Headed across the country! Tips for packing/the move?!

[palmbeachRN]

So I'm SUPER excited, landed my first travel assignment in San Fran area (Oakland Kaiser, will be living in San Fran). HOWEVER, I hate road trips. I want my car out there with me so I can explore N. Cali, and I am bringing my large, old dog so flying isn't an option. I am driving from South Florida to SF, which is 45+ hours. YAWN! My grandma and my dog are making the trip with me, so should be a wildly awesome time. I've never made this long of a road trip before. The dog is good in the car, and grandma should be as well. Any cross-country driving tips/first time travel assignment tips/tips for arrival in a new and completely different city?! Any site to check out along the way?? (Definitely Grand Canyon!) What did YOU bring on your first assignment? Any tips would be helpful, thanks!!!

[cosmicmama, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

I just drove 2500 miles from the east coast to Phoenix for my first assignment, with two teenagers and a large dog in a Honda Civic. Packed light, and bought a soft cartop cargo carrier. It hurt my gas mileage but doubled my cargo space. I have a washer/dryer in my apartment so we only brought about a week's worth of clothes and we wash frequently. I bought a lot of kitchen and household stuff from Walmart and Goodwill after we arrived.

I drove down to Atlanta, then to New Orleans (spent a couple of days there) then took I-10 all the way. I-40 would have been shorter for me but I wanted to avoid any snow/ice.