Here's an opinion...
1. Motel...Cancel the reservation. Save your money and spend it on a good meal or something. You've got the gear, camp at Whitney Portal or Horseshoe Meadow.
2. Acclimatization...it's stinking hot in the Alabama hills in the summer months. If you go to Whitney Portal, head up the Meysan Lake Trail. You will be going up the MMWT soon enough.
3. The trip to Trail Camp...Leave whatever time works for you.
It's six miles, +3,600' to 12,000'. You can go exploring, if you get to Trail Camp early.
4. Travel...16 mile day and drive 150 miles more or less...I've done more than once in the Sierra. Don't know about the SF thingy...I'm a SoCal.
