We will be traveling with out 11 year old daughter. Any ideas as far as route, car rentals, hotels, food. Any ideas or advice in general from those who have driven that far before??!! Thanks for your help!
Don't drive the 40 hours straight through if you don't have to (been there, done that, and it sucks.) Break it up and do some fun things along the way. Make an effort to show your daughter interesting historical sites or landmarks along the way. You'll cross the Mississippi river. You'll see a drastic change in terrain as you cross into Texas and New Mexico. You'll be a stones throw away from the Grand Canyon. You'll cross the Hoover Dam (might as well do the tour). You have a great opportunity here to show your daughter a huge chunk of the country and some really cool places. You'll have a chance to check out some great National Parks. If you don't have to rush the road trip, take as much time as you can. Breaking it up with make it more comfortable for the passengers and it can be a great educational trip at the same time.
If you can break it up in reasonable chunks than you can anticipate which cities you'll need to rent your hotels in. If you can grab them on priceline.com (name your own price) you can get some really good deals. I almost always use priceline and end up with a 2 star hotel at a no-star price.
Keep food and drink in the car to prevent unscheduled stops. You'll have enough unscheduled stops to use the bathroom, lol. In car DVD players are the best things for kids - sitting still for 8 - 12 hours a day is a lot to ask. Before the DVD players I used to get audio books and play them in the car. For the people that get into them, it keeps them awake and entertained. For the people that can't get into them, they fall asleep. Either one makes it easier on the driver.
Route: This is the way that I went: Take I-10 to New Orleans. Then took I-49 to Shreveport. I-20 to Dallas. Texas 81 (it's not expressway, but it's not bad) to Amarillo. Catch I-40 to almost all the way to Vegas. 93 will take you the rest of the way there.
For weddings, debut, anniversary, airport transfer, special date, and other special occasions. Metro rental services can complete your special day. Visit our website at www.metrorental.tk for more details. 
2008 140″ lincoln town car by springfield limousine 
Visit: http://www.auto-prudente.com | Car Hire Faro Airport. Cheap car hire; Auto Prudente will meet you in the Faro Airport Arrivals area (Airport Code: FAO) with the key to your Algarve hire car. 
Wedding Videography Melbourne - Sample.5 Edward Benson Productions http://www.edwardbenson.com.au Liz and Wedding Video Package Highlights