CA to DC in January '03

I'm moving to DC in January from Los Angeles and wondered which route I should take considering it will be winter.

Any suggestions?

[Mark Sedenquist]

I wouldn't recommend crossing the plains of Texas in January (I-20 & I-40) some of the worst ice storms can occur then.

But I would suggest using I-70 -- even tho there is a chance of snow and ice -- it is a beautiful route through the rockies and offers the most likely temperate route through the mid-west. The interstate system is rarely shut down for long due to inclement weather.

Thanks for your tip!

Do you think I would run into bad weather on I-70 if I went in November instead?

[Mark Sedenquist]

Hannah,
In late Novemver 1999, there were a set of amazing snow and ice storms in the Colorado rockies and the Texan plains so claiming to have an accurate crystal ball this far in the future is problematic. But, generally, the heaviest snow doesn't arrive on the Rockies stretch of I-70 until mid-January. In 1994 we also crawled ice storms in Kansas and the central states in mid-December, while other years -- the roads were dry and clear. Even in the worse of the storms, our travel was only delayed at the most about 12 hours.

Don't be frightened by the weather -- there is a quality of magic to driving in a winter wonderland -- (unless you are trying to drive too fast). Millions of US residents do every day in the winter. You can too.

Mark

[Don Woodmancy]

I second our editor's message about the wonder of driving through the Rockies in the winter. It can be a true delight and the state does an excellent job of keeping the roads drivable. Having lived in Clear Creek County west of Denver for a couple of years, I would suggest you try to avoid the west bound trip on Friday afternoon or Saturday morning and the eastbound trip on Sunday evening during ski season. That's when all the flatlanders head into the mountains from the Denver area and from fly-ins and the combination of heavy traffic and inexeperienced winter drivers can often cause Los Angeles-style traffic tie-ups. Any other time and you should be fine and I guarantee you will enjoy the scenery.