Florida to California Trip

Hello,
My wife and I are relatively new to RV traveling and purchased a 5th wheel last year. We have been using it in Florida but planning to take a trip from Florida to south California in mid July for an extended stay there. We are planning to take I-10 across and hoping to do it in a week or so. We are not doing much sight seeing on the way there but will do that on the way back. We have located some camp sites along the way for just overnight stay. Any recommendation or suggestion would be appreciated for traveling tips, route, places to stay or avoid...etc.
Thanks

couple years ago we did a grand canyon trip form NE FL.  I really wanted to go on to CA to see the Sierras, the big trees, Death Valley, etc.... if I'm going that far I might as well....but there was just no way.  I only had a 3 week break off work, so we set the canyon as our limit.  It's where DW wanted to go. So we pushed a fairly hard pace
Anyway you said a week across so I thought my experience might give some insight.....it's a lot of driving.

My original plan was to push on about half way to some midpoint destination to stop for a break on the way out and the way back....doing other stops just as overnights in places like walmart, etc.  Ended up with more of a stop nearly every day for a bit of a break.  We have kids so it was important for them to run around, but for us old folks too.

to give an idea of pace..

first night was an afternoon stop at the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensecola FL.  Want to say we got there around maybe 3PM...found a place out on the beach for dinner, then overnighted at I think a Cracker Barrel by the highway for an easy start in the AM.

next day we stopped mid day ish in Baton Rouge, toured the museum ship there and let the kids play there on the riverfront for a couple hours, then pushed on the Shreveport.  Found someplace for a parking lot overnight.

3rd day we stopped for a couple hours in Dallas and saw the Parrot Museum, which was very good.... then looking for a place to stop in Bowie TX I was getting tired.  It was starting to be clear this was too much.  Stumbled across a little mini RV campground at the town's fairgrounds so we could plug in, have AC, and I could sleep a bit better.

4th day we did an RV museum in Amarillo TX, and lunch at a big tourist trap but fun steak house, then drove through Palo Duro Canyon Park...nice but no camp spots available so we overnighted at a nearby walmart

5th day... I think it was this day we found a little car museum by the highway to walk through for a break, then pushed on to Albuquerque.  Rode the tram up to sandia peak, found a nice place for dinner, then overnighted at a cracker barrel.  By now it's clear to me
that this pace is too hard to keep up
and I don't rest that well overnighting in a parking lot.  Guess I'm too much on-guard.
So... we took a zero day, did some museums in ABQ, played tourist...then found a place to get off the road (American RV Resort) just West of town.

Anyway we continued that sort of pace out to the canyon.  One more overnight near Flagstaff, then the canyon on the 6th day.

I figure CA would have been 2 more days

& That is a fairly hard pace.  I would have done it quicker in a car probably, especially how I used to drive when I was younger, but as the only driver in the RV it worked.
and for me I'm convinced stopping for a museum or a break in a park, or something every day is a great way to go.
I also learned that for me I can plan on no more than about 2 nights in a row overnight in a parking lot before I need to find a more restful campground or RV park to plug in the RV and to unplug my mind.
If there was a second driver I'm sure this could have shortened, but I still think for sanity sake it was a good way to do it....and the second driver would have just made it easier.

If I were doing your trip with no real time constraints, I'd probably plan on maybe 10 days minimum to cross and I'd plan on daily stops at points of interest at least almost every day just like we did before.

Thanks for the information, looks like you guys had a nice full trip. I think we will extend the travel time to closer to 10 days you suggested. It is just my wife and I traveling, so should be a bit easier for when and how often to stop. We need to get there to take care of some family stuff, so not much time on the way there for sightseeing.Planning to incorporate sight seeing and and some of your ideas on the way back when we have more time.
Thanks for your input

We don't plan on more than two "driving days" in a row; 3 at the outside.  Then we take a day off, so the "get up and pack up" routine doesn't get to be a rut.  And rarely do we do more than 250-275 miles/day.  Start late and stop early is another good recipe for low-stress travel. Some people don't have the luxury of enough time to do that, but it makes a huge difference in the enjoyment of your RV.

Crossing I10 in July is VERY HOT!  Hot highways punish vehicle and driver, and the campgrounds won't be much relief til after midnight. Ditto for southern CA.  Since you are Floridians, you are familiar with summer heat, but maybe hadn't thought about it on a several day journey.  Frankly, I'd avoid that entire route May-October if possible. July is the time to be in the northern USA, e.g. Wisconsin or Maine!  Visit southern CA in spring or fall.

