San Diego to Denver in mid-February!

Our son-in-law has recently got a new (and better) job in the Denver CO area. He's currently working by telecommuting, and will be taking our daughter on a "house-hunting" trip later this month. Then, in mid-February, the four of them, plus hubby and I, will be moving them up there permanently. (Part of this makes me sad, but like I said in someone's else's post, the cost of housing here in San Diego vs paychecks don't always go well together. Denver will be a good move for them, though I will miss them a lot!)

Hubby has the truck-driving experience, so he will be driving a U-Haul type vehicle (brand yet to be chosen/reserved) towing a car on a trailer, 4-wheels up. I'm taking some time off work and will ride side-saddle with him, besides being the designated route-motel finder. The "kids" have the responsibility of packing, loading said truck, and are so grateful not to have to worry about the things we'll do. They are driving their SUV crossover with their two boys, ages 5 and 1-1/2. They'll have their hands full with the boys, another good reason for grandma to ride along.

There are three basic routes to take, and we intend to take 3 days (a 4th if needed) to drive any of the three. Daughter has a friend who is a meteorologist willing to give her up-to-the-minute weather reports starting a week before we go to depart, so we will choose based on weather:

1) I-15 to I-70 is basically the shortest route. However, it has two very big CONS to it in the winter. One is that it gets over 11,000 ft in elevation. That's why the ski areas are so popular. The other is that long 6% downgrade into Denver. Hubby drove that towing our 5W, years ago, and said he would never tow that again. So this is probably not in the running, though it is 200 miles shorter than the other two routes.

2) I-8 to AZ-85 to I-10 to Loop 202 (?I think?) to I-17 to I-40 to I-25. A little longer, the only pass I see that could be "interesting", and that's Raton Pass. As I told my daughter, when you move to a place on the other side of the mountains, you're going to have to go over said mountains. MY QUESTION HERE: What's the grade like going northbound out of ABQ through/over Raton Pass?

3) I-8 to I-10 to NM-(something) to I-15. This is definitely the longest of the routes, but is "only" 50 miles longer than route #2. We are familiar with I-8 and I-10, but none of us have driven I-25, ever. QUESTION HERE: Is there any major difference between using this route, vs. Route #2, for climbing? I know I-17 has some grades. Obviously, there's some climbing between Tucson and Lordsburg on I-10, but how are the grades on I-25 to get from Hatch NM up to ABQ? (We'd have the same question from Route #2 with this route, too.)

We are very excited for our family members, and anxious to try to help them out as much as we can since his new job is not funding the move (sad).

Thank you to those I contacted via PM, too -- we are going out later this week to see what kind of deal we can get on the moving truck. Our area has some medium sized U-Haul and Penske dealers. (Budget is anything but, from what we've seen online.) Any more words of advice on that would be helpful.


Donna

1. That's what lower gears in the transmission are for!
2. That would be either Loop-303 or Loop-101. I've never driven I-25 between ABQ and COS but from reading other forums, Raton Pass appears to be a relatively easy drive.
3. That would be get off I-10 in Deming, then NM-26 to Hatch. No bad grades between Hatch and ABQ that I remember. I took that route one year going from MO to SAN to avoid heavy snow in Flagstaff - I-40 to ABQ then down I-25. Even though it's the longest of your 3 options, it's probably going to be the easiest - I-17 can be pretty rough when towing. In fact, I think your toughest segment is going to be I-8 out to Ocotillo.

How about a (4) or a (5)? Take I-15 to I-40 to ABQ to I-25. The only hard climb will be Cajon Pass out of LA. Of course, you can take I-15 to I-215 to CA-60 to I-10 to US-95 to I-40 to avoid any major passes.

Quote:

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3) I-8 to I-10 to NM-(something) to I-15.

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Should have said "to I-25" instead of "I-15".

