Driving Cross Country (Phoenix: moving to, best, membership)

[goodlife36]

Originally Posted by ElleTea

We did 1400 miles in 2 days, about 11-12 hours a day. (well, almost. Needed car repair 3 hours away from Phoenix and had to stop) We did 800 miles the first day. (Des Moines to Amarillo)

Mapquest should show you where there are tolls, and once you decide how many hours you want to drive, you can figure stopping points and look for hotels. You can spend as little or as much as you want for that part.

Or you can do as a friend does and stop at a rest area and sleep in the car for a few hours. I wouldn't feel comfortable doing that, though.

I would be doing the trip alone. Perhaps it is doable. I guess a twelve hour day is not that bad with half hour breaks every three hours.

[ElleTea]

I drove the first nine hours of the first day, with just 2 stops (gas and food). It was a piece of cake. I was surprised at how easy it was to drive for so long.

[goodlife36]

Thanks for the vote of confidence.

[ElleTea]

Originally Posted by goodlife36

Thanks for the vote of confidence.

Good luck! Hope you don't hit any bad weather. We hit some freezing drizzle around Albuquerque. Watch the weather if you are traveling in winter and be ready to take a more southern route if needed.

[grmi66]

Would not recommend this for everyone, but I moved from just outside of Philly back to Phoenix in a little over 2 days. Left Pennsylvania on Tuesday morning and was pulling into Phoenix late on Thursday night. Took short naps along the way whenever I got tired and picked up food while I was gassing up so that I could eat and drive at the same time. Had a menagerie of animals, so motels were out of the question.

Worst part of the drive was coming down from Flagstaff, my rental truck had horrible brakes and suspension. So I was rocking back and forth and white knuckling it until I hit New River.

If you do the drive in the winter, watch the weather. I've driven cross country a number of times and found snow in the midwest to be better to drive through than the ice storms I ran into in Texas once.

[ElleTea]

Originally Posted by grmi66

Would not recommend this for everyone, but I moved from just outside of Philly back to Phoenix in a little over 2 days. Left Pennsylvania on Tuesday morning and was pulling into Phoenix late on Thursday night. Took short naps along the way whenever I got tired and picked up food while I was gassing up so that I could eat and drive at the same time. Had a menagerie of animals, so motels were out of the question.

Worst part of the drive was coming down from Flagstaff, my rental truck had horrible brakes and suspension. So I was rocking back and forth and white knuckling it until I hit New River.

If you do the drive in the winter, watch the weather. I've driven cross country a number of times and found snow in the midwest to be better to drive through than the ice storms I ran into in Texas once.

Motel 6 are always pet friendly. I stayed with 2 dogs and 2 cats, no problem, no extra cost. La Quinta, too, but the rooms there cost quite a bit more.

There are other hotels that also allow pets for an extra fee per animal.

The drive up to and down from Flagstaff was kind of scary for me in my Beetle as I am not used to mountain roads. It chugged to get up the hills. I had never seen a "Runaway Truck" ramp before. I was glad I wasn't driving and was glad the weather was cleared out. I can't imagine doing that in snow, and can't imagine that in a big truck! YIKES.

[grmi66]

Originally Posted by ElleTea

Motel 6 are always pet friendly. I stayed with 2 dogs and 2 cats, no problem, no extra cost. La Quinta, too, but the rooms there cost quite a bit more.

Think motels are more pet friendly than they were almost 20 years ago, could not find one back then.

One time when I was moving cross country our vet gave us some tranquilizers for our cats. Said that it would knock them out for 2-3 days, however for a small segment of cats the tranquilizers act as hallucinogens. Lucky for me my cat was part of that small segment, so got to spend three days with a cat having an acid trip in the backseat. Non-stop caterwauling that about drove me out of my mind.

[ElleTea]

Originally Posted by grmi66

Think motels are more pet friendly than they were almost 20 years ago, could not find one back then.

One time when I was moving cross country our vet gave us some tranquilizers for our cats. Said that it would knock them out for 2-3 days, however for a small segment of cats the tranquilizers act as hallucinogens. Lucky for me my cat was part of that small segment, so got to spend three days with a cat having an acid trip in the backseat. Non-stop caterwauling that about drove me out of my mind.

I gave one of my cats tranquilizers. I gave them to him at home before the trip and it just made him act drunk. It helped to be able to get him in the carrier and kept him calm for 6 hours or so. After that he just slept most of the way and eventually I think he got used to the car and was okay.

Yes, I imagine motels are more pet friendly nowadays.

[wit-nit]

Our neighbor travels frequently and said that many motels set aside a certain amount of rooms, not all, for pet owners and their pets. Some will not let large pets stay though.
If you call ahead and make a reservation then you'll be assured of one unless they're booked up. Then try another motel.

[observer53]

Originally Posted by wit-nit

Our neighbor travels frequently and said that many motels set aside a certain amount of rooms, not all, for pet owners and their pets. Some will not let large pets stay though.
If you call ahead and make a reservation then you'll be assured of one unless they're booked up. Then try another motel.

True, I've seen that policy. The rooms where pets are allowed are sometimes those in which smoking is also allowed. Can be a problem for some people.