<p>D and H are driving from Indiana to Southern Ca in a few weeks. Crazy but it is a long story and they know it will be a long drive.
Where to stop? 1st day D has a final till noon so they will not get an early start. They would like to power out the days and try to make it in 3 very long days but may need to make it 4. First night they are thinking somewhere between just past St Louis or if they can get to outside of Tulsa. They will both be driving. H’s body will be on Ca time.
2nd night any ideas. Is it crazy to think they could make it into New Mexico or the edge of Arizona?
So suggestions for places to stay that are dog friendly between Lafayette Indiana and Los Angeles area.</p>
<p>If you’re looking for inexpensive dog-friendly hotels, I’d definitely recommend Drury. I love it that they include wifi, popcorn/soda, cocktails/snacks, and coffee/breakfast with the price of your stay. I’m from Missouri and have stayed in Drurys all across the state–never let me down.</p>
<p>My family did a similar drive, starting early in the morning in PA. We must have spent the first night in St. Louis; I remember visiting the arch at night. The next day we drove to Amarillo; it looks like that was about 760 miles. We did have kids (not young, but still . . .); a lot depends on one’s tolerance for that kind of driving.</p>
<p>If you google pet friendly motels you’ll find many suggestions. It would probably be easiest to target a destination first.</p>
<p>Will the trip be this time of year or will it be in the summer? This time of year there can be weather issues and there’s the shorter daylight to contend with. It’s best to stick to daylight driving if possible to avoid getting too sleepy with the darkness but this depends on the driver.</p>
<p>Summer before last we drove from DC to San Diego in about 4.5 days and that included adjusting the route to visit some relatives in PA and in CO. </p>
<p>I like long drives and it can be fun to do with the kid. </p>
<p>They s/b able to make it in 3 days if they want - especially if doing so in the summer when the days are long and they can (hopefully) avoid too many weather issues.</p>
<p>One possible route -
- Indianapolis (I just picked the middle of Indiana) - Tulsa - around 11 hours - 635 mi
- Tulsa - Grants NM - around 11.5 hours - 724 mi
- Gallup - LA - around 11 hours - 711 mi</p>
<p>It’d be better to take an extra day and try to stop and see some things along the way. Are you asking for suggestions on quick things to see along the way or just the route?</p>
<p>Are you an AAA member? Get a Triptik and guidebooks which will give you detailed info on hotels and restaurants along the way, wherever they decide to stop. You can also check for dog-friendly hotels. I know that many Marriotts will allow dogs. Three 11 hour days, as cited by u<em>u</em>dad, would be very long days. That’s a lot of driving in a short amount of time. Long distance driving, particularly on routes you are not familiar with, require attention and care, so you don’t want to be fatigued. Frequent stops and sticking with daylight driving are advisable.</p>
<p>ucsd dad- that is the route I had looked at this morning. I don’t know if it is doable. It is in mid Dec so daylight will end early. The AAA person I spoke with has done the drive and felt that it is all interstate so unless a big storm hits they should be fine.
On first glance we had West Lafayette to Springfield. Springfield to Amarillo, Amarillo to Flagstaff and Flagstaff home. If they can cut a day out they would like to. We have been as a family to Grand Canyon so I don’t think they will do any sightseeing on the way.</p>
<p>Did the triptik and will use it. When my D made her last long distance drive from florida to Indiana I was able to get great specific motel and route info on CC. I have found that CC is the best source for all kinds of information.</p>
<p>The nice thing about driving west is the time change going. The worse thing about driving west is the time change coming back. When planning our long road trips I usually start at the end point and what time we want to arrive. Then I back it up based on how many hours we’re willing to drive each day. I like to spend the night outside of bigger cities because I cannot stand driving around an urban area when I’m tired or arguing with my Husband about how to get to the hotel in heavy traffic…so I pick way out suburbs or small towns outside my target city. I personally like the Holiday Inn Exresses, Hampton Inns and Druary’s for sleep cheap hotels and generally they are located near food that we can get to without driving some more. I’m a huge Mapquest fan because it gives driving times. If you drive just alittle over the speed limit the driving times are pretty accurate baring road work or icy roads.</p>
<p>We picked Joplin for one southern route trip. We got from Sante Fe to Joplin in a day’s drive so you coud make New Mexico with a long driving day. My family can handle 12 hours which is 6 hours driving each with 2 drivers. I can literally drive longer than 6, but the time in the car gets intolerable for everyone.</p>
<p>Our two kids drove about 2500 miles this summer. Our only request was that they stop and switch drivers every three hours. For the first “leg” of the trip, they didn’t do this and they were BOTH exhausted. They did it the second two days and said it made a HUGE difference in how they both felt. Just getting out of the car and walking around for five minutes was a good idea. They included meal stops…and made them…for all three days of their drive.</p>
