We are another Sacramento family of 5, three DD 8, 5, 3 (I know all girls


)and have made this drive a few times. The BEST way we have done this drive is to leave Citrus Heights at 4am. We pack the van (has a DVD player

) the night before and then at 4am we move the kids into the van where they fall back asleep. This gives us about 4-5 more hours of quite driving with out having to worry about the kids "wiggles". We always stop in Lost Hills and get gas and snacks, then finish the drive to our hotel. We get there around 10am, 6hrs total and have never hit BAD traffic.
I even left at Midnight (12am) once to make rope drop at 7am

. I just sleep durring the day before and drank a few 5 hrs on the road. The drive was awsome and the wife and kids didn't wake up once. Took an after noon nap and was good to go.