Trying to avoid mountains (Houston, Dallas: 2014, construction, tax)

[Courtneymanns]

We are traveling from Missouri to Arizona and we are terrified of going over mountains with the truck we had full of furniture could be over loaded so we trying to find a route where we could avoid inclining and wanna be on flat land mostly not worried about hills just mountains can somebody help me plz?

[Chuco]

If you are mainly going through I-10 then I don't think you will really hit mountains in the El Paso area. There will be a few inclines but nothing really too steep in my opinion. There are mountains in El Paso but not through I-10, so you should be fine taking I-10 all the way to Arizona.

To the east, I've taken I-10 all the way to Houston and to the west, I also drive once in a while to visit family in California through I-10 and I don't really remember hitting anything really steep in any direction. You might hit a few hills here and there on the freeway but nothing too steep as far as I remember.

[katzpaw]

Depends where you are in Missouri but I'd do:
St Louis, Memphis, Dallas, Arizona or
Kansas City, Oklahoma City, Dallas, Arizona

[atrabilius]

I think I know how it is.

A few months ago I took a U-Haul trailer loaded to the max with furniture and stuff behind my pickup from around Fort Worth to Silver City and then to the Los Angeles area. The maximum speed recommended by the company is 55 but I found I could do no more than 42-43 without having to slow down quick as the trailer started a tiny bit of lateral motion, which would have escalated in a hurry to fishtailing and then crashing that trailer and owing U-Haul a couple of thousand dollars. Usually it was 40 at the most, on straight, flat, bone-dry Interstate on excellent pavement in light traffic in broad daylight with perfect visibility. At night, I had to slow down to about 30 at the most, and in the mountains, when there were a lot of curves in the road, in heavy traffic, or when the pavement was even a little bit damp or worn even somewhat (which was a lot in Texas, which used to have excellent roads before the current tax phobia set in), it was even less. I had to take I-10 at night through the mountains west of Sierra Blanca and down inclines just on the Arizona side of the Colorado River and just east of Coachella, California at about 10 or even 5, waving traffic around me. Lots of truckers honked at me. I hit the afternoon rush hour in Midland, had to go through a construction zone, and got pulled over by a sheriff's deputy who said a bunch of people had been calling the cops on their cells saying I was doing 10 or 15 miles an hour. It was actually 25 to 30. I didn't get ticketed--cops didn't bother me for going too slow anywhere else, not in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, in Tucson, in Phoenix, or in the LA suburbs, which seem to begin about halfway through Riverside County--but I decided to detour onto the frontage road for a while. I almost detoured around Phoenix, but decided I didn't want to take a chance on a breakdown on one of the rural roads to the south. I timed my trip through Phoenix for about 9 pm and traffic through the tunnel under Central Avenue downtown was still heavy, and I almost took some wrong turns sticking to the far right lane as much as I possibly could.

On the stretch of I-10 that goes through central El Paso, though, there is a minimum speed limit of 40, and there was no way I could make that safely. I had to get off at Raynolds and detour onto Paisano by way of Durazno and Piedras because the bridge on Raynolds near the hospitals (UMC and El Paso Children's) looked as steep as something in San Francisco and I didn't want to take it in the trailer. When I did get off the freeway, an EPPD cruiser right behind me got back onto the freeway right away; if I hadn't exited, I'm sure I would have been pulled over. The following day I took Doniphan up to Vinton and got back onto I-10 at Vinton/Westway in an attempt to avoid the traffic in El Paso.

My advice: You probably can't avoid mountains, or heavy traffic, along your route, whether you go through El Paso or Albuquerque. Just ignore the honkers (your safety is far more important than their schedule or their desire for speed); stay as far to the right as you can--but you probably know all that already; and if you go through El Paso or find there's a minimum speed limit you can't make going through Albuquerque, of course you'd need to detour.

Also, if I were making that trip again, I'd get off at Geronimo and detour to Paisano by way of Clark and Alameda instead of waiting till I got to Raynolds.

[joqua]

Ummm...can't imagine why anyone traveling from Missouri to Arizona would go by way of IH-10?

Assuming St. Louis to Phoenix, most logical route with NO steepness the entire way, but some gradual inclines, would be IH-44 to IH-40 to Flagstaff, then south on IH-17 to Phoenix.

But since the OP posted the question in the El Paso forum I suppose there is some reason they are coming through here, in which case the answer is the same. NO mountain passes the IH-10 route either. Gradual grades a few places but nothing that would cause worries.

[atrabilius]

Originally Posted by joqua

Ummm...can't imagine why anyone traveling from Missouri to Arizona would go by way of IH-10?

Assuming St. Louis to Phoenix, most logical route with NO steepness the entire way, but some gradual inclines, would be IH-44 to IH-40 to Flagstaff, then south on IH-17 to Phoenix.

But since the OP posted the question in the El Paso forum I suppose there is some reason they are coming through here, in which case the answer is the same. NO mountain passes the IH-10 route either. Gradual grades a few places but nothing that would cause worries.

Yeah, Kansas City, same thing, get on I-40, take it west to Flagstaff, then take I-17 south to Phoenix. But if they want to come through El Paso for some reason, then they can take I-10 west through Texas, or take I-25 south from Albuquerque, or maybe US 54 south from I-40 near Santa Rosa, New Mexico. I don't remember any steep hills on I-25 between Albuquerque and Las Cruces, either.

[katzpaw]

I don't know the Kansas>Flagstaff>Phoenix route but assume most Interstates are relatively flat with manageable good grades - unless its I-5 in California - the Grapevine or further north entering Oregon.

[joqua]

Originally Posted by katzpaw

I don't know the Kansas>Flagstaff>Phoenix route but assume most Interstates are relatively flat with manageable good grades - unless its I-5 in California - the Grapevine or further north entering Oregon.

The exception is IH-70 over Loveland Pass in the Rocky Mountains. I find it frightening even in a passenger vehicle under some conditions, including being boxed in by semi trucks on a long downhill section.

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by joqua

Ummm...can't imagine why anyone traveling from Missouri to Arizona would go by way of IH-10?

It makes sense in winter to avoid the ice and snow on interstates that are further north. Also a long stretch of IH-10 in Texas has speed limits of 80mph.

[Army_Guy]

Originally Posted by Courtneymanns

We are traveling from Missouri to Arizona and we are terrified of going over mountains with the truck we had full of furniture could be over loaded so we trying to find a route where we could avoid inclining and wanna be on flat land mostly not worried about hills just mountains can somebody help me plz?

Can you be more specific with the vehicle? Is this your vehicle? A Uhaul? Will you be towing anything?

Like the other posters said, you won't encounter any mountains, I honestly think the worst inclines you'll encounter are in MO. You'll encounter a few in west TX but my experience has been that the ones in MO were steeper.

If you can, and not everyone can, try to make the drive at night. Less traffic to contend with and cooler temps for better mileage.