<p>S1 and FDIL will be moving from Boston to the Bay Area of CA in mid-January and plan to drive a Honda Accord with all-season tires to get there. S1 has mapped out a route that takes them on I90 to I80; he expects to make the trip in 5 days.</p>
<p>DH and I are concerned that they’re not taking weather conditions and the limits of their car into account. They could ship the car and fly (his employer is covering their expenses), but he doesn’t want to do that. He’s driven cross-country before, but that was in the summer and won’t approximate what it’ll be like in January.</p>
<p>What routes would you suggest they take? What pitfalls/challenges might they encounter? How should they prepare for the trip? If you’ve got a good argument for convincing them to fly instead, please pass it along. I don’t think they realize that roads can be closed or limited to certain vehicles, or that trying to go through the Sierras could delay them for days if conditions are bad enough.</p>
<p>" What pitfalls/challenges might they encounter?"</p>
<p>Snow and adverse conditions in the passes. They will have to have food, water, emergency blankets etc. in the car. Make them get chains and practice putting said chains on the tires! In certain conditions, chains will be required and there will be checkpoints.</p>
<p>Also, they need to stick to major freeways and avoid side roads no matter what the GPS will tell them. There have been several deaths by GPS because people decided to take a “shortcut”, got stuck in the snow, and eventually perished. </p>
<p>Agree with getting chains.
Sometimes chains are required even with all season tires.
I know it probably seems silly considering they are now moving to Ca, but if you need me, you need em.
Although we never put chains on our mini van with all weather tires, and now I don’t have chains for the Jeep, but do have winter tires.+ 4WD.
They also need to have extra money and an idea of where they might stay in case routes are closed for " conditions".
My D & her BF are driving to LA, the day after Thanksgiving in his Subaru that has almost 200k miles on it.
( encouraging them to stop in southern Oregon overnight)</p>
<p>Allowing only 5 days with the short winter days will mean driving in the dark. I once got caught in an ice storm in Oklahoma and was only able to travel 100 miles in one day. The one time I drove from the Midwest to Cal in January I did most of the trip on the farthest south interstates.</p>
<p>I think this sounds like a fine plan. For a major life transition, a road trip and spending several days in the car together can make a lot of good memories. </p>
<p>Join AAA. The back up of being able to call for help is huge. </p>
<p>They should map out what mountain passes they will need to cross. Chains strikes me as overkill if they only need to get thru the Berkshires. If they stay on the interstate, the trip should not be hazardous unless there is a major winter storm. They should budget enough money and time to camp out in a roadside motel for at least day or two if bad weather strikes. </p>
<p>They should definitely pack food/water/blankets/emergency equipment in the car. Driving to/from Minnesota to Illinois in my 20’s, I was taught to keep an old coffee can with a votive candle, which is supposed to provide reasonable warmth for as long as the candle burns. (Since coffee doesn’t come in cans any more, I’m not sure what sort of big can is the modern equivalent, maybe a large can of beans or tomato) A gallon jug of water, some packs of granola bars to safe in case of emergency would be prudent. Other good items for the emergency kit include: Replacement windshield wiper blades, a large/sturdy ice scraper and brush, some replacement fuses, flares.</p>
<p>Just saying… If they will be going through certain passes, there could be mandatory chain checks. Can get a fine for not having chains in the car. For example:</p>
<p>We had to get narrower snow tires, than our regular tires, so that there was clearance for chains.
Don’t know about Hondas.
It might be prudent to start looking for them now as they can be hard to find in the middle of winter.</p>
<p>I80 goes through the northern part of the country, like Utah, the Sierra Nevadas, etc. Could be just fine, it’s a major highway, or could be storms that make the weather nasty. Google “Donner party”, that is where they will be driving. I would plan for that drive, then check the weather that week, if need be, they can go a southerly route through AZ and then take the 5 up CA to get north</p>
<p>Sounds fun to me. I’ve made that exact trip-sometimes in a smaller car than an Accord, several times at different times of year. AAA is a very good idea, so is extra cash in case they need repairs at a small place that doesn’t take credit. Plan each day’s drive, but do allow for possible deviations. Major freeways are the best way to go and 5 days is doable if they don’t hit bad weather or want to do sight-seeing. Have the car serviced before leaving, take a cooler with some snack foods and water.</p>
<p>Two adults in the era of 24/7 communication doesn’t sound iffy at all to me. I first did it in 1981 long before there was anything but occasional pay phones along the way.</p>
<p>Agree with the idea to swing south through the Rockies. Not sure why I completely blanked and thought the Berkshires would be the worst of it! 8-} </p>
<p>My mom has been going back and forth to Vegas on the 1-80 route for years. For a winter trip, 1-80 can be dodgy. The weather reports should be easily available and I expect the young adults can prepare a couple alternatives and be prepared if the northern passes are bad or requiring chains. The southern route would be more dependable - 80/90 will be fine all the way through Nebraska or drop down to 70 and go across KS. They could then drop down to 40 to cross the Rockies via NM and AZ, then back up to San Francisco.</p>
<p>Shellfell these are major, major freeways going through or near huge cities. I don’t think cell phone reception should be a problem except maybe in the middle of the Rocky Mountains but probably not even there-my D has taken the route and was able to get AAA in the middle of the night in the middle of the Rockies. Really, they should be fine.</p>
<p>As for chains, yes, know how to put them on, and yes, there will not only be warning signs but as mentioned, you CAN be tickets for not having them if they’re required. I would not recommend putting them on “just in case”. They can seriously damage the roads if you drive on chains when there is no snow.</p>
<p>They can avoid the worst winter weather by heading south and driving up through Cali but that would add driving time.</p>
