I-40 at New Years - California to Tennessee

[xyzabe]

Used to live in Flagstaff and would take I 40 back and forth to Memphis at least 4 times a year in all weather. I would be aware of weather and troopers will close down highway if conditions get bad. I worried more about the stretch from Two Arrows towards the NM border for winds. I've towed the AS in winds that blew semis off I-40, just took my time until I reach a safe stopping point. A properly prepared vehicle and rig, take your time, use your head and the trip isn't a big problem.

One other thing, how much winter (snow, ice) driving experience do you have?

[57Wanderer]

We just drove west on I40 through New Mexico and Arizona and beat the bushes to get the heck out of there! It was 18 degrees night after night, in November. If it had rained or snowed we would have been stuck. Full hookups all the way so as to avoid damage to the trailer..... If I were you, I'd take a more southern route at New Year's. Just sayin'. Happy Trails to you.

[mikentosh]

Originally Posted by ted s hannon

I would avoid I-10 thru Houston to Louisiana, bad road and traffic-- lots of potholes. I prefer I-20 thru Dallas and Shreveport. If you have time to visit south of I-10 go to Big Bend Nat. Park but camp at Maverick RV park in Lajitas, Tx---real nice weather most of time. Would not go the I-40 route that time of year.

Yes, I'm looking at switching the itinerary to go I-20 for the return trip east until it merges back towards El Paso.

I'm going to stick with I-40 plans for now, but will be monitoring weather by the day and if its looking rough then we'll go the same (southern) route out and back.

[mikentosh]

Originally Posted by xyzabe

Used to live in Flagstaff and would take I 40 back and forth to Memphis at least 4 times a year in all weather. I would be aware of weather and troopers will close down highway if conditions get bad. I worried more about the stretch from Two Arrows towards the NM border for winds. I've towed the AS in winds that blew semis off I-40, just took my time until I reach a safe stopping point. A properly prepared vehicle and rig, take your time, use your head and the trip isn't a big problem.

One other thing, how much winter (snow, ice) driving experience do you have?

I grew up in Canada so I have some winter driving experience, but never while towing.

Maybe my expectations are too high, but the plan is to wait out any unplowed highways, and keep speeds way low for the rest of it...if a surprise storm hits. The plan is to get through AZ, NM, TX on Dec 17-20, so if on the 16th conditions aren't looking favorable then I'll divert down US93 to Phoenix and go I-10 from there...I'd just like to avoid covering the same route twice if possible.

[mikentosh]

Originally Posted by 57Wanderer

We just drove west on I40 through New Mexico and Arizona and beat the bushes to get the heck out of there! It was 18 degrees night after night, in November. If it had rained or snowed we would have been stuck. Full hookups all the way so as to avoid damage to the trailer..... If I were you, I'd take a more southern route at New Year's. Just sayin'. Happy Trails to you.

Wow, yeah if nighttime lows are into the "teens" during our crossing week then we'll divert south. There seems to be so much historic variability in temperatures and conditions in that part of the country, making firm plans impossible. Thanks for the info!

[Mrjkq]

I traveled I-10 twice this past winter/spring, both west then east, Fl to Las Vegas and return. Between El Paso & San Antonio is quite desolate & fuel stops need to be planned, don't get low as you may be a long way from filling up. Fort Stanton RV park in the middle of that area is you're only choice for an overnight stop, make a reservation as it fills up every night & they have a little cafe that serves great dinners at a reasonable price, bring your own bottle if desired or get take out...the food is excellent.

[CruizinDux]

Originally Posted by mikentosh

I grew up in Canada so I have some winter driving experience, but never while towing.

Maybe my expectations are too high, but the plan is to wait out any unplowed highways, and keep speeds way low for the rest of it...if a surprise storm hits. The plan is to get through AZ, NM, TX on Dec 17-20, so if on the 16th conditions aren't looking favorable then I'll divert down US93 to Phoenix and go I-10 from there...I'd just like to avoid covering the same route twice if possible.

We took az93 last year and was a good road. Heading for key west a couple of weeks after your departure and was thinking of making our route decision in Barstow/Tehachapi but maybe this time dropping down at Needles on CA95 to i-10 east for a layover & friends in pho (destiny rv park in goodyear) before back OTR to tuscon, tx etc.

Just a FWIW, being from OR/CA, i always stay legal and carry chains for tt AND tv, even if the stratgey is wait out the weather. You can be cited for not carrying. Review chain control requirements.

If you do stay on I-40 there is city rv park in safer, ok, w W/E/dump for $12. Nice muni park, safe with good fwy access.

Re OK memorial, i understand there is a trolley from the nearby cabelas which has good parking. Mustang run rv park on w side of city on I40 is new and nice.

Other suggestions, if you make memphis...sun studio and gibson guitar tours. Just a heads up, we saw two car break-ins in progress downtown and evidence of numerous others. Next time i would park at the visitors center down at the river and take a cab/trolly. Both tours were awesome, but especially the Sun tour...lots of history.

Bring extra cash/singles for the OK toll roads.