Door/choice #4, taking I-15 up to the 40, wouldn't be a problem if we get to leave on a weekend. However, if we have to drive that on a weekday, the traffic through San Bernardino/Riverside is "to be avoided at all costs!" We've considered that, too.

We eliminated Door/Choice #5 already, because of US-95. Definitely not a favorite route.


Donna

As I think I already mentioned via PM, unless you are specifically seeing a lot of bad weather in the forecasts, I would take door #1: I-15 to I-70 in a heartbeat.

I have made this exact same drive, in a Uhaul, pulling a car on a trailer, in February. Other than being a little slow driving up the mountain approaching the Eisenhower Tunnel (which is to be expected), I didn't have any issues at all. I didn't see any bad weather, and the only real difficult part about coming down the mountain approaching Denver was the traffic - not the grade. As GLC mentioned, that's what low gear is for. Considering I had no issues, I can't imagine your husband, who has much more experience driving big trucks and towing than I did, would have any significant difficulties.

I will note that a car on a trailer is probably quite a bit lighter than your 5th wheel, so that alone should make the drive easier. The significantly shorter distance is going to save you a lot on gas, and the longer route could have you bumping up near your maximum mileage limits, so again unless the weather forecast says otherwise, this really wouldn't be much of a debate for me.

As far as actually selecting where to get the truck, I'll just say that the employees at both places generally have a pretty liberal amount of ability to adjust the price and/or throw in extras. In other words, doing a little haggling can actually be helpful. Both places generally will price match each other, it never hurts to ask for them to throw in a few extra miles/days in case you do need them because of the weather, and certainly I would certainly ask about getting a diesel and/or the newest truck they have available (although I don't know if Uhaul has diesels at all anymore).

Nope, no more diesels at U-Haul. Penske's 22 and 26 footers are diesel.

I think my brother had mentioned the same: all U-Haul's are gas-powered (with the biggest being a V-10), Penske's ramp is rather odd-ball in comparison to U-Haul's, U-Haul has "Mom's Attic", but both places are willing to dicker if you aren't asking for the most popular weeks in mid-July. Hubby and I are going out later this week to price both U-Haul and Penske.

Thanks for all the routing ideas. I would probably love nothing better than 15 to 70, but the weather is going to be our final determiner. I've seen those routes in summer, and keep thinking that "I'll bet these are gorgeous in winter, as long as the road isn't icy!"

I will keep you posted as things get rolling.


Donna

The gas V10's are strong engines, but at altitude you cannot beat a turbocharged diesel. Being that you own one yourself, I think you know what I mean. I think a loaded truck towing a car trailer would be pretty sluggish in the mountains with a gas engine with no turbocharger.

We just went truck-"shopping" yesterday. Ended up putting in a reservation for a U-Haul 20' with a car trailer, through the local corporate-owned U-Haul dealership. We could end up with one from another dealership, it depends on who gets what and when. They threw in an extra day and some extra miles.

One thing we did NOT like about Penske: that lift of theirs, in the back of the truck, would make loading a lot slower in the long run (compared to the ramps of the U-Haul). They were also a lot higher, which could be at issue in a wind. Prices were comparable, and we don't think we're going 15/70, so we took the U-Haul. We did not have to put down a deposit at U-Haul (Penske requires one), so we can change our minds.


Donna

For the record, the Uhaul I took over I-70 towing without any problems was gas powered. At the time, they were phasing out the Diesels, and pretty much just had them in their largest trucks. I had a diesel for a previous move, and it's a shame that Uhaul seems to think that gas powered is an advantage (of course, most of their customers don't ever use diesel or know the advantages, and would rather stick to what they know). But the gas powered engine is still good enough to get the job done.

Again, I think you're really overreacting by assuming that I-70 won't be a good option for you, particularly with the amount of experience you're going to have behind the wheel.

I'll bring up that point, Michael, about I-70 as an option. Of course we love that route: we take it every chance we get. Over the past 35+ years, we have probably taken that route 20 times at least!

