<p>Get a nav, but always use your head and a paper map! There are many seasonal routes that can be closed for the winter.</p>
<p><a href=“Family lost in Oregon tried to avoid snow”>Family lost in Oregon tried to avoid snow;
<p>Lots of great suggestions. Would never have thought of having spray paint to mark where you are in the snow.</p>
<p>I also thought that they should not let the gas tank get under half full in case they get stuck in backed-up traffic.</p>
<p>They can take the southern route, end in the L.A. area, and drive north in CA. It’s a beautiful drive.</p>
<p>Regardless…they need current printed maps just in case they lose satellite coverage and cell coverage. And they need to have a plan B in case their primary route has issues.</p>
<p>Also, look carefully at the route the GPS takes. There have been reports of the GPS systems taking folks on very secondary roads…in not good conditions.</p>
<p>If you take longer southern route, get a map, when you get to Barstow, CA, link up with CA 58 which will take you to Bakersfield on I 5. You’ll save hours and hundreds of miles and believe me after 3+days in car, you’ll want it to end.</p>
<p>I would suggest they rethink the idea since the company will ship their car for free if the company also provides a loaner until their car gets there. Son had his company do that. Better to spend the time in the new city than hassling with winter weather. He also had a paid fully equipped apartment until his stuff came and he found a place to rent. Son’s deal included needing to repay expenses if he did not stay with the company for a year. He stayed.</p>
<p>We did a car trip for several days this fall, and have done major drives west of the Mississippi as well. You get road weary. The distances west of the M… are vast and towns few and far between. When travelling we usually don’t know how far we’ll get in any given day so we make hotel reservations as we go- often using hotel coupons found at state welcome centers to save money. AAA a good idea as well.</p>
<p>Since you’re getting AAA, get a AAA TripTik planner. It’s free with membership and they will map out the best routes. They can also recommend hotels at stopping points. They will mark known road closures or lane closures due to construction and winter, but obviously, more closures can happen due to weather. Also remind them to mention their AAA membership at hotels because there’s almost always a discount. </p>
<p>Have to agree with wis75. Employer will pay to ship the car and they’re saying no? Seems nuts to me in January. There’s so much that can go wrong long before the mountain passes. How about New York state for example. Truckers driving 75 in all conditions…no thanks. I’d try hard to convince them to do a long road trip in the summer. </p>
<p>If they drive have them bring lots of quarters. D3 and I were surprised by tolls in Oklahoma that were exact change only and we were scrambling in the cushions to find coins! This was on the route leading from MO to Tulsa and then OK city. Once we got on highway 40 the tolls disappeared.</p>
<p>I had been dreading our trip (from the east coast to AZ) but it was really wonderful and I enjoyed my time with D3 and the changing scenery. What a treat to take I-40 through New Mexico into Arizona. It was gorgeous and when you get to eat green chile stew and see the painted desert in the same day, it’s a pretty good day! If they take the southern route, they can do that too and are less likely to hit bad road conditions.</p>
<p>The one delay DH allowed me on the way out was to spend a few hours at the Petrified Forest National Park, which was just off I40. It was stunning.</p>
<p>Yes, we went there too! It’s a loop that first goes north into the painted desert, and then just south of the highway through the petrified forest area. There was one part that looked like some kind of chocolate dessert with powdered sugar on top and raspberry sauce at the bottom! </p>
<p>You can also stop in Wilson, Arizona and stand on a corner, but we were running late so we didn’t. Next time.</p>
<p>We’ve driven back and forth between Arizona and Ohio multiple times (most recently this past summer) in both summer and winter. Regarding
cell phone coverage, we have T mobile and there are frequent stretches without coverage on both the northern and southern routes. I would not depend on cell phone coverage. I would agree with getting the AAA trip-tik and books for the states you’ll be driving through. We have only had to use chains once, but that time we were very glad to have them. We have had bad weather on both routes - freezing rain, hail, blizzards, road closures due to flooding. We once got stuck in a hotel in Albuquerque for three days due to a blizzard. I would recommend the southern route, as you are less likely to deal with severe winter weather, but there are no assurances. I much prefer to travel this route in the summer. Good luck to you - traveling this route in winter is definitely an adventure!</p>
