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Old 05-23-2014, 01:15 AM
 
Location: Sault Ste. Marie, MI
44 posts, read 57,831 times
Reputation: 25

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Meemur View Post
You can Google cool places to see along the way and map out where the gas stations are.

Here's my main tip:

As you get down into the plains and heartland (Nebraska, Iowa, lower WI), pay attention to the weather. Listen to the radio/watch the TV in your hotel room/download a weather app for your smartphone (if you have one): if there are bad thunderstorms in the area with tornado watches and increasing winds, consider quitting early for the day.

You *do not* want to be on the freeway during a bad hail storm. It can be like being in a snowstorm whiteout and tornadoes can form along the back edge of those storms. They are extremely dangerous.

If you are caught out, go to a truck stop or roadside store. Do not take shelter under a bridge: it will intensify the wind.

I bring up this topic because we've had some very bad storms already in Nebraska and Iowa! Stay safe.
Hi meemur, I use ( Roadtrippers ) it's really cool gives you most of the info that you need it for the trip.
Thank you so much for that again I never thought about it .. I will keep it in mind ..


Quote:
Originally Posted by NOLA2SGF View Post
I don't know the answers to most of your questions, unfortunately.

But, thirty years ago I did drive from San Diego to central Texas, with just my daughter who was 5 years old. Based on my experiences then, be sure that your kids have something to do. I brought a lot of new coloring books, little toys, games that she could do alone, and so on, and didn't let her see any of them until we were on the road. That REALLY helped. She just sat in the back seat with all these things, and played happily the whole way. Driving that far involves a lot of long hours and a lot of potential boredom for the kids. I also stopped frequently but spent a long time on the road, only spending two nights in motels.

If you will have pets with you, be sure to take a list of motels or hotels that allow pets.
Hi NOLA2SGF.. Yeah we are planning to bring stuffs like you said, and I will be sure to give it to them on the road ..
I don't have pet so that might help a little
Thanks a lot for your help ..


Quote:
Originally Posted by Sandsam View Post
I'm planning a long drive this summer with 3 kids. We have a DVD player in the car. I'm planning on stopping at Red Box along the way for an endless supply of movies!
Hi Sandsam, Yeah I have DVD's and definitely we will use it for entertaining the kids .. Thanks a lot
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Old 05-23-2014, 01:30 AM
 
Location: Sault Ste. Marie, MI
44 posts, read 57,831 times
Reputation: 25
Quote:
Originally Posted by jlawrence01 View Post
Several points based on my cross country trip between Chicago and Phoenix this past winter:

1) First, you MUST get your car into the shop to make sure that it is in EXCELLENT running condition prior to starting on the trip. Fortunately, I did that before leaving as my water pump was leaking. Repairs on the rad are some of the most expensive.

2) That is a LONG drive. While 90% of the people on C-D like to think that they can drive 1000+ miles a day, day after day of driving is VERY fatiguing, especially if you encounter road delays, bad weather, etc. I try to limit the drive to 9-10 hours period. Also, I like to drive long two straight days and take ONE day off. It keeps me fresh and safe.

3) There are ALWAYS things to see in ANY state of the US. Take Nebraska for example. There are great museums all along I-80. Give me some of your interests and I will make some good recommendations.

4) Your stopping cities are fine. You should try to have some idea as to where you want to stay and book the night before if possible. You should have no problem finding hotels in that city. You do want to try to avoid rush hours.

5) Especially for the first part of the trip, make sure that you fill up with gas when you are in town.

6) Bring your passports as Sault Ste. Marie is a border town with Canada.
Hi jlawrence01..
Yeah the driving time will be from 7-10 hours daily I can't go further more with kids it will be hard I think..
My oldest daughter had yesterday in school about Mount Rushmore, and I think it will be great to visit it, especially it is like 5 hours from Denver so I will go there and spend the night in South Dakota...
We like to discover US more and more so there is no specific interests anything will be good ..
When you said ( For the first part of the trip, make sure you fill up .. ) what part ??

Quote:
Originally Posted by pretendingtowork View Post
You know when I was a kid I loved road trips, not so I could watch tv for hours, but to see miles of country that I have never seen before. This past summer I took my kids 7 and 3 on a road trip through California and they loved it. I am about to move from California to Denver and I am not worried in the least. I know my kids will enjoy the scenery.

