At the end of May, I’m going to be driving from Denver to Los Angeles, and I was hoping for any advice and/or wisdom-laced tales from Dopers who have made the trek themselves.
I guess that chiefly, I’m wondering if I should plan on making the trip in two days or one. I’ve made other long trips consecutively before: I’ve driven from Denver to Las Vegas, Rochester NY to Kansas City, and KC to Denver previously, without feeling particularly exhausted after doing so. Tired, sure, but in all cases I remember that I probably could have gone another couple of hours if I had to. (That’s not supposed to impress anybody; I just wanted to relate what I’ve been able to do, safely, in the past.)
Maps.yahoo.com lists the trip from Denver to L.A. as a little over 1,000 miles. I’ve never been to California before, so I don’t really know what to expect. My way of thinking is: it’s just a little longer of a trip than the jaunt to Vegas was, so I might as well do it in one day. But if I am in for any kind of surprise once I enter CA or something, well, I’m all ears.
I live in LA, and have driven back and forth to Vegas a few times. In my experience, LA is about four hours past Vegas. 'Course, since the LA metro area is well over an hour wide, your exact destination makes a significant difference.
No great surprises along the way. It’s pretty damn boring, actually; I-15 through the barren desert. There’s really nothing there, but it’s a very heavily travelled road. You get to see the huge thermometer in Baker. If you feel so moved you can stop at the really big McDonald’s in Barstow. You drive down through the Cajon Pass, enter what looks like the LA suburbs, and then realize that downtown LA is a good 40 miles farther.
One note of caution: on Sunday afternoons and evenings, traffic from Vegas back to LA is really bad. Sometimes shockingly so. If you get stuck in that, it’ll take you much longer than 4 hours to make the trip.
I once drove from Lancaster, CA (north L.A. County, about 65 miles from L.A.) to Denver. It took 22 hours and we drove straight through. My friend and I departed Lancaster and drove to Las Vegas, arriving after dark. We hung out for a little bit and had some dinner. Then we headed north into Utah. We were driving in my '66 MGB that my mon had bought new a couple decades before. It was using a lot of oil. It turned out that dad had done an oil change for me. Unlike modern cars that have spin-on oil filters, this had an oil cannister that held a filter. There is a rubber gasket, but no groove for it to sit in. When dad put the cannister back on, the gasket wasn’t on straight and the edge of the cannister cut it allowing the oil to escape. We took an eastbound freeway (I don’t remember the number) toward Denver and ran out of oil shortly after getting into the mountains. A trucker sold me a gallon of oil and I continued to the next town. The car wasn’t running well, so we took it to a gas station. I don’t remember what the problem was, but I do remember wiping oil from a spark plug wire and the car ran fine after that and whatever the mechanic did. I also bought a case of oil (at this point we didn’t know why it was leaking).
Both of us were falling asleep at the wheel. I saw a man in a black frock coat whose top hat was resting on the guard rail and he was levitating over all of the lanes of the freeway. I also imagined I ran over a little old lady on a tricycle. My friend saw the Fist of God smash the road in front of him. It probably would have been better to make a two-day trip out of it, as sleepdriving can be dangerous.
I’ve done the trip and it’s no big deal as long as you don’t get too bored. Since you’ve driven to Las Vegas you know what I mean. We got into LV at around 4pm and that last stretch to LA was slow and sleepy.
Also, depending where in LA you’re going, don’t think that the freeways in that county will be fast. It’s about three hours from San Bernardino to Pasadena, and another 40 minutes into LA proper.
Do two days and actually stop at some of the beautiful places to stretch and enjoy the view. I prefer to do a stop and stretch every 2-4 hours anyway, just to keep from cramping up or having body parts fall asleep. And if you are sharing the driving, that’s a good zone for switching drivers, so you can at least catnap.
JMHO.
We used to drive from Ft. Collins to Burbank every summer, in 2-3 days. Given the fact that there were three or four kids in the car, who needed to stop to pee, see sights, and so forth… not too shabby! We’d usually do the Nevada/Arizona leg (depending on which route we took that year) overnight, because it was essentially boring and hot to drive it during the day… I remember a lot of desert dawns viewed from the car window.
I’ve made that trip more times than I care to remember.
Here are some tips that I used to go by, they always helped me get through it.
When you see the sign that tells you to get gas now, cause it’s like 100 miles to the next station? They mean it. They’re also going to rip you off nasty. Try to fill up in Grand Junction.
It’s a long haul, for sure. A lot of canyon country in Utah is seen, so bring a camera. I recommend having a cooler with you. It serves to keep you going.
The Utah police WILL ticket you for urinating on the side of the road, no matter how desolate it is.
Stop overnight in the oustkirts of Vegas. Rooms are cheap, and food is cheap. You will also be better rested for the California highway system the next day.
Plan your trip so that you arrive in the desert at night. That might only be valid since I didn’t have A/C in the car I’d make these jaunts in.
The drive through Barstow is fraught with police, who are dying to ticket you. Watch your speed.
At four corners, for god’s sake, try to get around the cow trucks. They stink, and actually drop feces on the roads. Better make sure your washer reservoir is full, too.
Did I mention carry a cooler?
Once you settle in and start heading south at Mojave, you’re on your own. I made my trip from Edwards AFB to Denver at least 20 times. I hope you have good luck.
I’ve done Denver to San Diego, which is a litle bit longer trip. I also recommend stopping on the outskirts of Vegas. Get a cheap room, go into town and play around at the casinos for a while–I’m not a big gambler, so my thing was just to get a couple of rolls of quarters and play the slots for a while, soak up the sights and turn in early. I love just being in Vegas, it’s so delighfully gaudy.
I did this trip three or four years back to attend a convention in LA. Right by the airport. Total drive time was 17 hours - we did 80 the whole way and our average speed was about 65 when stops were taken into account.
We left in the evening and got there mid-day the next day. In retrospect I think this was a bad way to do things, because we were all tired from working all day. We would have been a lot better off taking Thursday off and driving all day Thursday, then we could crash out at the hotel Thursday night and be ready for the Con on Friday.
We got to Vegas just as dawn was breaking and stopped
at a grocery store and bought breakfast. It rained
lightly as we ate, and made the roads slippery as hell. It was my friend’s turn to drive and he donut’d the car making a left to get back onto the highway. We were mostly too bleary to notice. ;]
It was very difficult for all of us to stay awake
through the desert portions of the drive. We probably
almost crashed in there somewhere. I had first shift so
I was asleep for that part. ;]
Traffic did get somewhat bad once we got into the
general LA area. I was glad I had made maps for the
whole route in advance.
All in all not a bad drive, so long as you’re adequately
rested. I’ve driven to Dallas and back from Denver as
well, and they’re about equal feeling drives.
-Ben
Just be careful of Pearblossom Highway as you approach L.A. Definitely not the route to take if you’re trying to make the run in a single day. It’s a very dangerous road. I’d spend the night around Cedar City, UT and exploit Nevada for cheap meals, but then I don’t care for Vegas.
I have driven that trek a number (big number) of times too. Listen to Manservant. He nailed it down to pissing on the side of the road in Utah. Definitely listen to him about staying in Vegas (cheap rooms and cheap food doesn’t hurt either).