Well I want to thank everyone and this site for turning my afternoon nonproductive as far as work goes but very productive as far as planning goes. Here is what I'm thinking now so far with the suggestions. First day I leave the day before I had planned at 3 pm on the thursday and drive the 313 miles it takes to get to Lake Charles LA. Google says that's about a 5 hour drive. I figure with one stop....it would be about a 6 hour trip assuming no terrible traffic. From there that's 832 miles to FW. If I then break that up into two days I could make a stop somewhere around Crestview FL on day two (the Friday) which is 432 miles from Lake Charles...or I could push it farther in order to get there sooner that Saturday. I feel like I've made some progress here :)