<p>^^Agree when we drive we do it in 3 hour increments. When it was just H and I we just switched off every 3 hours…as the kids got their licenses they took 3 hours shifts. Three hours is about right and then you need to move your body and your eyes differently. Three hours corresponds nicely to about gas up time in a gas guzzler or a small gas tank and highway driving.</p>
<p>You didn’t ask about entertainment, but I’d suggest an audio book to pass the time. I can driver far longer and with much less fatigue when I listen to an audio book, it can make a long drive actually pleasurable.</p>
<p>You will need to plan the trip based on weather and have more than one route depending on snow probablilities. It may help to be flexible- leave yesterday or tommorrow to be before/after major snow. For cheap hotel rooms picking up those hotel coupon booklets at state welcome centers is useful. We don’t make hotel arrangements in advance as we never know how far we will drive. It is cheaper to get a hotel near a smaller city than a big one. Use interstates. Use the laptop for hotel rooms as well. Take AAA maps for regions and states, plus the books to help with knowing what’s where- eg hotel rooms, distances between two cities. </p>
<p>Take a cooler with food and liquids. Take winter stuff- snow shovel, blanket, etc. Take a loaf of bread, a jar of peanut butter and one of jam plus the paper plates etc so they can eat sandwhiches at rest areas. Won’t need to worry about the jam/jelly spoiling for even a week’s travel. It gets tiresome to have to stop at fast food places for every meal. Have a caffeine beverage and cookies/candy/snacks available in the car for a pick-me-up when you want to go that next hour before stopping.</p>
<p>Definitely take audio books- humor and travel such as Bill Bryson’s are good listening on the road. Music as well. </p>
<p>We tend to find 500-600 miles per day is enough with 2 drivers. We have pushed it when younger. We have kept up with the flow in Appalachian mountain rain in the dark. Switching drivers after a time period or distance is good. It varies with the type of driving- urban/rural, weather… Be sure they don’t set specific times and drive until their time/distance is up if it has been a stressful stretch. Driving through a major city or mountains, or a rainstorm counts.</p>
<p>Doing this in December with the shorter daylight hours I suggest planning on doing it in 4 days rather than 3. If they end up ‘on a roll’ a couple of the days and cover more ground than planned then maybe they can make it quicker. The point above about the extra daylight when heading west is a good point in favor of heading this direction which will help a bit. They should target starting the drive at sunup to give them the most time.</p>
<p>When doing a trip like this I actually don’t plan the interim stopping points and don’t reserve hotels. I’d rather see what I feel like around the stopping time. Sometimes I might want to stop earlier than I might have planned and sometimes later. It usually turns into later and I cover more ground. For example, when driving east I was planning to stop around Amarillo but once there I was good to go another couple of hours so I ended up stopping in Shamrock instead. Getting a hotel should be no problem at all this time of year - I usually don’t have much of an issue even in the summer. I also prefer to stay in smaller towns or at least outskirt areas rather than bigger cities - they’re easier to navigate, have less traffic to contend with, and the price of the hotels is less. For example, rather than Flagstaff (although it’s not exactly a big city) consider Williams (just past) or Winslow (where they can sing that song - at least a sthey’re passing through). I like the Holiday Inn Express, Comfort Inn, Hampton Inn, etc. type of motels - not big hotels.</p>
<p>If they happen to have an extra hour while in the area they might want to stop at the Petrified Forest NP and Painted Desert NP in eastern Arizona - they’ll be right there and it’s a short detour time-wise.</p>
<p>It’s best to stay south when driving in December although it’s no guarantee since they’ll still be driving through areas where it snows - all the way to Flagstaff although some areas where the chances of snow are pretty low. It’s best to be flexible and ready to change routes as needed depending on the weather. From there, there are several routes to LA that all would get there within a few hours of each other. this is yet another reason to not plan every night stop and motel.</p>
<p>I can fairly easily and safely drive long distances for some reason and will do so without switching drivers but unless one is comfortable with this and knows their limits such that they don’t nod off, it’s best to switch it around with drivers if possible. Regardless, stopping for a bit every few hours is helpful. When stopping the driver should get out and walk around for a bit. Of course, so should the passenger but especially the driver.</p>
<p>In summer it would be possible to do the trip in 3 days. First night, Springfield, Mo. Second night, Albuquerque, NM. Third night southern California. But that’s summer.</p>
<p>I’ll never forget the time I drove this route just before Christmas. The interstate in southern Missouri and northern Oklahoma was an icy nightmare. Cars spinning off on either side of the road. </p>
<p>Check the weather. It may be better to head south on I-55 and then head west. It’s more miles but would be safer winter driving.</p>
<p>That area around Flagstaff can be very wintry also. They may have to take the real southern route on I-10 through Phoenix.</p>
<p>The route they are taking heads them south right away. H shares the sentiment of staying on the outskirts or in a smaller town. They want something like a Hampton that is right off the interstate. I already have picked up quite a few audio books from the library.