We took a look at the Penskes today, even though we'd pretty well discounted it. Yes, the diesel is a plus. So is "unlimited mileage". The guy didn't seem too willing to dicker for number of days allotted. Penske gives a AAA discount, but it doesn't seem like U-Haul does. We are keeping it in mind. They seem to want to give you either a 22' or 26', "whatever we've got on hand that can go to Denver". Said that they have a lot of vehicles going out to Texas and Denver, but not a lot coming back, so their prices and inventory reflects that.

Truthfully, we haven't made any overnight reservations yet, even though we will need two rooms on what may work out to be a 3-day weekend. We are waiting to see what route looks more likely.

One thing hubby said about the 1-8/10/25 route: "I've never driven up the 25, it would be a new experience, and we've done both of the other routes before!" But we both said how much we'd love to see I-70 through Utah and Colorado, with snow.


Donna

I-25 is slow thru Colorado Springs and up to the south of Denver much of the time. When an AF Academy football game lets out the roadway comes to a stop from traffic jams. Also rough at commuting times.

(just offering what little I can in the discussion)

That's really helpful to know. With any luck, we'd be leaving that morning from either Raton NM or Trinidad CO, and driving through Colorado Springs in mid-day on a weekday -- before Rush Hour. At least, we would if we take Door #2 or Door #3 for routing (both come up I-25).

Since it also falls on me to find lodging for the trip, and we are probably starting our travels on the President's Day weekend, I have begun to look at overnights. Our plan is to do slightly longer days (450-500 miles) the first two days, and a shorter third day, in order to get the kids checked into their new place and start to unload the truck on that third day.

Door #1 - probably Cedar City UT and New Castle CO
Door #2 - Winslow, AZ (a little more than 500 miles, but Flagstaff is already fully booked for that weekend due to a big HS music festival up there) and Raton NM or Trinidad CO
Door #3 - Lordsburg NM and Raton NM or Trinidad CO


Donna

Donna:

If you stay the night in Raton, consider the Raton Pass Inn at the north end of town. Not at all fancy, but quite reasonable, and the people who run it are really nice folks.

Rick

Thanks, Rick, that's great information! I was half-hoping that posting our possible overnights might reveal a good place to stay, other than the obvious chain motels. The kids are on a Motel 6 type budget, so we're trying to choose things that would suit, and that might work out.

The other issue is my work, right now. I've put in for some personal days, but who knows how it's going to work out!


Donna

Our truck is reserved, our overnights are reserved (Door #3 for now: I-8/10, NM-26, I-25), and we are starting to watch the weather. Long-term forecast isn't much good, so we reserved the southern route knowing that we can always change to another route.

Here are some things that we learned:
1) I-15 to I-40 to I-25 is 25 miles longer than the route through Phoenix. Also has Cajon Pass, and going through the Riverside/San Bernardino mess.

2) Going through Phoenix means the long grade up I-17. However, we'd change to this route in a heartbeat.

3) None of us have ever been up I-25 from Hatch all the way to Denver area. It sounded like an adventure. U-Haul kicked in some extra miles and an extra day.

4) Penske was not in the mind to do any dickering. Though mileage was not an issue for them, we were going to get 5 days for the price or we pay more for the 6th day. Yes, power in diesel....at a price. Diesel now costs about 75c to 80c more per gallon. Penske gives it 10 mpg, same as the U-Haul gives for their V-10's. (Update: This mpg is only for comparison purposes. I suspect that neither one are going to give us 10 mpg. Suspect less on both, but even if diesel averages 10 mpg and gasoline averages 5-7, we will pay more for diesel fuel in the total price for the trip.)

5) Hubby is adamant that he does not want to chance I-15 to I-70, as much as he'd love to see Glenwood Springs, Vail, etc., in snow. He wants to see it when he's not moving somebody! Maybe some Christmas we'll go up to see the kids (in our TRUCK) and go that route.


Donna