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Thanks, glc! Just heard from him again. He is about 30 miles east of STL. The roads are good, even though the IL DOT reported them 100% covered in snow/ice. He said there are several cars off in the median and looks about like what we dealt with locally in the Atlanta area just last week. I will look at Wentzville for hotels. If I know him...and I do....:-) He is going to try to make it to Kansas City, but since it's getting dark he may just stop over so he's not driving in the dark.
Yeah, trying to make it to KC would be an extremely bad idea.
As we've discussed earlier, fatigue is a killer and this trip is a marathon, not a sprint. Even if he doesn't "feel" tired, his driving ability is going to quickly start going downhill, and pushing himself to the max today will make him a less safe driver tomorrow.
The roads are NOT that good yet west of Wentzville - I'd highly recommend he not try to go any farther after dark, they are going to ice up. It's VERY cold up here, may go below zero tonight. Salt doesn't work when it's that cold and there's no sun.
4 hotels on hotels.com in Wentzville with rooms available - prices and ratings:
Economy Inn - $44 - fair
Knights Inn - $50 - fair
Super 8 - $64 - good
Fairfield - $131 - outstanding (it better be for THAT price!)
He actually made it to Colombia, Mo tonight. It's 7pm there, so he will get a very good nights sleep. He said the interstate has been great all the way, but when he got off the exit to Colombia he started sliding a little bit in the slush.
Good deal - I was thinking Columbia would be a decent option. It certainly has a lot more hotels than Wentzville and there won't be any traffic issues whatsoever in the morning. It's also far enough from KC where he won't have rush hour problems there.
Tell him the best way around KC is I-435 around the NE side to I-29. I don't advise he go through downtown.
If he decides to take I-80, instead of going all the way to Omaha, get off I-29 at IA-2 to NE-2 through Nebraska City to Lincoln, US-77 will get him to I-80. If he's going to take I-90, just stay on I-29 to Sioux Falls.
Another option is take I-80 to Cheyenne, then use I-25 to get to I-90. It all depends on weather and road conditions. Right now, none of the options are terrible, but none of them are clear either.
Well, he's in Sioux City, SD having car troubles now. May be the bearing going out of the alternator?? Whatever that is!
That's no big deal, alternators are fairly easy to change and are widely available. The alternator is what makes the electricity to operate the car.
It is a good thing he caught it while he was in a city and not out on the rural Interstate.
Good lord, what time was he back out on the road this morning? Sioux City, Iowa is about 7 hours from Columbia (Sioux Falls, South Dakota is another 90 minutes past that), so he must have been checked out of his room by 5am?
Always hate to deal with car repairs on the road, but maybe this is karma reminding him that he shouldn't be pushing himself to the brink?
Agree with GLC, at least the problem was found near a major city where they should be able to repair the problems relatively quickly.
My husband just made it to his destination in WA. The roads were all good and he said it was a beautiful trip. I can't thank you all enough for your invaluable help! Thank you, thank you!
Thanks for reporting.
Glad to hear the weather stayed in his favor, and he managed to not any other significant problems.