Driving to Houston (San Antonio, El Paso, Kerrville: home, construction, trailer)

[davidt1]

I am getting ready to drive to Houston from LA. I am nervous because I have never driven this far before. I search mapquest and google for directions. They give slightly different directions. Now I am confused. Which one should I use? Does it matter? Thanks.

[chris_ut]

Are you driving from Los Angeles or Louisiana? Since you say its far I'm going to assume Los Angeles in which case its very easy, just get on I-10 and follow that for about 1300 miles till you see Houston. Depending on how far you feel comfortable driving at a stretch you could stop at Phoenix for night 1 then Fort Stockton for night 2. Alternately you could go Tucson night 1 then Kerrville night 2. If your brave you can drive through to El Paso which is about halfway and stop then on to Houston.

[Rick4Life]

Yea it's the easiest drive in the country. It'll take you literally to downtown Houston.

[Reivax]

If you can find Interstate 10, you can find Houston
If you have no trailer, or heavy equipment in tow, personally I prefer this way:
South on the 5 to San Diego.
Take 8 east until it merges with 10 in Arizona, then continue east to Houston on I-10.

like Chris_UT, I've done it both ways,

8-9 hours of driving per day:
Night 1 just south of Tucson, and Night 2 in Fort Stockton, arrive Houston before dark on day 3.

I've also done it 13-14 hours driving per day:
Night 1 in Las Cruces, NM, Night 2 (late) arrive in Houston.

[davidt1]

Thank you everyone. I am coming from the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles. The parts that are confusing to me are merging onto ( in TX) I-35 N for 5.6 miles, then merge onto I-410 S, then merge back onto I-10 E.

[tstone]

You're probably better off driving loop 1604 around San Antonio, due to all the construction there.

[sarahzachd]

So you say not to stop in El Paso? Why not? We will be driving there too in about 2 weeks from Tucson. We'll stop somewhere for the night. Not sure where yet.

[tstone]

We did a road trip to CA and started by driving from SE Houston to Anthony, TX (Exit #0) on the first day. That was 800 miles, 300 of it was cruising at 88 mph. Much of that was monotony, until you hit the mountains. Then we went to San Diego which was about another 725. This was a much more scenic drive than TX. Both drives were about 12 hours with stops for gas. Coming back home we did Las Vegas to El Paso (13 hrs with some rain), then to Houston (12 hrs). The question is - can you handle a drive that long?

From Tucson, Ft. Stockton is a good ''halfway point'' for the night.

[Chelito23]

The directions to merge north onto 1 35 and 410 are just a bypass around downtown San Antonio. You can stay on 1 10 the whole way. Usually, when driving throughlarger cities, through traffic is encouraged to bypass downtowns to avoid clogging commuter arteries. Just stay on 1 10 if those directions confuse you, it will be the same either way.

[chaserivera]

Hey there,
If you want some company I am looking for a ride back to Houston for the holidays, We can split the gas and the driving. I have made the trip several times let me know if your interested. I am up in Valencia currently.
-chase