Drive From Houston to sunnyvale

[gossiper]

Hi,

I am going to drive from Houston, Tx to Sunnyvale, Ca this weekend. I find there are two options after arrive Tucson, one is I-10 through Phoenix, LA, the other one is I-8 through San Diego, LA.

Since it is winter and my car is rear wheel drive, I try to avoid snow and mountain road... So I am not sure which way is better (I-10 vs I-8)?

Thanks,

Gossiper

[Midwest Michael]

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

There is certainly a whole lot more than just 2 ways to go, but I've got to say that going on I-8 would be near the bottom of my list of options. It adds additional miles that are out of your way, and then forces you to go through the teeth of Los Angeles traffic.

In any case, avoiding mountains really isn't much of an issue. The bigger places where you are more likely to see snow/ice are from West Texas through Eastern Arizona. There is also the Grapevine on I-5 north of LA, which sees snow from time to time, but really traffic would be my bigger concern, and I'd avoid that by taking I-15 north at San Bernardino to US-395 to CA-58 to Bakersfield and avoid LA completely.

In any case, its a trip that's going to be about 1900 miles, and you really should plan on being on the road for at least 3.5 days.

[glc]

I would definitely NOT recommend I-8 - it has some pretty rugged mountains between El Centro and San Diego. Definitely stay on I-10. At Redlands, get on CA-30/210 and take that to I-215 to I-15. Then take US-395 and CA-58 to Bakersfield as Michael indicated. Take CA-99 to CA-46 to I-5. At Los Banos, take CA-152 to US-101 to Sunnyvale.