ATL-LA-SF-ATL (~3 weeks)

[KHoffman4]

I definitely appreciate all of the feedback you guys are giving us! At this point, I think it's safe to say we're not heading into Utah this trip (or Denver, KC, St. Louis)! We're going to look in making our 14 hour day a 12 hour day by stopping in Houston, then finishing the drive to Hamilton Pool in the morning. We aren't familiar with road trips to the West Coast, but we have traveled a ton on the east coast side. We know what 10-12 hour days feel like, and think (maybe naively) that we can handle a couple of those in a 3 week span (on top of multiple 8 hour days).

We ordering paper maps this weekend as well as printing off park maps to look more into the hours/days spent traveling. Soon I will post a rough draft itinerary so I can get some more feedback!

Thanks again all of the tips! Any more is always appreciated!

[Midwest Michael]

We're going to look in making our 14 hour day a 12 hour day by stopping in Houston, then finishing the drive to Hamilton Pool in the morning.

We certainly appreciate that you're taking our advice to heart, and we look forward to seeing what you come up with for a plan. However, remember when I, and others, pointed out that the travel time estimates of google and other online mapping programs are a pure fantasy that can't be trusted?

Atlanta to Houston isn't a 12 hour trip, not even close. At 800 miles, that's a minimum of 14 - and much more like 15 or 16 hours on the road in real world conditions, where you have to factor in traffic, construction, gas, food, and other rest stops. That's way, way, way too far to be traveling on a multi-day trip. To get the travel time estimate that google comes up with, you'd have to be averaging nearly 75 mph - and the only way you can do that, once you factor in slowdowns and stops (when you're driving 0 mph) is to set your cruise at around 100!

As previously mentioned, 10-12 hours on the road in the real world is about 600 miles, and really is the top end of what you should be planning. In real world conditions, you'll only average 55-60 mph over the course of the day, and that's if your cruising speed is at or a few mph above the speed limit, and you're still making your stops relatively quick ones.

Absolutely pushing yourself to the max, you shouldn't plan to go any farther than Lake Charles, LA on your first day - with Crowley or Jennings, LA actually being much better choices. Mind you, this is assuming you're planning to do roadside motels for the first couple days while trying to cover miles. If you hope to camp, and need to factor additional time to find campgrounds (typically located farther away from the highway) and set up, then you should probably trim a few more miles off that.