That being said, I drove from NY to LA once and after I left Chicago, I saw nothing but corn fields until I got to Denver. So once you pass Denver, get the DVDs ready.
Hi pretendingtowork .. got it ..

thanks a lot
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Old 05-23-2014, 03:30 AM
 
3,199 posts, read 7,791,439 times
Reputation: 2519
Quote:
Originally Posted by king of mirage View Post
Hi bad apples, Ok I have to put this in my mind, I never thought about it. Thanks for that ..


Hi DaniellaG, I thought about shipping my car but it cost a lot, so I decide that we can have something new by driving .. I will spend one night in each stop.. so that mean 4 nights in total. I have navigation system in the car, and I have a GPS device also. I have Progressive and they told me it come with road service if need it. I will keep my eye for the animals .. Thanks a lot for your tips ..



Hi little elmer .. yep I will do that for sure ..
thanks for sharing ..

It should cost around 1000 possibly to ship your car. If you change your mind I am not sure if they go to MI but when I had my car shipped one time from CA to FL I used them and they were good. They are based out of CA. I used to have my car shipped from CA to MI with a company but they retired. If you add up all the hotel stays, gas, miles on your car it is not going to be that much cheaper. I mean 4 nights in a hotel will be 300-400. How many people are moving? I ask cause of course the flight price if more then 2 then I can see more driving.
Glad you have GPS and road side.
I forgot about weather. It is a good idea to watch the weather. More so an issue in the winter. I did have one problem when I drove to NJ once and the rain was so hard you could not see in front of you. So it delayed me a few hours cause I stopped off at a restaurant till it cleared up.
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Old 05-23-2014, 04:59 AM
 
1,971 posts, read 3,028,698 times
Reputation: 2209
I have driven long drives across the USA about a dozen times, including a couple very similar to your drive.
The best scenery on that drive is in Utah. If possible, try looking at Zion National Park and The Arches by Moab. They will add about a day to your trip in total but are worth it. There are a lot of long boring stretches on the drive. Especially Nebraska, but western CO, Iowa and Wisconsin are not very interesting, either. If you have an iPod or iPad I would suggest downloading about 30 hours worth of music and podcasts, or buy a few audio books. You might want a cooler and stock up on snacks at a Trader Joes in LA or Denver. In between there is mostly McDonalds and Subway and gas station food.
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Old 05-23-2014, 09:23 AM
 
3,490 posts, read 6,068,766 times
Reputation: 5421
If you stop in Las Vegas or Denver, you could get an apartment, conduct a job search, and be grateful for years that you didn't move to Michigan...

You ask for any advice, it didn't necessarily have to support the plan of going to Michigan.

If you go through with it: Stick to main free ways. I did an Iowa to Colorado trip once and decided to go through parts of Kansas. We had to go like 70 miles without a gas station. It was absurd. There was one gas station, I pulled off to get gas, and the pumps were hardly working. Something like 1 gallon per 2-3 minutes. As you might guess, it was cold and creepy as ****. Don't go through Kansas. Take I-80 right from Denver. Omaha is a reasonable drive, and there is plenty of interesting things to do there. It won't be near as interesting as Denver, but it's not a bad little city. I do suggest having road side assistance on your insurance unless you have triple A.
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Old 05-23-2014, 10:33 AM
 
16,349 posts, read 30,059,742 times
Reputation: 25378
King,

A few things:

1) In the West, you can encounter roads where there are NO services for 50-100 miles. You want to make sure that you have gas BEFORE heading out of the major cities.

2) I live GPS systems. However, do NOT rely on them completely as each of them have dead spots, especially in the mountains. Ditto on cell phones. Coverage can be spotty on rural roads no matter your carrier.
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Old 05-23-2014, 12:21 PM
 
389 posts, read 911,789 times
Reputation: 494
OP, I would definitely suggest coming up with some stretches of the drive where you are not just driving for several hours straight. I like your idea of seeing Mount Rushmore. Of course, this would alter your route (and change where you would be spending the night), but that is okay as long as everyone is fairly flexible. Our family made the trek from Minneapolis to southern California almost 5 years ago. My husband planned our trip as we drove 2 cars, 8 hours maximum driving in a day, and he planned where we would spend the night and made the hotel reservations ahead of time.

You know your family the best. Are there other things that you could see your family enjoying for an hour (or two) break along the way? We decided to pack food in the car to make our lunches (usually peanut butter & jelly, some bread, chips, cookies) and always had water. We would be on the look-out for an area where we could take a longer lunch break -- a picnic shelter or rest area worked great. Some people would make sure to book a hotel that has a pool so the kids can work off some built up energy.

