I have driven it 3 times.

It is about 21 hours of driving time from here. It is better if you have some company.

I take I-70 to Denver I-25 then to Wyoming and I-80 across. Not a bad drive. But can get long in stretchs.
 
If I stop it is generally in Wendover Utah going out and Limon Colorado coming back.

I have run into weather near the Wyoming Utah border but generally not too bad.

Ryan your an idiot

Just fly southwest bags fly free thats what im doing did it last year and it was cheeper than some of the guys i played with payed to drive and it was only in Baton Rouge.

I booked my ticket this morning on Southwest for $244 round trip out of Atlanta.  Sometimes you have to be patient and check every morning as when I checked a couple days ago, it was $470 round trip.  My suggestion is to find the nearest place that flies Southwest and just keep checking their website each morning. 

Wow 1300$ holy crap im flying out of tampa fl for 515 round trip for my wife and i. I booked it on Orbitz got a hotel 11 mins away and a car for 3 days for that.

My wife went a couple of times and doesn't like to fly. Out of Wichita you can't find airfare less than about $480 a piece. So with bags it would be about $1200 in airfare.

To fly southwest we have to drive at least 200 miles each way and currently it doesn't look like we save much for doing it.

Once I went with 2 other guys and we shared expenses and switched drivers so we drove straight thru.

I could drive out and back for about $400 in gas and a couple hundred more in additional expenses (hotel, food, etc).

In recent years I would take some of the others balls and bags with me for $20 a bag. They didn't have to pay $60 to the airlines and the stuff got there unbroken.

I also liked having a car once I got there.

I enjoy driving and like seeing the country so it is worth it to me.

One other suggestion is fill up with gas about 100 miles out or so from Reno. Gas seems to be about $1.00 a gallon higher there than anywhere else.

Louisiana.  Lake Charles specifically.  I've had issues with airlines destroying bags and balls as well.  And southwest right now is still over $1300 for two people.  I'm not super in to the idea of driving 30 hours.  But I can bring more room for equipment and not paying for cabs when I get there sounds pretty tempting.

Wow.. Know that area too well.. There is no real shortcut to take from there, either. You'd have to take the 10 all the way across the fat part of Texas to Phoenix then cut up, or cut up to Amarillo and take 40 to Kingman then up.

In this case, flying might be better. Question now becomes, which one is closer to you: Hobby, or New Orleans? Or, if it is worth it, Jackson? You may get a better fare by driving a bit further out of the way, but Hobby may be your best bet.

BL.