moving from Seattle to Colorado Springs (motels, luxury, living)

[vnodak]

We were planning on a move there within the next couple months but I am considering waiting some as I see that the weather conditions may not be the best for doing so. We would be driving two cars and towing a trailer. After reading some posts and looking at weather and routes, I think it would be wise to wait a couple months. I was thinking March may be a better time or April. Please advise to what you think would be best for us. Also, I am told the better route to take is I 90 East and I 25 South. Time is no issue but safety and ease are. I value your opinion and thanks for the help.

[Mike from back east]

It can snow here in March or April, often very snowy months in the mountainous areas. It can be done if one closely watches the weather reports and highway info. For Colorado check the CDOT website for road issues. The major highways may briefly close for major storms but are cleared quickly. Some people make reservations at motels along the way in case of a sudden storm and if they get clear sailing they cancel the room before the 6PM cut off time. IMO you can do it fine with proper planning.

[vnodak]

thanks mike

[crtyrdjester]

Jealous! I want to be moving away from Seattle too!!

[vnodak]

Imagine but then, every
thing comes to those that wait!!

Originally Posted by crtyrdjester

Jealous! I want to be moving away from Seattle too!!

[Terytee]

Wow! I've only been through Seattle a few times, and I always thought it was beautiful. I think coming from Seattle, you'd have to make some big adjustments to life out here.

Number one being the food! I can't imagine being able to come across the same level of seafood anywhere in CO!

I know there are far more factors to moving from one place to another; jobs, cost of living, culture, etc., but Seattle to CO Springs would be a huge change.
Very different cities in almost every respect.

[Sonic_Spork]

The biggest adjustment in my opinion is the climate, particularly in terms of humidity.

In late December 2011 I moved here from Olympia. I, too, had the luxury of time and wanted to avoid the hardships of crossing major mountain passes under wintry conditions. I am CAPABLE of driving in snow but I certainly do NOT like it. (By the way, some folks up there might tell you that when you get to Colorado you'll be up to your eyeballs in snow constantly. It ain't so. Measured in volume I believe I saw more snow during our years in WA than I did since we came here...it just happened less frequently but more dramatically on a few occasions up there. And in between cold events we often get warm sunny weather all winter long, so long as you're not up actually in the mountains.)

What I did, when I moved...

Although I could make the trip last a few extra days no problem (luxury of time) one option I did not have was to put it off for a few months as you describe. So I decided to make it less stressful by turning it into a laid back and fun road trip. I drove 10-11 hours per day (which is fine for me, if not for everyone) and we took the following route:

I-5 down past Portland to Exit 228
34 W through Corvallis to Newport
101 S for quite a while, with stops along the Oregon coast and in the Redwoods (Trees of Mystery! lol)

Now I normally try to circumvent big cities on bypass highways and I wanted to do this with San Francisco. Unfortunately exits are not numbered, nor accurately marked with what highway or street they lead to, but usually something like a name of a suburb that is in yonder general direction. It was VERY confusing. I got mildly lost...but if I had been using GPS of some kind, I wouldn't have...also, I probably should have just stayed on 101. Anyhow. Eventually made it around/through SF and back on 101 S.

At Paso Robles, CA I cut to the east, and made my way towards Bakersfield.
46 E to 99 S to 58 W.

In Barstow, hooked up with 40 E, and took that to 25 N which brought me right here.

Overnight stops in:
Brookings, OR
Salinas, CA
Kingman, AZ
Las Vegas, NM

Why did I take such a long route? I was hoping to avoid winter and mountain passes, and I like road trips and wanted to see a bit of country. Well, I assumed (ha!) that AZ and NM were southwest type climes...deserty and warm. Um, no. Once you get out of the Mojave and into AZ, you get into high altitude winter. We did see some light snow, a bit of ice, freezing fog...those are all chances you take. But the terrain, despite being at altitude, is nothing like the major mountain passes through the Rockies you deal with further north. There is one very minor mountain pass, Raton Pass, which simply is no big thing at all.

Simply put, unless you are willing to tackle possibly blizzard conditions, carry chains for your tires, and prepare for possible road closures and major hazards, I don't recommend trying to cross further north between about October through May. You may get lucky...or not. But don't count on March or April being better than right now. As for the southern route, the topographical challenges are just a lot less. And for most of that trek the weather is nice and so is the scenery. I'd do it again.