Gary RV_Wizard said:

We don't plan on more than two "driving days" in a row; 3 at the outside.  Then we take a day off, so the "get up and pack up" routine doesn't get to be a rut.  And rarely do we do more than 250-275 miles/day.  Start late and stop early is another good recipe for low-stress travel. Some people don't have the luxury of enough time to do that, but it makes a huge difference in the enjoyment of your RV.

Crossing I10 in July is VERY HOT!  Hot highways punish vehicle and driver, and the campgrounds won't be much relief til after midnight. Ditto for southern CA.  Since you are Floridians, you are familiar with summer heat, but maybe hadn't thought about it on a several day journey.  Frankly, I'd avoid that entire route May-October if possible. July is the time to be in the northern USA, e.g. Wisconsin or Maine!  Visit southern CA in spring or fall.

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That's good words.
If you insist in making the trip, though, I recommend heading a little more northward. From Mobile, you can US-98 to Hattiesburg, or even Natchez, then make your way to Texarkana and follow US-82 across Texas to around Wichita Falls. you can then pick up I-40 in Amarillo and run all the way to LA. The high desert will be hot, and dry, but nothing like running I-10 across southern Texas, and it will cool down at night.

Making the run from Kingman, AZ to LA at night is also a good idea. That desert is going to be HOT! in sun.
   

I would highly recommend jogging up to Oklahoma City and picking up I-40 / Route 66.  There are a ton of cool places to see along the way and 7 days is plenty of time to see them.

We did this a couple of years ago from Ohio and picked up R66 in Joplin.  There are a bazillion guides out there and what we did was to plan each day stopping and seeing historic and iconic things we thought would be cool - Roy Rogers museum in Oklahoma and the Route 66 car museum in Sta Rosa, NM. Winslow AZ has a flatbed Ford and a lady mannequin parked "on a corner". Just down the road is the Winslow Crater and a stop at the southern rim of the Grand Canyon is very cool.

From Flagstaff we stayed on R66 but in hindsight there's not much to see past that so jump on I-40 and finish up.

Most of the things you see are 10 minute stops.  We were in a car so we went from iconic R66 motel to motel - The Blue Swallow was the absolute best in Toucumcari NM. I am an old school diner fanatic and we did diner breakfasts and dinners each day.  We had great tacos in Winsolow.

We drove R66 where it made sense and I-40 where the road was deteriorated badly or missing. One "trap" to avoid is all the towns that have a sign "Historic R-66 Downtown." Most of these are just a strip of souvenir and tourist trappy all selling the same junk.  Heading fro the iconic and historic  sights was best use of the time.

We have done that route several times. Did it once in five days...long story why, but suffice it to say NEVER again in five days.

Do NOT stay at Western Skys RV Park in Vado, New Mexico. It's just north of El Paso, Texas.

We've been to all the lower 48 states with our RV and that is the worst park we ever stayed at.  I've seen two other people say the same thing. 

Where are you staying in California?  This place is PACKED in July so you better have reservations.

As Gary RV_Wizard mentioned it will be hot.  Here where I live in Clovis, California they are calling for 109 degrees next week and it's only May. 

That's cool compared to the Phoenix area.

As others have said, that will be one hot trip!  During the summer I would be planning to stop only at campgrounds so I could plug in and have air conditioning at night.  I think boondocking in parking lots would be uncomfortable to say the least.  Think of parking on hot asphalt.  We usually take three days to cross Texas - it's a REALLY big state!  We also figure 350 miles/day on interstates is about the max and that's with both of us driving. Fewer miles is better.  We also stop every hour to take a walk and change drivers.

ArdraF

IF you're going to run I-10, look around Henderson/Breaux Bridge Louisiana for a night's stay.
Not knowing where in Florida you're starting, that could be a day 2, or day 3 stopping point. Getting through Baton Rouge, you will feel like you need a break, and the rest of Louisiana can be a rough ride, with Houston to contend with on the other side. There are some good restaurants, and decent campgrounds around Henderson.
 

July will be to hot for your 5er to cool down by bed time in the desert. Plan on using a motel for any stops between El Paso and San Diego. I would recommend using I-8 instead of I-10 just to get through the desert faster.  We generally can make it from Las Cruces, NM to Gila Bend, AZ in a day (400 MI) and then get up in the hills east of San Diego or to the coast the next day.