<p>I’m with somemom. I’ve driven Chicago to San Jose in the summer across 90, and Chicago to and from San Diego in the winter; there through Missouri-Oklahoma-New Mexico-Arizona, and back through Kansas-Colorado-Utah-Nevada. The I90-80 route is only 3 hours and 220 miles shorter per Google maps than the southernmost route using the 5 up California. So it’s not really much quicker considering the scope of the trip (three hours are much more significant in New England!). Based on my experience, I would skip the northern route. We did have to change our plans returning to wait out a storm for one night before crossing the Rockies. I will admit that was the most scenic route; Nevada and Utah were stunning.; not to mention the freshly fallen snow in the Rockies. We lucked out in Oklahoma because there had been storms closing the highway the week before we went.</p>
<p>So driving is definitely doable if there are no major winter storms en route. Have meal stops and hotels tentatively planned out on each route ahead of time (keep in mind there are long stretches out west without any exits or facilities). They’ll be driving into the setting sun which may not seem like a problem but is an issue to keep in mind. Check the weather forecast for various locations along each route for the entire time of the trip; see where the fronts are coming in. Be aware at what point they will have to commit to a route. Then pick the route with the least likelihood of storms, keeping in mind the weather has a mind of its own and they may have unexpected delays.</p>
<p>I would strongly suggest they take the southern route to get to San Diego at this time of the year. Taking the northern route should be reserved for NOT winter. If they time it right, they should be south enough in two days to avoid most bad weather. Yes,…the drive across Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona isn’t the most inspiring but it’s a different kind of beauty. Yes…still some mountains…but not like the northern route!</p>
<p>As someone who just did a Chicago to LA trip that took me through parts of Colorado, Utah, Arizona and Nevada, I will say yes, there are some places where you will not get cell service (my carrier is AT&T). It was usually no longer than 45 minutes to an hour, but you will be on major interstates and already know if you have a major interstate intersection coming up where you need to make a turn. If S and DIL are in an area where they need directions to a hotel, there will be cell service. Where there is no cell service, there’s really no options other than staying on the interstate. I was in an almost opposite situation - was driving over Labor Day weekend where temps were up near 110, and kept thinking, “If I have a flat tire here in the desert, and have no cell service, I’m going to be SOOL.” Some parts of those interstates are very well traveled, though, and help would come soon, but other parts of that trip were quite sparse with traffic, especially after 8PM. </p>
<p>One thing H told me before I left was, when looking for places to pull off for the night, count on finding them anywhere where there are two major interstates intersecting - there’s almost always hotels there. He was wrong, and using this information, one night I ended up having to drive an extra hour because there were no hotels at the intersection of those two interstates, and the next small town with hotels was an hour away. </p>
<p>Something I did do on this trip was, when I was about an hour from when I thought I would be ready to pull off, I would call H, tell him where I was and ask him what towns coming up had accommodations, even though I have a GPS system built into my car. I didn’t want to me messing with the controls while I was driving, so I would call H and he’d research it for me. But if you have two drivers, one of them can be researching it on their smart phones (I’m assuming S and DIL have at least one between the two of them) while the other is driving. </p>
<p>And yes, while driving at night is a bit hairier, there is also going to be much less traffic after dark.</p>
<p>Southern Route. NOT I-80, which goes through, among other things, the Sierra Nevada.
Chains in any case.
Blankets, water, chocolate, spray paint (to write on the snow if stuck).</p>
<p>I would stick with the northern route (planned) as opposed to trying to sneak south of cold weather in January. Northern states have plows and salt and roads designed for bad weather. A friend got stuck in Arkansas for over a week during an ice storm a few years back. They had to wait for it to melt.</p>
<p>Chains are MANDATORY in the passes. They should not try the trip without them. I would also recommend good snow boots, gloves, and jackets. AAA is a good idea but 200 mile towing option might be worth the upcharge. In some parts of the country the larger car repair places are far apart.</p>
<p>I drove with S from Mideast to CA twice, fortunately in warmer months. We would start at 6 AMish and goal was to make it to the largest city we could where we could stop around 5/6PM have dinner, drink, and get a decent night’s sleep. I’d always made it a point to gas up immediately upon getting off road at end of each day to be ready to go in AM. We used AAA to calculate mileage and divided by estimated number of days. We had AAA books to look up potential hotels, always close to road. We always sought hotel with restaurant as I didn’t want to be driving around in some strange town. In your case it seems like 600ish miles a day is about right. We tended to average 700ish miles a day only stopping for gas, quick bite. It really helps to be driving to west as you gain an extra hour of driving time each day. As stated above, you need to be prepared for winter related issues.</p>
<p>“I would strongly suggest they take the southern route to get to San Diego at this time of the year.”</p>
<p>I think they are going to the Bay area - not SD. </p>
<p>I used to drive all the time from upstate NY to Boulder in the winter. However, the worst weather I ever encountered was in Texas around Dallas (I had gone to Florida for Xmas) and was driving back to school. It was late January (Super bowl weekend) There was an awful ice storm and it took me three days to get out of the city. We tried and didn’t get any further than a few exits - had to get another hotel room. Tried again the next day and the same thing. </p>
<p>We weren’t planing on stopping at all (we always drove straight through whether it no matter the time of the year.) </p>
<p>I can see cell coverage being spotty. If they don’t have one - I’d suggest a Garmin. Also, paying attention to the weather report is a very good idea. </p>