Orlando, FL to Arizona (Grand Canyon)

US hwy 287...

Get a copy of Mountain Directory West to help plan the trip.

On either route, you'll have some big cities to deal with. Dallas or Houston. Try to time it to avoid rush hour in these places. If you take I-10 to Phoenix, then head north on I-17, you'll encounter some pretty significant grades to climb. In some places, there are long 7% grades.

If it were me, I'd take the 40 west, then the 10 back. When you leave Flagstaff on the 17 headed to the 10, you'll only encounter one major grade you have to climb that way. Just outside the Verde Valley, there is a significant climb for about 4 miles. Other than that, it's mostly down hill. Just remember to downshift and keep your speed under control on those long down hill stretches.

Houston and San Antonio are no fun driving so I always do very early in the morning. El Paso can also be a bear but you can time that with rush hour traffic.

I20 passes through southern Dallas/Fort Worth and is best done late. It is a madhouse between 6am and 10 PM. The transition to I40 can be done at US 84 west of Sweetwater which is almost Interstate quality. At Lubbock you can stay on 84 to Santa Rosa NM which is a very good road until the last leg from Ft Sumner to Santa Rosa where it is still good road. Littlefield TX and Muleshoe TX have free overnite hookups on US 84. If you want Interstate I27 goes from Lubbock to Amarillo. It is a longer route to Santa Rosa but it is quality.

I took I-10 from the west coast to the east coast. The only deviation was down to Galveston and back up to avoid Huston. Now I wish I hadn't since I missed the Space Center.