Driving from FL-2-OR

[NW-ZJ-SCOTT]

What are some absolute "musts" along the way.. Non stop its about a 2.5 day trip.. and i have roughly 8 days to do it.. 2 nights planned in vegas at the stratosphere

So far i've got a few for AZ.. i wanna see the grand canyon, and eat at the "heart attack grill" :dunce:

I will be leavin jacksonville mid-day on the 8th

[ehall]

I've driven across country a few times. First of all, you'll be very hard to make it from FL to OR in 2.5 days non-stop, you got to pee and eat and get fuel. Are you going to drive 20 hours a day for three days, and then take 4 days off for sightseeing? That means two places you can stop and sleep and still have time to do stuff. You have the GC, that might be the second stop if you can get from there to OR in 20 hours. Dallas is about halfway between Jacksonville and GC. Nothing else in that part of the country I'm afraid.

[NW-ZJ-SCOTT]

I've driven across country a few times. First of all, you'll be very hard to make it from FL to OR in 2.5 days non-stop, you got to pee and eat and get fuel. Are you going to drive 20 hours a day for three days, and then take 4 days off for sightseeing? That means two places you can stop and sleep and still have time to do stuff. You have the GC, that might be the second stop if you can get from there to OR in 20 hours. Dallas is about halfway between Jacksonville and GC. Nothing else in that part of the country I'm afraid.
there is 4 of us doing the driving, No hotel stops till vegas. Leavin on the 8th i plan to be in vegas the night of the 10th.. or morning of the 11th

I seen there is a 6 flags in texas.. but its closed untill friday (the 10th)

[ehall]

You could also split the first leg into two days of 10-hour driving with a stopover in NO, rather than two days in Dallas.

You don't need two days at the GC either, you'll look down see a big hole and that's what the rest of it looks like. Go to Vegas for your 2nd night off.

Then drive over to SoCal and head up the coast taking your time

[tbburg]

8 days, not much time to stop and see stuff. What's your routing out of Fla? You said Heart Attack grill,.. PHX? That probably means 10 across the bottom of the country.

You're going to have trouble route-planning the GC into your trip. None of the roads travel in straight lines around there. Some God or other planted a BIG-A**ED hole in the landscape, and nobody's figured out how to put a bridge over it yet. :D
If you have a little time, you can split off 10 on US 70 in N.M., follow it up to US-60, and take that route into Phoenix. It's scenic, but slow.
The coast road is beautiful, especially north of S.F. Be sure to stop and look at the trees if you take that route(Redwood NP)
Depending on your route out of Vegas and the condition of the passes(check first), you can consider driving up the Owens valley on 395, and crossing over through Yosemite N.P.(bit of a tease there, you're within spitting distance of the Rubicon at that point.)
You probably won't have time to do it, unless somehow you're route has you on I-40, but a slight detour from Flagstaff(East of Flag, on I-40 about an hour away) is Meteor Crater(Yep, another big-a**ed hole in the ground. Arizona, we're your hole in the ground headquarters.)
Where in OR are you headed? Have you been to Crater Lake yet(Another hole in the ground! You're probably thinking, "What's up with this guy?")

[NW-ZJ-SCOTT]

haha.. so far the route is as follows

I10 all the way to i17 in az

take i17 to hwy-180 up to the GC

180 back down to i40

I40 to hwy-93/hoover dam

Stay in vegas for 2 nights..

From vegas to Portland..... I dunno yet..

Like i said, we leave the 8th (thurs) i would like to be in vegas sat night or sunday morn.

we plan on doing as much "straight" driving from fl-LV.. but im lookin for a reason to "spread that out" sure we could stop for a night before hand.. but what is there to do/see?
Right now the idea of Lake tahoe/crater lake sound fun.. Even tho i have seen them both.. I've been to So-cal.. many times.. my brother was stationed there. we have no intentions of going that far out of the way from vegas to portland

[Johnnie Walker]

Hooters is always a good place to stop (=
Sonic Drive-in rocks as well.

[NW-ZJ-SCOTT]

Have both here.. was cool the first time, but the food sucks at both hahaha

[fscrig75]

Well since you're going through El Paso, I would suggest you guys stop and get some steak at Cattleman's Steakhouse. There are many restaurants with this name but this is a one of a kind place.
It's located Fabens, TX which is about 16 miles East from the El Paso City line.
http://www.cattlemansranch.com/