<p>I would get an AAA trip tik planner, maps and also a GPS to back up your phone, just in case. That way you will have a way of getting around–phone, GPS and map. Would get a AAA Plus, with 100 mile towing package–some places along the route may be pretty far from a mechanic.</p>
<p>If they would rather drive across the country than fly and have the car shipped, it seems like it is their decision to make. As someone who has driven over Donner Pass many times in the winter, yes chains could easily be necessary, and while there may be some service people at the chain-up areas who can put them on your car for you it is far better to know how to put them on and take them off yourself.</p>
<p>Having a GPS separate from your cell phone sounds like a very good idea. Paper maps, too. What we’ve done when DW is driving cross country is for her to call me (sitting at a computer at work) at ~4 PM when she knows about how far she wants to drive so that I can do a quick internet search of a hotel/motel, make the reservations, and get back to her with where she will be staying the night.</p>
<p>I appreciate all the advice and suggestions. S1 is very stubborn, so I’m not sure what part of the advice he’ll heed, but I’ll pass it along. I’m also a AAA member, so I can get them maps and such. Since we’re giving them the car, we can make sure it has blankets, water, snow brush, etc., but they’ll have to deal with chains. We have 6 weeks to try to get them to take the potential hazards seriously.</p>
<p>BTW, I actually stopped on a corner in Winslow, AZ in 1977. Didn’t see a girl in a flatbed Ford though.</p>
<p>It costs very little to add someone to your AAA account. Either add him, or get him his own account. AAA responds to the persons on the account, in any car. He can’t call for help if his name isn’t on an account, and you can’t call for help for his car, unless you (or someone on the account) are with the car. </p>
<p>Which route is the most scenic among I-70,80,90? My kid is thinking about making a similar trip in summer.</p>
<p>As eventual destination was southern CA area, I’ve driven from east to west 2x (40, 80). I would never take 70 as both 70/80 end up going through Denver and taking 70 adds unnecessary miles/time. 80 is flat “ish” or rolling hills. Just put on cruise control and point car forward. If you’re into farm country, you’ll find it scenic. On 80, as you approach Denver you can see Rockies in distance, very scenic. Once past Denver however, driver needs to be on “A” game as steep grades, curves, trucks makes paying attention to road very important with very little, if any, time to enjoy scenery. With target of southern CA, once past Rockies, Utah has some interesting rock formations, but Nevada and CA become desert. </p>
<p>Is 40 better then?</p>
<p>I’ve driven 40 from CA to the east coast. It doesn’t have the steep mountain passes except for the stretch from Kingman AZ to Flagstaff where it’s a constant grade elevation change. Nice scenery most of the way and you get to see the landscape change from the rolling hills of MO and OK over to the flat prairie of west Texas and then to the Southwest desertscape of NM and Eastern AZ, then to a semi-alpine zone near Flagstaff down to Kingman, and then down to the desert of the Colorado River into the California high desert.</p>
<p>My 19 year old son flew from CA to NC in September and drove back with his girlfriend on I-40. In CA they switched over, going through Barstow and Bakersfield, and then connecting with 101, which eliminated a lot of the southern California area traffic. </p>
<p>They pre-planned there stops and made hotel reservations, planning on driving more or less x number of miles per day. They changed reservations once, but the rest worked out (and the weather was fine so they stopped at Grand Canyon and camped one night). They originally wanted to go via I-80, and planned to sleep at rest stops, but when they saw few rest areas on I-80 (and that certain areas can have much less traffic, so less people around if they needed help), they changed their mind and decided to drive 1-40 (and stop at hotels). I wasn’t comfortable with them driving I-80 in summer (and really didn’t want them driving through the mountain roads). </p>