Hey midwest folk, anyone give any thought to driving this thing? Sure it's time consuming and sounds just plain exhausting, but I think we could save some serious Chemical Cash if planned out correctly.
Been doing the math on this!
Basically, flights are easier, and unless we get 5+ people in a vehicle, flights are cheaper too.
At 30 mpg average, taking the most direct route, it's going to be about $320 for gas, round trip. It's a 30 hour drive, you could either drive 3 days 2 nights for 10 hours of driving a day, or 2 days 1 night for 15 (oof) hours of driving a day. Gonna go for 2 days 1 night just to have the cheapest solution.
Round trip for 4 people = $80 in gas split per person, 2 nights of cheap $60 hotels ($30 per person if it's 2 to a room) and 4 days of food expenses (say $15 per person per day), would make it $200 per person total.
ORD-LAX flights are $212 round trip right now, and they'll probably get down to $130-$180 in February / March (flights are cheapest 3 months out). So, about the same or better price, for a 4 hour flight vs a 40 hour drive.
Now 5 people on the road trip would = $148, and 6 would = $133, which might beat out the flight prices. But you've got to consider the extra days off work, since the drive will take 2 days there and 2 days back.
Wife and I are still seriously considering a road trip - it's been a dream of hers to drive out west with no plans, maps or navigation, just find what we find by street signs alone until we hit the coast - but also that for us would have to be just a couples thing and we wouldn't be able to join in on a group trip out :/