(Sorry for the novel...I'm bad at concise...)

[wycoyote]

Originally Posted by vnodak

We were planning on a move there within the next couple months but I am considering waiting some as I see that the weather conditions may not be the best for doing so. We would be driving two cars and towing a trailer. After reading some posts and looking at weather and routes, I think it would be wise to wait a couple months. I was thinking March may be a better time or April. Please advise to what you think would be best for us. Also, I am told the better route to take is I 90 East and I 25 South. Time is no issue but safety and ease are. I value your opinion and thanks for the help.

March and April are two of the snowier months along the Front Range, probably the highest likelihood for blizzards. Then again it also is a time when the sun does a potent melt job, so if you can be flexible in your arrival time you can oft times come in a day or so after a blizzard to largely dry roads. Colorado's high elevation allows the sun to eat the snow up.

Another poster wrote you a fantastic "triptik" - that would be on heck of a nice road trip fro sure.

Safe travels.

[Carrera32]

I was going to suggest the Southern Route as well, but Sonic beat me to it. Having lived in the Bay area years ago, I can attest that getting through SF with a single car and trying to stay on 101 can be daunting, much less two cars and a trailer trying to stay together and not get off course, particularly if you're unfamiliar with the city. You can avoid SF entirely by bypassing the city to the north and heading east toward Sacramento, but you're still going to hit heavy traffic. A less scenic way, but most likely faster, would be to take I-5 directly south from Washington, through Sacramento, and then take CA-58 to Bakersfield, then I-40 through Flagstaff and on to Albuquerque. Then it's a straight shot north to COS. As Sonic said, the only pass is Raton which just isn't that big a deal. Be prepared to hit some wintry weather, as Sonic mentioned it's high desert and you can run into snow (particularly in the Flagstaff area and possibly in New Mexico and, of course, Colorado, but the roads are usually clear and you shouldn't have too much trouble. It's certainly a longer trip than if you did a straight shot across the mountain passes, but it might be worth it if the weather turns nasty mid-trip.

[Sonic_Spork]

Originally Posted by Carrera32

I was going to suggest the Southern Route as well, but Sonic beat me to it. Having lived in the Bay area years ago, I can attest that getting through SF with a single car and trying to stay on 101 can be daunting, much less two cars and a trailer trying to stay together and not get off course, particularly if you're unfamiliar with the city. You can avoid SF entirely by bypassing the city to the north and heading east toward Sacramento, but you're still going to hit heavy traffic. A less scenic way, but most likely faster, would be to take I-5 directly south from Washington, through Sacramento, and then take CA-58 to Bakersfield, then I-40 through Flagstaff and on to Albuquerque. Then it's a straight shot north to COS. As Sonic said, the only pass is Raton which just isn't that big a deal. Be prepared to hit some wintry weather, as Sonic mentioned it's high desert and you can run into snow (particularly in the Flagstaff area and possibly in New Mexico and, of course, Colorado, but the roads are usually clear and you shouldn't have too much trouble. It's certainly a longer trip than if you did a straight shot across the mountain passes, but it might be worth it if the weather turns nasty mid-trip.

I agree but with one caveat... the scenery you'd miss by staying on I-5 is just simply not to be missed. The Oregon coast and Redwoods were major highlights of our trip. Now if you've already done this and don't feel the need to do it again, fine. But if you've never traveled down there and seen that, you should in my opinion. You might not have cause to ever go back. At least that was my logic.

As for my confusion, I wanted to get off 101 in Novato and take 37 to 80 in Vallejo and then jog down to 780 to 680, which would finally take me all the way back down to link up with 101 again on the other side of all that mess. My trouble happened somewhere after getting on 80 when I got confused about exits (they were oddly marked.) Actually looking at a map now, I see precisely what I did. I accidentally got off 80 onto 780 but going in the wrong direction. It quickly becomes a non-interstate, heading right into residential stuff. I pulled off into a parking lot at Curtola and Solano and called my husband, who helped me figure out what was up. If I'd only gone straight to the next exit it would have been fine. After that moment it was pretty smooth though.

Again, I suspect that GPS would have made a big difference. I had an old dumb phone and it didn't have navigation.

Still, one wrong turn in a five day road trip ain't bad if you ask me!