I've done this a few times in my own vehicles and also once in a rental car. Be warned, all the rental car places at LAX are off property so allow a good 20-30 minutes to turn in your rental car and take a shuttle to your terminal.
There are some places where you can make a super high-speed run through the high desert. Most folks are going to be driving 80-90 mph on "The 15".
The only stops between Vegas and say Ontario, California are:
- Primm, NV
- Baker, CA
- Barstow, CA
- Hesperia/Victorville, CA
Just something to think about with respect to food/bathroom/fuel
There aren't a lot of options on the drive but here are a few:
- From Barstow, you could head West towards Mojave/Lancaster/Palmdale. There are lot of aircraft in storage and of course Edwards AFB.
- From Vegas, instead of taking "The 15", you could head south on 95 towards Laughlin and then pickup I-40 back towards Barstow. I mention this because sometimes - like Sunday afternoon/evening, the traffic leaving Vegas can be ridiculous. It usually clears out by the time you get to Barstow.
The worst/longest Vegas trip I ever had was going to/from on Thanksgiving. It took me 9 hours to make what is normally a 5 hour drive because the traffic was so bad.
Hope that helps. Oh, and watch out for trucks coming down the mountain between Victorville and San Bernardino. It's really easy to pickup too much speed.