I know there are a lot of driving enthusiasts and road travelers on this board.... I may need to drive cross-country (SoCalif to NoVirginia) in as short a time as possible very soon, and I thought I'd tap into the knowledge here and ask if people in the know can give me a ballpark idea of how long it would take me to do this drive REASONABLY. (That is, do the drive quickly, but no more than, like, 10-12-hour driving days.) 3 days? 4 days?

Forgive me if this is a bit off-topic, but I'll be driving in my new '05 X, for what that's worth! I know I can research this question, but I need a fast answer (need to reply to a job offer with an estimate of how soon I can start). Thanks for your help!

If your only willing to drive 10 to 12 hours you looking at 750 to 900 miles aday if you dont stop for much longer than it takes to add fluids to your truck and remove fluids from your body.

I'm tend to have somewhat of an iron butt and will generaly go a little more than a 1k miles a day generaly starting out about 9am going to about midnight to 2am.

Stop when you need to stop. Taking a 10 or 15 minute break outside the truck can do wonders for your body. If you become sleepy dont try to drive your way through it find a place where you can safely stop and take a quick nap. Also when it comes to eating stop at restraunts instead of fast food. It will take longer but grab a local paper and read till your food comes from the kitchen. Its a good way to break up the day and allow your mind to do something other that watching mile markers and other idiots on the road.

Also very important if you every decide to caravan with Carlton and he pulls into a rest stop expect to be there all night as he can sleep anywhere.

All above notes are good as far as long trips. I drove from TN to CT in one day (very long) but stopped at better restaurants and had no trouble. Well, except that my car had no cruise control so the last couple hours my foot hurt like you wouldn't believe.

Not sure where exactly you're going from/to, but I just pulled up Mapquest and Los Angeles to Blacksburg VA (where VATech is) claims to take 35 hrs. If I were you, I think I'd consider it being at least 5 days so you can get into town and rest up from the long road trip. That shouldn't be unacceptable.

I drove from Upstate NY to SoCalifornia in 5 days (including a full day of rest in Denver) mostly on I-70. Here was my itenerary (I picked places based on whether I had a friend to crash with there):

Day 1. Ithaca, NY to Columbus, OH (8hrs)
Day 2. Columbus, OH to St. Louis, MO (8hrs)
Day 3. St. Louis, MO to Denver, CO (16hrs)
Day 4. Rest in Denver
Day 5. Denver, CO to Los Angeles, CA (20hrs)

You can do the trip in 3 really long days, or 5 10hr days. I have a friend who drove from Los Angeles to Baltimore in one long stretch, but he's not normal and was driving a car capable of over 100mph (yeah, he's a dumb ass). If you give yourself a week, you'll be perfectly fine.

My return trip from LA to NY was really back-ass-wards as I was stopping in different cities to see baseball games. I went from LA to Phoenix, Phoenix to Denver, Denver to Cleveland (yeah, it's a haul), Cleveland to Chicago (the backwards part), and Chicago to Ithaca, NY. I did that drive with a friend, so we rotated driving (it really helps to have someone to switch off with).

If you want the fastest way convince a friend or two to come along and switch off driving and pay for a flight ticket back. I know that sounds like a lot of extra money but with two other guys you can drive the whole way without stopping. Figure up how much it will cost you for 3-4 or 5 motel nights and see if you can't find tickets for about the same price or less. Depending on when you are talking about I bet it is fiscally possible.

I've done columbus ohio to san fransisco in two days.

columbus to rollins wy. non stop except for gas
and food.

rollins to san fransisco same

moving vans SUCK in the mountains

I disagree... based on experience. You can't average 75 MPH unless you drive WELL over that constantly.

Realistically, figure 50 MPH when making calculations. That's estimating 70-75 MPH with the occasional rest stop for food, gas, and a whiz. I think you'll find the 50 MPH figure rather accurate.

I've driven from the Central E. coast of FL to Colorado a few times. Takes 4 days of hard driving to do it. I don't stop for long, and that's going almost 12 hours each day.

I did drive from Central Texas back to home (Central FL) in a single stretch, only stopping for go-go juice, food, -n- wee wee (one stop took care of all needs). Didn't stop again until the gas tank was M/T. That took a little over 26 hours. I drank Mountain Dew the entire trip, so sleep wasn't an option. That was back in my younger days...

Since nobody has mentioned mileage etc, I looked it up on Yahoo. LA to Richmond, VA is 2686 miles. Yahoo estimates 41 hours for the drive.

I'd say 4 days looks about right for that. Could you do it in less? Yeah - but unless it were some kind of emergency I wouldn't try it.

I did it in five days and I wasn't pushing hard. I started driving at 8am each morning and usually stopped by 5pm or so.

We did it (3300 miles) overloaded in a Subaru Legacy in four days. NJ to Washington state.

Thank you, everyone. Five days sounds best to me. Don't want to kill myself, am more hurried than I'd like to be, but no need to put in 12-14 hour days.

On a semi-related note, if anyone can recommend any cool things to see along the way, I'd appreciate suggestions. I've seen the Southwest quite a bit, but beyond that I haven't seen much. I'm planning to head across on I-40/I-81 but am considering the more northerly I-70/I-64.

Thanks again!

I took I-70 for one reason, Glenwood Canyon . It's fantastic.

We drove from Raleigh, NC to Stanley, ID in 41 hours last year. Two of us, three hour shifts taking turns and sleeping in the back on a thermrest. We brought food with us so only stopped for gas.

Average speed: 61mph.

Jim