summer basketball game

[carbone22]

Hey guys im planning on travelling to los angeles california from niagara falls canada to go watch a summer league basketball with some of the top nba players playing in it admission is free. I already checked the website. I will be driving a 2006 honda element that has just over 95000km with 3 other friends. i dont have to worry about hotels for at least half way of the road trip becasue my cousin has space in his condo in chicago and my aunt in wichita kansas is letting me and my friends crash at her place. me and my friends dont want to spend anytime site seeing. our stops involve. getting gas which is an obvious, food, and maybe a mall or two. we would book a hotel in los angeles for 4 or 5 days we are trying to time it so that when we arrive in los angelas we arrive in the morning so we can check into the hotel. sleep for a couple of hours then go and watch the games. last time i planned a road trip i didnt have a purpose lol but this time the purpose is to watch a basketball game and relax on the beach. money is not an issue

[AZBuck]

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

Your trip starts out OK. On your first day, you just need to cover a relatively standard 550 miles (880 km). But then already on Day 2, your trying the (nearly) impossible by attempting to cover 700 (1100 km) miles in a single day. That is more than anyone can drive safely. Note that having multiple drivers does not let you cover ground faster. Quite the opposite in fact, as every stop for gas food, or malls will take longer than with just one or two people and, like a convoy, you can only get through a stop as fast as your slowest member, Everyone else will be left to wait, stew, and resent. You may think that you can drive through the night, thus saving time, but there is no way, no way, that anybody is going to get any useful sleep with four adults (plus luggage and other gear) crammed into a Honda Element. Also, think for just a second about what you are asking of your cousin and aunt. You are going to descend on them with three people they've never met, use up their hot water taking showers, almost immediately go to bed, take off very early the next morning (after sponging four breakfasts?), and leave them a bunch of dirty towels, linens, and dishes. Do you really think 15 minutes or half an hour of your company is worth that price to them? The final leg of your journey from Wichita to Los Angeles is over 1400 miles (2250 km) or three days of safe driving. That also puts you in L.A. on the evening of the 5th day of your journey. That's as soon as you can reasonably expect to be there. Trying to do it in less time is a recipe for a terrible and terribly unsafe trip.

AZBuck

[glc]

Welcome!

You don't even want to try to get into LA in the morning - the traffic is absolutely awful. Plan on getting there the evening before.

First day - Niagara Falls to Chicago is about a 10 hour drive. Take 403/401/402 and cross the border at Sarnia. Take I-69 to I-94 into Chicago.

Second day - Chicago to Wichita is a lot longer drive than we recommend you try to drive in 1 day, but you could do it in about 14 hours following "speed run" procedures. Take I-88 to I-80 to Des Moines, then I-35 to Wichita.

It will then take you 2 very long days - again about 14 hours - following speed run procedures to get to LA, with an overnight in Albuquerque. Take I-35 to I-40 to I-15 to I-210 or I-10.

Please note that this should really be a 5 day drive, but with you wanting to stop in Chicago and Wichita - neither of which are along the fastest route - you could do it in 4. Don't even try to make any diversions such as going to a mall. You have to look at this drive like a job, not something fun - because keeping that kind of pace is decidedly NOT fun.

You WILL need a full night and part of the next day in LA to recover from the drive.

If money is not an issue, why can't you take your time and enjoy some sightseeing?

EDIT: Buck makes some very good points - I was only making my suggestions based around your desired stops and my sense that you were trying to get out there quickly with a minimum of hotel use.

A lot more sensible way of doing this is take 5 days and the following routes:

Day 1 - same as above, but overnight in Benton Harbor MI.
Day 2 - I-94 to I-80, overnight in Omaha NE.
Day 3 - I-80 to I-76, overnight in Fort Morgan CO.
Day 4 - I-76 to I-70, overnight in Richfield UT.
Day 5 - I-70 to I-15 to LA as per above.

[carbone22]

AZ Buck and GLC thats great help and AZ buck my aunt and uncle are well off and becaase of the weather we wouldnt be taking hot showers. my aunt and uncle met my 3 friends when they came to watch us play basketball and after the gaem when we ate food at my grandmas. we would clean up after ourselves and good point i think staying a day would be good for us and give us time to rest. my aunt and uncle wouldnt have a problem with that my friends are well behaved. GLC we would be saving money staying at my relatives for free

[carbone22]

and glc i just want to spend more time in LA it wouldnt be inconvient for us site seeing between kansas and LA i would have to look at some intersting tourist attractions what comes to your mind

[carbone22]

whats an adventurous route to take from wichita kansas to los angeles califronia. Involving some desert, mountains, valleys , lakes /rivers

Mod note] Please do not start other threads regarding this trip.

[Southwest Dave]

How long are you planning on taking to get to LA from Wichita ? You have a number of options, one would be to head across Southern Colorado, perhaps 160 over Wolf creek pass to Pagosa Springs and on towards the Four corners and through Monument valley and possibly the Grand canyon.

[carbone22]

two days southwest dave i was planning on one day but two is more reasonable

[Midwest Michael]

As has already been stated repeatedly, Your need THREE days to do this safely. And that's if you just take the direct interstate route.

Two days for a drive that's more than 1400 miles is not in any sense of the word "reasonable."

I'm sorry, but I'm also confused about your repeated contradictions. On one hand you say that money is not an issue and you want to get to LA as fast as possible, but on the other hand you've rejected the advice on how to get to LA as fast as possible, because you want to save money by staying at relatives.

[carbone22]

maybe i can ask my friends if they are intersted in taking their time to site see on the way back home so if they agree to that.. what if me and my friends stay at the half way point between wichita and los angelas is that even possibel to do in 2days and a bit