You can stay in cooler temps by using I-40 or US 60 or US 380 from TX west. IF you plan your route through Cloudcroft, NM or Rouidoso, NM and then use 380 and 60 over to AZ  to Flagstaff, you can stay cooler but eventually you will have a long desert drive through eastern SoCal.

Be prepared for Blowouts if you are using ST tires in the desert day time driving. I use to have ST tires and had i or 2 blowouts each crossing in the summer. LT truck tires solved that issue.

that's a great point about the heat and cool down.  Our MH would have the AC cranking all day and it still took a while to get cooled down in the evening... a trailer would be un conditioned during the day I suppose

Thanks for all the good input and tips.

We are from south Florida so can certainly appreciate how hot it can get in the summer and driving not much fun. We don't have much choice on the timing as we need to get there by end of July, but will certainly make adjustments to the current plan. Will look into adjusting the route, extend the travel duration to avoid very long days, and make sure we reserved hotel or camp site ahead of time to stay. We have a place to stay once we get there and hopefully trip back in the fall should be more comfortable.

caspian2 said:

Thanks for all the good input and tips.

We are from south Florida so can certainly appreciate how hot it can get in the summer and driving not much fun. We don't have much choice on the timing as we need to get there by end of July, but will certainly make adjustments to the current plan. Will look into adjusting the route, extend the travel duration to avoid very long days, and make sure we reserved hotel or camp site ahead of time to stay. We have a place to stay once we get there and hopefully trip back in the fall should be more comfortable.

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You'll find the northern route across New Mexico and Arizona to be a lot more pleasant than running across West Texas, and southern Arizona, I think.
 

We changed the route based on the inputs and will be going across through US-82/US-287 and I-40. Final destination is San Diego, so we will drop down south may be on US-89 or 95 and catch I-8 west to San Diego. We started looking for campsites and seems to be number of state parks camp sites along the way among other options. We have used the state parks  numerous times and been happy with them.

Where in San Diego are you going to stay?

In Arkansas, there are a couple or three major construction projects that will affect travel on US 82.

https://connectingarkansasprogram.com/projects

I would study up on them while planning your route.


I recommend US-98 Mobile to Hattiesburg, US-49 to Jackson, I-20 to Shreveport, I-49 to Texarkana, then US-82/287/I-40.

Probably three hours additional driving time over the I-10 route.

That is actually our route and we already found few camp sites to stay along the way. keeping it around 300 miles a day give and take. Working on the west end once we get to Arizona. I noticed there is new posting on that route from AZ to CA with some recommendation.
We have a couple options once we get to San Diego one being Santee Lakes just north east of San Diego.

I live in west central Louisiana, and I would second taking one of the 2 norther route options, either US 49 up to I20 then on across Texas until it meets up with I10, this only adds about 20 miles, but lets you miss several cities.

Alternatively US 49 up to I-20 then I49 up to US82/I-40 in Amarillo is another good route, much of 82 / 287 across north Texas is at near interstate grade divided 4 lane highway and has a 75 mph speed limit.

Stops:
1. Pensacola Florida (depending on starting location in Florida) Naval Air Museum
2. Coushatta Casino (20 min off I-10) full hookups, drive thru sites.  Free shuttle to casino for dinner.
3. San Antonio, River Walk if you have time for dinner.
4. Balmorhea State park in west Texas
5. Demming/ Las Cruces area
6. Outskirts of Phoenix  AZ. (west side if possible)
7. LA

Side trips or routes are possible all along the way.  Sedona, Lake Havasu, Las Vegas, then LA

Most of these trips are leave at 9AM arrive at 3-4 PM, this sometimes includes time changes going west. This also puts you at major congestion points at good times (ie Houston at noonish), Stay on the west side of major cities when possible.

Around Albuquerque stop before you get down into the Rio Grande Valley. Moriarty (40 miles east of Albu) is 1200 ft higher (approx) and 10 degrees cooler than the Rio Grande River. Flagstaff is 360 miles west of Moriarty and is slightly (700 ft or so higher) and again cooler by 15 or so degrees compared to towns on either side.  89 from Ash Fork, AZ south is fine but do Not use 89A from Flagstaff south. While in NM stop at least once at a Blakes Lot-a-Burger for a green chili cheese burger and in a NM mexican restaurant ask for sopapillas and honey with the meal.