winter driving from illinois to california (bridges, mountains, desert, Texas)
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A little change of plans palm springs is now the destination . Is it pretty safe along the mexican border?
No problem. Just stay on I-10 instead of taking I-8 at Casa Grande, AZ. It'll take you right through Phoenix and across the deserts directly into Palm Springs. You've got a pretty good downgrade just before the Coachella Valley (where PS is) called Cirriaco Summit, but it'll be alright.
The border is pretty safe so long as you don't cross it. But, you won't come within 50 miles of it anyhow, except around El Paso.
My apologies for adding my question to the thread, but my plans are rather similar, so I thought it might be better to put my question here, rather than start another thread.
I am planning a December drive from Toronto (Canada) to San Francisco. For a safer trip, I am planning to go down to Dallas. From Phoenix, I could go via San Diego, or LA. Which way (Hwy 8 or 10) is a safer crossing in the winter?
Now, to Dallas .....
Although Mapquest is routing me via Lansing, I may need to leave from here via Buffalo. From there Mapquest is routing me via Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Louisville, Nashville, and Little Rock. How bad is that route in winter?
My apologies for adding my question to the thread, but my plans are rather similar, so I thought it might be better to put my question here, rather than start another thread.
I am planning a December drive from Toronto (Canada) to San Francisco. For a safer trip, I am planning to go down to Dallas. From Phoenix, I could go via San Diego, or LA. Which way (Hwy 8 or 10) is a safer crossing in the winter?
Now, to Dallas .....
Although Mapquest is routing me via Lansing, I may need to leave from here via Buffalo. From there Mapquest is routing me via Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Louisville, Nashville, and Little Rock. How bad is that route in winter?
I'd appreciate any help you can provide.
Good grief! Do you know how many miles you're adding to that trip by going through Dallas? It would literally be a 1000 miles or more!
Are you sure it's worth it? After all, you're probably not going to avoid winter weather either way you go, though it would be far less likely by going a southern route.
If you're really sure you want to do that, let me know and I'll recommend a route for you.
Anyone have comments on taking I-70 Las Vegas to Southwest IL, during Dec?
Yeah, I do. Expect to be snowed on, heavily, because I-70 goes over two high mountain passes in Colorado, Vail and Loveland, each of which are above 10,000 ft. Vail and Aspen are not ski resorts for no reason.
Additionally, that part of Utah from the I-15/70 junction over into Colorado is a pretty high altitude too, though not that high. However, it can snow badly across there and you have a 6 mile downgrade into a deep canyon, then 6 miles back up out of it again.
If it were me, I'd go down to Boulder City, cross at Hoover Dam (I think the new bridge is open now) on US-93 and take I-40 east at Kingman, AZ. You'll still have to deal with the high country around Flagstaff and on across NM, TX and OK, but December is usually a little early for bad storms.
Depending upon where in SW Illinios you're going, at OKC you could take I-44 to St. Louis, or get off in Springfield, MO and run US-60 to Cairo.
Good grief! Do you know how many miles you're adding to that trip by going through Dallas? It would literally be a 1000 miles or more!
Are you sure it's worth it? After all, you're probably not going to avoid winter weather either way you go, though it would be far less likely by going a southern route.
If you're really sure you want to do that, let me know and I'll recommend a route for you.
Thank you for your reply Stillkit.
Well ... I drove Minneapolis-San Francisco in the summer and would not be looking forward to doing it in the middle of the winter. I am concerned about the mountains, bit I remember a drive Minneapolis - Seattle in early December with more accidents in Dakota than in Idaho, so I have a healthy respect for the northern prairies, too.
I don't know if Mapquest is wrong, but it gives me 2670 miles via Salt Lake,
and 3100 miles via Dallas ( via Lansing to Dallas and via Flagstaff from there), a driving difference of about 8 hrs, according to them. I consider a day or two longer on the road a good trade off for greater safety.
Thank you for your reply Stillkit.
Well ... I drove Minneapolis-San Francisco in the summer and would not be looking forward to doing it in the middle of the winter. I am concerned about the mountains, bit I remember a drive Minneapolis - Seattle in early December with more accidents in Dakota than in Idaho, so I have a healthy respect for the northern prairies, too.
I don't know if Mapquest is wrong, but it gives me 2670 miles via Salt Lake,
and 3100 miles via Dallas ( via Lansing to Dallas and via Flagstaff from there), a driving difference of about 8 hrs, according to them. I consider a day or two longer on the road a good trade off for greater safety.
Do you think I am overly concerned?
Yes and no. It much depends upon the weather that particular week. That's still a little early for major storms (usually) but not at all too early for snow across Wyoming and in the mountains, especially the Sierras on the NV/CA line.
Yes, you probably could avoid a lot of bad weather by going through Dallas, but even then it would depend upon whether you'd want to go the shortest route from there (via I-40 which Mapquest recommends) or the route least likely to see snow (I-10). The difference in mileage from Dallas isn't that great, only a 100 miles or so. It looks a lot farther on the map but, in reality, it's not.
However, if you do want to go I-40, you don't have to go through Dallas at all and could save a bunch of miles by going down through Missouri and Oklahoma. You'd probably be alright that way but, then again, it was snowing in the Texas panhandle just this morning, but it wasn't sticking.
Frankly, if it were me and I had flexibility? I'd wait until time to leave and do a through check of the forecasts across I-80 before deciding. You can use this website to get 7 day forecasts for any city along either route: NOAA's National Weather Service
I hope that helps you. If I can do anything else for you, just let me know.
ps: Have you decided yet whether you'll exit Canada via Windsor (401) or Niagra (QEW)?
HI,
Looks like this is quite the place to maybe get some travel info.
Has anyone ever tried Atlanta to Oregon via the most SOUTHERN Route (mostly I-10) to avoid snow in Winter?
I'm needing to get my car across the US in Jan.
Thanks!
Isabel
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Toronto-San Francisco
