<p>We have had a full SUV plus cartop carrier for our son for two dorm years, you will likely have double that, at least (if you don’t take all the stuff you could buy there you will need the time to do that, easier to take it all, leave son to move in- they do not need or want you there once they have their stuff unloaded). I think it would be nice for them to have all of their stuff at once. Do they want to see the other one’s school? With both of them in the car you will have less room for their stuff and incur hotel charges. The 2.5 hour trip is similar to ours, very easy to do in a day (or in our case, afternoon-evening by the time son was ready). I would consider making two separate trips, one with each son. Each one will get their day, no chance of mixing up stuff (and keeping things separate but packing efficiently could be a problem). You would face an extra 5 hours of driving, but packing your overnight bags, the cost of a hotel room and time spent with that would be more expensive and not really save you time. Also, with just one son you can unload and take him shopping for things you forgot or want to buy there, such as gatorade et al. If you take the U-Haul you will use a lot more gas, go more slowly and have to keep an eye on it if you unhitch it to go places around town. I know you are dreading all those miles on the same road, but you might consider yourselves lucky you only spend one (very full) weekend moving kids in instead of two. Consider your sons- they may not say anything, but especially for the first trip it is nice for it to be theirs alone, without it being tagged on to an older sibling’s return. Move in day is always chaotic, you are much less likely to mistakenly take the second son’s stuff if it isn’t even there (imagine helpful people helping to unload the wrong items).</p>
<p>I’m facing the move home on Friday- this year H could do it, unlike last year, so we will use the cartop carrier, but without my packing expertise I know they wouldn’t find room, and I want to visit the town again (guess who does the packing for trips- I always seem to find room when they can’t). The space taken by a person is equivalent to a rooftop carrier’s volume in our experience.</p>