I don't think you needed to be so harsh, corie dora. He is doing this trip with a 9 month old baby, that means alot of stops, for feeding, diaper changes, hotel stops for the babyto sleep comfortably etc. And I don't know about you, but I would not like to drive to Florida non stop, especially with kids, it usually takes us 3-4 days to get there, depending how much time we spend in the City we stopped to sleep at.
I'm sorry I came across that way. Its not my intent. It just doesn't make sense to me, as I've done that drive before, several times, and it doesn't seem that long or far to me.
800 miles, going 70 mph on an interstate is only 11 hours. Factor in a half hour break for diapers and snacks every 4 hours or so, and its still just a 13 hour trip. Add on another hour or two for the unexpected poopy diaper at the side of the interstate, tending to your pets, bouncing baby and whatever else might pop up and its still completely within the realm of one day, without even stretching yourself beyond normal waking hours, something parents usually do most days anyhow. Maybe I'm just super mom myself, but it really doesn't seem an insurmountable feat.
Sometimes when we're faced with a new situation, we look at mole hills as mountains, perhaps this is the case?
I also have a child myself, and have done a fair amount of travelling with him. In my experience, any long car trips after 6 mos but before the age of one year were much much easier than after that, so they might as well 'enjoy' it now, cause it only goes down hill for the next few years! There's often more sleeping than anything at this age. That doesn't mean that Mom isn't totally exempt from playing peekaboo, shaking rattles, making faces and awkwardly leaning over the seat to bf in motion, but the frequency of those things is SO much less than it will be this time next year. Imagine doing that trip with a two year old who just wants to run, and can't for the life of him/her understand why you want them in the car seat. Its not pleasant.
Everybody has their limits as to what they can do. For some people, I suppose a half hour car ride would be it for them. It just seems that there are so many different solutions, and so many scenarios as to what can be done with pets during a move...there have been many many excellent suggestions here.
I'm interested to know if the original poster will take any of these suggestions.