December = I-10. Unless you’re feeling adventurous :)
Oh, you have to come through Kentucky. It’s beautiful in the spring.(Summer, and fall too!)
Shift your perspective a little north, and start your trip East on US 50, from Sacramento. It climbs up over the Sierras, descends into Nevada from Lake Tahoe (well worth it for this alone, in my opinion), then east across Nevada and Utah, until connecting with I-70 for a ways through the Red Rock country of Utah. Leave I-70 in Colorado and make a spectacular trip up over the Rockies (warning - MUCH slower than I-70, which you may be tempted to take). Near Pueblo, come down off the Rockies and cross Kansas, joining I-35 near Emporia, cut around Kansas City, and pick up I-70 across Missouri, around St Louis, and pick up I-64, rejoining US 50 near O’Fallon. Southern Illinois is a straight shot all the way to Vincennes, Indiana, then a zig-zag across southern Indiana to banks of the Ohio River as you cross into Ohio and the south skirts of Cincinnati, then another zig-zag course to Parkersburg, West Virginia. Be prepared, roads in West Virginia are challenging, but once you descend into Winchester, Virginia, off the east slope of the Allegheny Mountains, then it is a straight shot into DC.
US 50 proceeds beyond Washington into Maryland, over Chesapeake Bay (LONG high bridge) to the East Shore, ending up at Ocean City, where there is a sign, “3,052 miles to Sacramento, California”.
It is a good slice of the “heartland”. And sufficently slow, it will take all of a week to make it.
In October 1994, we drove from Seattle to Memphis- the more Northern route (through Oregon, Idahao, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and then to Tennessee. Oregon, Utah, Wyoming, and Arkansas were pretty.
On the way home, we took the LONGER way home and had a blast. We went down through Mississippi to New Orleans (interesting drive and New Orleans was memorable and the food good, and we had a small child, so we skipped the nightlife). We drove through Texas to San Antonio (River Walk and the Alamo- AWESOME) and were supposed to stay the night in El Paso. 10 minutes out of town, I decided that was NOT going to happen, so we stayed in Las Cruces, New Mexico instead. Very cute town and good food!
Then through New Mexico and to Arizona. We detoured in Tombstone. It’s a bit off the road but worth a visit. We stayed the night near friends in Phoenix before heading to Las Vegas (passing Sedona and the Grand Canyon- both WORTH a visit— as well as the Hoover Dam) to stay a week with my then father-in-law. From Las Vegas, we made a daytrip to Zion (one of my favorite places EVER.) It was a long trip, but I have never regretted it. I will never forget getting out to pee by the car in Texas and hearing a rattler or a seeing a Texas rainstorm rolling in from the car. It can easily be done in reverse.
PS- December might be hairy. We ran into some snow in late October. We used to also do California to N. Tennessee at Christmas time and hit snow a few times in Texas.
The 10 year old will be bored out of his mind stuck in the back of a car for 8 to 10 hours a day. What seems easy for you as an adult will be sheer torture for him and he will hate you for it. Ship the furniture and take your time driving back and stop often and actually have some fun.
Check into professional shipping; travel out to make sure everything gets loaded; take the train back. :’)