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Driving from San Jose to Chicago in winter?
tomandjerry wrote: Hi there, My wife and I will need to drive from San Jose CA to Chicago IL around Christmas time. We have never done so during the winter. Is it going to be tricky? Which high way, I70, I80 or I40, would be safer and easier? I am concered with snow storms and icy roads. Your advice would be highly appreciated. Advice: Be prepared to go several ways, then look at the weather shortly before you go. My wife and I drove from southern Illinois to Seattle just before Christmas several years ago. I assumed it would be best to take a southern route and head up along the west coast, but in the end we went a northerly route. Turned out to be the best plan as we hit no snow until we pulled into the driveway at home, and the southern route was beset by storms. Carry chains, and have emergency gear in the car. Give yourself plenty of time in case you need to stop somewhere for a couple of days. -Robert |
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On Mon, 23 Aug 2004 04:48:52 +0000, tomandjerry
wrote: Hi there, My wife and I will need to drive from San Jose CA to Chicago IL around Christmas time. We have never done so during the winter. Is it going to be tricky? Which high way, I70, I80 or I40, would be safer and easier? I am concered with snow storms and icy roads. Your advice would be highly appreciated. You might be surprised to find out how short the southern route through Bakersfield, Barstow, Needles, et al, is compared to the northern routes. But the best thing to do is keep a sharp eye on the weather reports and choose the open route of choice. From time to time a winter storm is bad enough to close all routes, including I-40 across northern Arizona. Once upon a time several decades ago even I-10 was closed west of Tucson for a day or so. ************* DAVE HATUNEN ) ************* * Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow * * My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps * |
#3
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At that time of year any of those routes can be tricky. All of those
interstates will be closed on occasion each year. Check the weather carefully. While it's longer you might want to swing south and try either 20 or 10. Even here though the weather can occasionally get you in west Texas. Keep looking ahead. If the weather starts to look chancy find a motel to stop for a few days. When things get bad the places will fill quickly. tomandjerry wrote: Hi there, My wife and I will need to drive from San Jose CA to Chicago IL around Christmas time. We have never done so during the winter. Is it going to be tricky? Which high way, I70, I80 or I40, would be safer and easier? I am concered with snow storms and icy roads. Your advice would be highly appreciated. |
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robert stephens wrote:
Carry chains, Excellent advice: Got a new car in March and, before it had a thousand miles on the odometer, headed for Reno. Since the new car's tires were a different size from the old, I let the old chains go with the old car. Stopped in Auburn to get some new chains "just in case". Not an hour later we were compelled by the Highway Patrol to put them on and, shortly after, came to a stop for longer than an hour during which three, perhaps four, inches of snow collected on the car. and have emergency gear in the car. Got a blanket out of the trunk immediately that we stopped just in case of need. There was none, but there could have been! __________________________________________________ __________ A San Franciscan in (where else?) San Francisco http://geocities.com/dancefest/ http://geocities.com/iconoc/ ICQ: http://wwp.mirabilis.com/19098103 IClast at SFbay Net |
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It seems to me I heard somewhere that tomandjerry wrote in article
: My wife and I will need to drive from San Jose CA to Chicago IL around Christmas time. We have never done so during the winter. Is it going to be tricky? Which high way, I70, I80 or I40, would be safer and easier? I am concered with snow storms and icy roads. Your advice would be highly appreciated. If time allows I'd take the southern route. My experience is many years old, and was in February rather than December, and we started from near Fresno rather than San Jose, but we had good weather all the way following the old Route 66 (pre-Interstate), with warm sunny days through the deserts and gradually cooling as we went north. We finally ran into snow as we neared Chicago. As others are suggesting, try to out-guess the weather as you choose your route. -- Don |
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tomandjerry wrote in news:45$250357
: Hi there, My wife and I will need to drive from San Jose CA to Chicago IL around Christmas time. We have never done so during the winter. Is it going to be tricky? Which high way, I70, I80 or I40, would be safer and easier? I am concered with snow storms and icy roads. Your advice would be highly appreciated. I 80 isn't really that bad through most of the way, boring yes but bad no. I have driven it from the Salt Lake area to the East Coast in winter. Wind is the big factor across Wyoming and Nebraska (which like Texas can take all of the day and into the night to cross) I believe that I80 should also be a bit shorter. |
#7
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tomandjerry wrote in news:45$250357
: Hi there, My wife and I will need to drive from San Jose CA to Chicago IL around Christmas time. We have never done so during the winter. Is it going to be tricky? Which high way, I70, I80 or I40, would be safer and easier? I am concered with snow storms and icy roads. Your advice would be highly appreciated. I 80 isn't really that bad through most of the way, boring yes but bad no. I have driven it from the Salt Lake area to the East Coast in winter. Wind is the big factor across Wyoming and Nebraska (which like Texas can take all of the day and into the night to cross) I believe that I80 should also be a bit shorter. |
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Gee. I wonder why they spent all that money on signs that enable them
to close the road then? jcoulter wrote: tomandjerry wrote in news:45$250357 : Hi there, My wife and I will need to drive from San Jose CA to Chicago IL around Christmas time. We have never done so during the winter. Is it going to be tricky? Which high way, I70, I80 or I40, would be safer and easier? I am concered with snow storms and icy roads. Your advice would be highly appreciated. I 80 isn't really that bad through most of the way, boring yes but bad no. I have driven it from the Salt Lake area to the East Coast in winter. Wind is the big factor across Wyoming and Nebraska (which like Texas can take all of the day and into the night to cross) I believe that I80 should also be a bit shorter. |
#9
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Gee. I wonder why they spent all that money on signs that enable them
to close the road then? jcoulter wrote: tomandjerry wrote in news:45$250357 : Hi there, My wife and I will need to drive from San Jose CA to Chicago IL around Christmas time. We have never done so during the winter. Is it going to be tricky? Which high way, I70, I80 or I40, would be safer and easier? I am concered with snow storms and icy roads. Your advice would be highly appreciated. I 80 isn't really that bad through most of the way, boring yes but bad no. I have driven it from the Salt Lake area to the East Coast in winter. Wind is the big factor across Wyoming and Nebraska (which like Texas can take all of the day and into the night to cross) I believe that I80 should also be a bit shorter. |
#10
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"Frank F. Matthews" wrote in
: Gee. I wonder why they spent all that money on signs that enable them to close the road then? jcoulter wrote: Wind blows the snow! The passes and from Salt lake there is only one from Laramie to Cheyenne are rarely closed the road is good just boring. (But Little America is as advertised simply amazing (moreso going west as they billboards are up for a 1000 miles |
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