From LA to Houston on Thanksgiving

[rabzee]

Hello ,
We are planning to visit Houston to see if the options we are considering for moving are good or not. We are planning to drive from LA. We will be three adult and two kids under 3 yrs. any suggestions for the trip would be highly appreciated. Thanks

[Southwest Dave]

Hello and welcome to RTA !

Is there anything in particular that you would like help with ? The most important thing is allowing enough time for the journey and if it is a return trip a long weekend would be not enough time to drive out and back. You will need 2 overnight stops and the best part of 3 days to travel in each direction and that would still be quite tough on the Kids, so if you have longer, all the better.

[rabzee]

Hello and welcome to RTA !

Is there anything in particular that you would like help with ? The most important thing is allowing enough time for the journey and if it is a return trip a long weekend would be not enough time to drive out and back. You will need 2 overnight stops and the best part of 3 days to travel in each direction and that would still be quite tough on the Kids, so if you have longer, all the better.

Thank you for replying. Well, we have decided to drive from LA to Houston and fly back. So we decided we can take a low and go at our pace with kids demands. So of course I am considering 2 night stops so If you can tell me what cities should we stop or what motels are good. And any other suggestions also will be greatly appreciated.

[Midwest Michael]

Benson, Arizona and Fort Stockton, Texas would be the places you'd want to stop, to keep things at a nice even pace. They will be about 8 hours on the road each day, which gives you time to make a couple of stops with your kids each day. Neither is a particularly large city, but both have a wide selection of motels so you should have no problem finding something that meets your price range and preferences.

Here's a thread with lots of ideas for things you could do along I-10.

I should note that one way car rentals are usually quite expensive, and I would expect rates would be even higher while traveling over Thanksgiving. You might want to price that out before you commit to one-way plane tickets.

[rabzee]

Thank you,

You are absolutely right that the rental is pretty high. But for the flying we are getting for our rewards points so for return it is kinda free to us. but thanks I am reading that post and it is really helpful.

[rabzee]

I was reading on a forum and they says that their are number of border patrol in between Ca- TX . Am I going to be hit by any border patrol too?

[AZBuck]

You are likely to have to stop at an Agricultural Inspection Station or two (although I think those are mostly for west-bound travelers, and possibly a random Border Patrol Check (although those are mostly on side (state) roads. In the worst case, three short stops. You will be asked if you are carrying any fruits or vegetables or if you are a U.S. citizen. 99 time out of 100, that's it and you will immediately continue on your way. There may be a short wait for others ahead of you, but I have never found any of this to be even a minor inconvenience.

AZBuck

[DonnaR57]

Back in 2012, there was a BP checkpoint right after El Paso. We were held up there about 15 minutes, because at the time there was only one lane open and there were some larger vehicles ahead of us.

The Ag stations are westbound into California, when you are returning home. It shouldn't hold you up much at all. Make sure that you've eaten any fruit or vegies that you were carrying with you, and don't try to bring any plants back into CA. It's usually a quick stop.


Donna

[rabzee]

what route to take for stopping at Grand Canyon? We wanted to see the sunset or sun rise in Grand canyon. Where do you recommend is a good place to stop?

[Midwest Michael]

If you want to include the Grand Canyon, then the route you'd want to take would be I-40, to Amarillo, then down US-287 to Dallas/Fort Worth, then I-45 onto Houston.

Keep in mind, this adds 250 miles, which is about and extra half day of driving especially since it involves some slower, non-interstate travel. The Grand Canyon is also a huge place, and very much worth a minimum of a half day of your time, so I would plan on adding another night to your trip.

If it were me, I'd plan to spend your first night as near to the Canyon as you can afford - it's a pretty full day drive there from LA. Spend the next morning there, but get on the road around noon and aim for Gallup NM. You're then 2 full days from Houston, with Childress TX being about halfway, with several hotel options.


Theoretically, you could make this drive in 3 long days, but I don't think it would give you enough time at the Grand Canyon to make it worthwhile, and it would involve some very long days on the road that will be very uncomfortable for your kids.