Houston to Seattle

[leavintexas]

hello. i am new here. i am relocating with my family (2 small children) to seattle from houston, tx. we are planning on driving to seattle from houston because we have 2 old dogs who are unable to fly. need suggestions on the best route to take. we will be traveling with 2 kids & 2 big dogs. we would like to make the trip in 5 days, if possible. suggestions????
thanks!!!

[glc]

Houston to Seattle is 2350 miles by fastest route. This is definitely a 5 day trip, driving about 10 hours a day including fuel, food, and rest stops. This route involves a considerable distance on non-Interstate highways.

I-45 to Dallas/Fort Worth, US-287 to Amarillo, 287/87/385/64 through Dumas and Hartley to Raton, then I-25/I-80/I-84/I-82/I-90.

Taking Interstates all the way will add over 300 miles to the trip.

One potential problem is finding pet-friendly hotels that will allow 2 large dogs. I would plot out the route and start calling hotels along the route to determine their policies. I show the suggested overnights as follows:

1. Somewhere between Wichita Falls and Amarillo TX
2. Pueblo CO
3. Green River WY
4. Boise ID

5 days should not be a problem if all you want to do is get from point A to point B. However, if you wanted to make any significant sightseeing stops and/or detours, you need more time.

[PNW Judy]

Two more days would be even better.

I agree with glc's suggested route. It's definitely the shortest/quickest way to get to Seattle. However, I think you're pushing it doing it with two small children and two old dogs...all who will need time out of the car to stretch their legs, burn off energy, etc. If you have unhappy kids and dogs, it's going to make for a miserable trip.

Having traveled with kids and dogs, I can tell you that you will want to stop at least every two hours. Look for nicer rest stops or go into a town and look for a park. Let the kids run a play for 15-20 minutes and get the wiggles out. Let the dogs do their business and sniff around.

The trip will be far better for all of you if you do this. If not, you might get to Seattle pretty stressed out.

I didn't check out all the suggested overnight stops but I can tell you that Green River to Boise, and Boise to Seattle, are both about 500 miles and, once you add in time for those stops, will make some real long driving days.

Personally, I think you need to plan for no more than about 400 miles per day to get those needed breaks from the car in and for you all not to be too exhausted and tense by the end of each day.

[Midwest Michael]

I-45 to Dallas/Fort Worth, US-287 to Amarillo, 287/87/385/64 through Dumas and Hartley to Raton, then I-25/I-80/I-84/I-82/I-90.

Taking Interstates all the way will add over 300 miles to the trip.

GLC, I think you must have made a miscalculation, because while that is a perfectly good route and it could be the fastest option, it certainly doesn't save 300 miles over the interstates, and in fact its not even the shortest route either.

If there was a perference to take Interstate routes, you could simply modify your plan by taking I-35/I-135 north from DFW to Kansas, and then take I-70 to Denver and continue on I-25 north from there. That's 70 miles longer, but since you are avoiding the 2 lane roads you'd take through North Texas and New Mexico, the overall travel time would likely be quite similar. Its certainly not the difference of a half day on the road.

The shortest route, which saves 40 miles over going through Denver, would involve getting on I-40 at Amarillo and taking that all the way out to Gallup NM. Then you'd take US-491/US-191/US-6 to go up through Cortez, Colorado, Moab Utah, and then join I-15 near Provo, and continue north from there. This would probably take a little more time, but it does take you through some very remarkable country.

The point of course is that there are always several options for a route, and you don't have to lock yourself into one single choice. I do agree with the above that you'll be able to do this trip in 5 days, but it would be good for everyone if you could add a day or two. Think of it this way, you don't often get the situtation where you have to drive across the American West, since you're going to go anyway, you might as well take your time and really enjoy yourself!

[glc]

I was looking at I-10 and I-5 for Interstates all the way, that's where I got the 300 miles.

Your suggestion looks REAL good - its about 15 miles shorter and only about 1 hour longer. I-35/135/70/25 is about the same drive time as your suggestion but would add close to 100 miles.

[johnny99]

Having been that way a number of times I would suggest staying on 287 all the way to Limon Colorado, then I 70 into Denver. 287 is mostly straight, wide, and lightly traveled with a few small towns to go through.