash, possibly quite literally. Note that the above plan gets you to Charlotte in 4½ days, well within your time limit, AND leaves time to just sit out any untoward weather. Similar plans are easily arranged for the other routes you work out.

Only a day or two before you leave, when you have a relatively accurate weather forecast for the time of your drive, decide which route offers the best chance of clear sailing. Take that route and plan to stop at least four times for a good night's sleep. Otherwise, you are only decreasing your chances of making your flight.

AZBuck