Any areas that are a wide distance between motel stops. For example AAA representative said if you don’t stop in Amarillo it is 4 hours till you find another motel. Any other areas like this?
Great tip about driving three hours and switching and snacks in the car. No peanut butter though as D is alllergic.
D and I will do the return trip in a different car in January. The two of us will take it slower. I know I am not going to be wanting to drive 11 hours in a day.
H has already informed D that we aren’t doing this drive again.</p>
<p>We have a brand spanking new GPS. One of the features is things located near your current location (food, hotels, etc). I found this particularly helpful on a road trip I took by myself a while back…very nice to be able to find the nearest Holiday Inn or Comfort Inn…or chinese food…or pizza. But take maps too as sometimes the GPS can send you in funny ways if you don’t know what’s up. If you get one with traffic advisory info on it, this will include slowdowns due to weather issues.</p>
<p>And make sure you have a car charger for your cell phone.</p>
<p>
The AAA person isn’t correct. Tucumcari, a bit under 2 hours from Amarillo, has acceptable motels including an HI Express, Best Western, etc. and so does Santa Rosa, a bit under 3 hours from Amarillo.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t put too much faith in the AAA person. Many of them really haven’t traveled that much, including long road trips, and tend to be more focused on the bigger cities as way points. You’re better off becoming familiar with using Google maps (or Bing). It’ll tell you the distances and rough driving times between points, the hotels in an area (just zoom into an area and type ‘hotel’ on the search maps box), and you can even do a street view ‘drive by’ of the motel or town to see what it looks like.</p>
<p>Even driving in the west, if you stay on the interstates there’s generally an acceptable place to stay within 2 -3 hours.</p>
<p>A Garmin or similar GPS can be useful for finding motels and eating places as can an iPhone or similar phone (which can be used as a GPS as well although it’s best done by a passenger due to the small screen and difficulty zooming, etc.).</p>
<p>I don’t usually put much faith in the AAA person. We happen to get a man who had done this trip just last year. Out of work architect picking up some extra income working at AAA. Thanks for the info on places to look to stay a few hours from Amarillo.
They have a new Garmin and D has a Magellan and also an IPhone. They have maps. The drive from Indiana to Ca and back to Indiana has to be done over a 3 1/2 week period. So they have time if they need to go slower due to weather.</p>
<p>^^ It just seems strange that he’d say there’s no motel within 4 hours west of Amarillo since even a cursory check, probably in the AAA tour book, would show a number of acceptable choices within a much shorter distance than he said. He should have at least checked first before he said what he did. </p>
<p>Let them know about the Petrified forest and painted desert since I-40 literally goes right through it and it’s well worth a bit of a break to look around it on the way.</p>
<p>It sounds like they’ll be plenty armed with the electronic GPS aids. They should have a good bonding time.</p>
<p>I don’t believe you mentioned whether you are going to San Diego or LA. I’ve driven this a number of times over the last decade. The road is good pretty much all the way. The last leg is the trickiest to plan. After you hit Flagstaff, you either keep going west on 40 (to LA), or drop down to Phoenix (to San Diego). I would say don’t drive farther west than Phoenix in the dark if you are doing the southern route. Stop and begin again the next day. Here are some places I have stayed in the last six months, all easily accessible from the highway. I would recommend any of them. Personally, I don’t like not having reservations.</p>
<p>HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS WEATHERFORD
Weatherford, Oklahoma 73096
580-774-0400</p>
<p>HAMPTON INN & SUITES GALLUP
Gallup, NM 87301
505-726-0900</p>
<p>BARSTOW, CA
Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites
Barstow, CA 92311</p>
<h1>760-253-9200</h1>
<p>TEMPE (suburban Phoenix)
Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites
Tempe, AZ 85283
480-831-9800</p>
<p>ALBUQUERQUE MIDTOWN
Holiday Inn Express
Albuquerque, NM
505-881-0544</p>
<p>OKLAHOMA CITY WEST - YUKON
Holiday Inn Express - Yukon
Yukon, Oklahoma 73099
405-494-7171</p>
<p>To me, what you have to be alert to is the weather. If you get snow or ice, it may change your plans. If you are from Indiana, you understand this. If you are from Southern California, you may not. Lol.</p>