Nashville, off hwy 155 near the new oprey, there are three big rv parks. we opted for 2 rivers, but got stock in the annex with our shorter 20' rig. Next time it will be the KOA adjacent to the N, or yogi bear jellystone adjacent to the S...don't be fooled by the name. Pretty quiet that time of the year. If you like good german food/bier, try the Bavarian Bierhaus in the nearby mall to the S (cabelas etc),

Metior crater e of Flagstaff was clean and nice., same for Koa in barstow and for that matter Flagstaff too. Rv parks/cg's in Tehachapi...assuming you approach on I-40. If you coming down 5 or 101>46, sommerville almond tree rv park (s of coalinga) has worked for us a number of times... Not fancy but safe and good i5 accesx. 46 from chalome (james dean memorial) to Hwy99 to Bakersfield is good cross valley that flows well and works well with tows.

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f42/...ml#post2182451
Posts 109 & 103
happy trails.I

Bob

[OTRA15]

Originally Posted by mikentosh

We’ve got roughly three weeks from December 15-January 6 to make our way east and back from California.
. . .

Echoing earlier comments about distance/timing . . .

Rounding up, your route is about 5,000 miles, to be done in 22 days, or roughly about 225 miles per day. This is more than "aggressive" -- it is "unrealistic" if you want to see the sights and have a good time IMO. Best to acknowledge this now and plan accordingly.

Please consider choosing Memphis OR New Orleans for a simpler round trip. Given the potential for bad weather [see below], staying as far south as possible may be prudent.

We did a Jan/Feb 7-week round trip back in the 90's, from NYC to San Diego, up to Napa, then back to NYC via a southern route [I-10 etc.], and hit terrible weather going across Texas. A quick [and incomplete] winterization on the road resulted in significant plumbing repairs in San Diego. You are likely to hit similar conditions, especially if you take the more northern routes.

Do you plan to carry a good compressor, like the Viair 450, for winterizing your rig on a moment's notice, without shore power, and without compressed air from a gas station etc.? Having the right tools for such an eventuality would be wise IMO.

Sorry if this seems like raining on your parade . . . more like recommending a good umbrella as you head out?

Have fun!

Peter

PS -- Please let us know how it goes. Have you read Wachuko's thread about his trip with similar distance/timing issues? Good lessons there . . . .

[OTRA15]

PS -- Ran out of edit time -- Wachuko's thread with various timing/distance issues discussed:

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f240...ns-182654.html

FYI

[uncle_bob]

Hi

While "waiting out the storm" sounds like a simple thing, it may take longer than you might wish. Out in the plains, you can get a good load of snow and yes, it does eventually stop coming down. Next up is wind that blows drifts over the roads for quite a while. Is that days, or is that weeks? It all is very much a "that depends" sort of thing. If you are sitting in a Walmart parking lot burning through propane the difference between two days stop and a week could be a pretty big deal.

Bob

[mikentosh]

Thanks everybody! I spent some time this morning looking at the map and have come up with an alternate plan which is east on I-10 out to New Orleans, and then up and back along I-20. Hopefully this will be better for weather, but still has the I-10 road conditions to take into consideration.

[ted s hannon]

Originally Posted by Mrjkq

I traveled I-10 twice this past winter/spring, both west then east, Fl to Las Vegas and return. Between El Paso & San Antonio is quite desolate & fuel stops need to be planned, don't get low as you may be a long way from filling up. Fort Stanton RV park in the middle of that area is you're only choice for an overnight stop, make a reservation as it fills up every night & they have a little cafe that serves great dinners at a reasonable price, bring your own bottle if desired or get take out...the food is excellent.

Where is Ft. Stanton RV park --in NM ?

[OTRA15]

Originally Posted by mikentosh

Thanks everybody! I spent some time this morning looking at the map and have come up with an alternate plan which is east on I-10 out to New Orleans, and then up and back along I-20. Hopefully this will be better for weather, but still has the I-10 road conditions to take into consideration.

A good adjustment! When [if? . . . ] you are behind schedule getting to New Orleans, you will have the option of heading back west per my earlier comment.

Have a great trip!

Peter

PS -- Some good thoughts for the road, from John Steinbeck's Travels With Charley: In Search of America:

“Once a journey is designed, equipped, and put in process, a new factor enters and takes over. A trip, a safari, an exploration, is an entity, different from all other journeys. It has personality, temperament, individuality, uniqueness. A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policing, and coercion are fruitless. We find after years of struggle that we do not take a trip;
a trip takes us. Tour masters, schedules, reservations, brass-bound and inevitable, dash themselves to wreckage on the personality of the trip. Only when this is recognized can the blown-in-the glass bum relax and go along with it. Only then do the frustrations fall away. In this a journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it.”
[emphasis added]

[slowmover]

Originally Posted by Mrjkq

I traveled I-10 twice this past winter/spring, both west then east, Fl to Las Vegas and return. Between El Paso & San Antonio is quite desolate & fuel stops need to be planned, don't get low as you may be a long way from filling up. Fort Stanton RV park in the middle of that area is you're only choice for an overnight stop, make a reservation as it fills up every night & they have a little cafe that serves great dinners at a reasonable price, bring your own bottle if desired or get take out...the food is excellent.

