Okay, I’ve enlisted the kid on a potential route of cities, taking more the north than south. Here is an initial driving route (driving about 5 hours a day):
Departure city to Chicago area (94 or 80 highway area)
Chicago area to Des Moines
Des Moines to Kearney, Nebraska
Kearney to Denver
Denver to Green River, Utah
Green River to Las Vegas
Las Vegas to Home
A flight from Southwest would be around $818 for the two of us and includes 2 carry-ons and four checked bags. That’s not the issue. It’s how to ship the rest of our stuff, when a U-Box is too big. I confess that checking out movers last week had me a bit spooked due to some truly awful experiences (items “held hostage” for greater payment, stolen and lost items, etc.). My previous moves were family or corporate movers and had minimal lost/broken/damaged items. And no timeline problems with things arriving.