Have a fun trip! I hope your kids look at it as an adventure and that you include them in helping to plan it.
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Old 05-23-2014, 06:31 PM
 
Location: Midwest
978 posts, read 2,040,334 times
Reputation: 801
I drove from the lower 48 to Alaska and back. I can easily drive 15hr in one day (if that's the entire trip), however, if the trip involves multiple days, it's really important not to overwork yourself and to get a good night sleep. I drove about 12hr a day, stopped for the night, got a good dinner, and got lots of sleep. I would generally drive from 8am to 8pm, with short 10min stops about every 2-3hrs. I would always make a longer stop for meals. With children in the car, I'd imagine the trip to go a LOT slower.
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Old 05-25-2014, 09:37 AM
 
Location: Des Moines Metro
5,103 posts, read 8,544,518 times
Reputation: 9793
Quote:
Originally Posted by attrapereves View Post
With children in the car, I'd imagine the trip to go a LOT slower.
You haven't mentioned how well they travel. Maybe you don't know . . . Some children can only deal with about 4 hours each day. You might have to take increasingly longer breaks every two hours to get in a 6 hour drive.

If they have extreme meltdowns: quit for the day. Keep them up late. Get them up about 4 am or so and get in about 5 hours before they wake up. Take a break. Let them run - hard! And then try an additional two hours, if you can take it.

This might be a fun trip or a nightmare. It just depends on them. Have a Plan B and C.
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Old 05-25-2014, 07:42 PM
 
Location: Sault Ste. Marie, MI
44 posts, read 57,831 times
Reputation: 25
Quote:
Originally Posted by DaniellaG View Post
It should cost around 1000 possibly to ship your car. If you change your mind I am not sure if they go to MI but when I had my car shipped one time from CA to FL I used them and they were good. They are based out of CA. I used to have my car shipped from CA to MI with a company but they retired. If you add up all the hotel stays, gas, miles on your car it is not going to be that much cheaper. I mean 4 nights in a hotel will be 300-400. How many people are moving? I ask cause of course the flight price if more then 2 then I can see more driving.
Glad you have GPS and road side.
I forgot about weather. It is a good idea to watch the weather. More so an issue in the winter. I did have one problem when I drove to NJ once and the rain was so hard you could not see in front of you. So it delayed me a few hours cause I stopped off at a restaurant till it cleared up.
Hi DaniellaG .. Yeah decided to drive and explorar ... we are 5 ( 3 kids and 2 adults ).. Lets think like an adventure ..

Quote:
Originally Posted by rzzz View Post
I have driven long drives across the USA about a dozen times, including a couple very similar to your drive.
The best scenery on that drive is in Utah. If possible, try looking at Zion National Park and The Arches by Moab. They will add about a day to your trip in total but are worth it. There are a lot of long boring stretches on the drive. Especially Nebraska, but western CO, Iowa and Wisconsin are not very interesting, either. If you have an iPod or iPad I would suggest downloading about 30 hours worth of music and podcasts, or buy a few audio books. You might want a cooler and stock up on snacks at a Trader Joes in LA or Denver. In between there is mostly McDonalds and Subway and gas station food.
Hi rzzz, I looked to Zion and the Arches .. wwoooow from the the pictures its interesting , I put it in my plan and hope we can spend time on them .. Thanks a lot for your advices...

Quote:
Originally Posted by lurtsman View Post
If you stop in Las Vegas or Denver, you could get an apartment, conduct a job search, and be grateful for years that you didn't move to Michigan...

You ask for any advice, it didn't necessarily have to support the plan of going to Michigan.

If you go through with it: Stick to main free ways. I did an Iowa to Colorado trip once and decided to go through parts of Kansas. We had to go like 70 miles without a gas station. It was absurd. There was one gas station, I pulled off to get gas, and the pumps were hardly working. Something like 1 gallon per 2-3 minutes. As you might guess, it was cold and creepy as ****. Don't go through Kansas. Take I-80 right from Denver. Omaha is a reasonable drive, and there is plenty of interesting things to do there. It won't be near as interesting as Denver, but it's not a bad little city. I do suggest having road side assistance on your insurance unless you have triple A.
Hi Lurtsman..

probably we will go from Denver to nebraska we wanna see the mount rushmore .. and fro there we will go to wisconsin... I will stick on the free ways ..
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