Fort Stockton & Junction cover the problem handily as to fuel on IH10. New truck stops / travel centers at both the past few years. It’s a pain thru El Paso, so time it.

IH20 is ugly as sin, and crowded as hell. Avoid D/FW. Too much work.

Getting across Houston is best on Beltway 8 around the south side (toll).

Catch IH20 at Jackson, MS. Construction zones from there, but not bad.

Birmingham north to Nashville a scenic drive.

Nashville is the new Atlanta. Meaning you MUST plan route and time for best effect.

Had a jerk with a new AS almost lose that and maybe some teeth after being stopped when he missed a split in Nashville and illegally cut in front of me. He should be glad this Peterbilt has disc brakes. Don’t know why I continue to think AS owners are “smart”.

FWIW, I agree with OTRA on time/distance. Moves from being vacation to a job.

Those other “smart” AS owners are running 70+. Changing lanes. REALLY bad habits. Have seen two this past six weeks almost lose it when they were moving back to right lane same time someone was entering Interstate. Brake light city all around. Who has ROW? Not the guy entering.

The real problem was mixing it up with a pack of cars. Not just too high a rate of travel against POOR KNOWLEDGE/SKILL and BAD HITCH RIGGING and BAD TV CHOICE.

Insist on space all around you ALL OF THE TIME. Passing should be rare. Like, maybe once or twice per day. It isn’t hard. I do it all day and still cover 600+ with a much more difficult rig. Day after day.

The idiots form up in packs. Watch!! Cancel cruise and let them go. They’ll form around you thinking driving is hopscotch. One travels several mph BELOW upper limit (or maybe 65 at highest; with other than a pickup, as an obsolete hitch that isn’t adjusted properly with a trailer bouncing on the front axle is THE DEFAULT AIRSTREAM RIG. The dumb guys).

Changing lanes more than a couple of times means the total distance for the trip is unrealistic. Skill is a non-starter, as is equipment. That’s what fills the statistic columns.

NOW is the time to get that Pro-Pride hitch. And use the Three Pass Method at the Cat Scale to get Steer Axle same whether hitched or not. Trailer DEAD LEVEL according to a carpenters level across the door threshold. (IOW, make the trip easy). I can move the trailer tandems to shift a few hundred pounds on a 42,000-lb load. Does it make a difference in ride & handling? Ha! I do it when I’m already “legal”. Unpaid time. Time I don’t have.

Good luck

.

[xyzabe]

Originally Posted by uncle_bob

Hi

While "waiting out the storm" sounds like a simple thing, it may take longer than you might wish. Out in the plains, you can get a good load of snow and yes, it does eventually stop coming down. Next up is wind that blows drifts over the roads for quite a while. Is that days, or is that weeks? It all is very much a "that depends" sort of thing. If you are sitting in a Walmart parking lot burning through propane the difference between two days stop and a week could be a pretty big deal.

Bob

I'm sorry, but where did you get the idea of being stuck for "days or is that weeks"? Having lived "out in the plains", unless you are in the middle of a rural area, away from a main road, things get cleared up pretty quick. The worse I've been stuck was in Atlanta, several years ago, during their Snowmagedion, where 2 inches of snow shut down a major city for the better part of 5 days. People just left their cars, trucks, semis, and blocked up roads. It took 3 days just to clear the interstates.


For the most part, states that get snow are prepared to clear to. We lived in northern MN and WI for years and they were equipped. We moved to Flagstaff, AZ and the plow trucks they used on I-17 and I-40 made the plow trucks in MN and WI look like pickup trucks. These states are prepared. You may have to hole up for a day, but the interstates will be first to be cleared. Just pick where you pull off, have a shovel in you gear, and pay attention to the weather forecasts.

Also, if you take I-20, you have to deal with Atlanta traffic and several states (Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Arkansas) who aren't really equipped to deal with a "major" snowfall (see above about Atlanta). Just in the past 2 weeks, a 2 inch snowfall raise havoc in AL, MS, and TN.
Where we now live in southern GA, just off I-75, they shut businesses, schools, and roads if someone mentions POSSIBLE snow.

[xyzabe]

Something to keep in mind whenever traveling, most states have the 511 road condition system. You dial up 511, pick the area of the state and/or roads you are traveling, and you get a road condition report. Most will report on construction, weather (and forecasts for rough weather), and traffic conditions.

Really handy when checking out conditions on the road. And most are pretty current.

You might want to add that to your travel arsenal.

[mikentosh]

Thanks everybody, lots of great suggestions here. Flagstaff is showing snow for the upcoming weekend, so the I-40 option is not looking good right now

Will try to do some OTR posts to let you all know how it goes. Just under three weeks before departure...

[57Wanderer]

Another suggestion: There is a southern route through Texas that we like very much: Route 90, which takes you through the little towns of Marfa (Tumble In RV Park), Alpine, and Marathon (the gateways to Big Bend NP).......after Marathon you can stop in to Seminole Canyon SP, (electric and water, with a dump station), which is on our list of favorites, for its quiet and dark skies. Route 90 then continues over to San Antonio and parts east. Good luck and Happy Trails to you......