Originally Posted by
Midwest Michael
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The good news is that thousands of people drive from coast to coast every day of the year, including in winter, and including across the northern tier of the country.
The other good news is that you are being given plenty of time, and in winter travel, time is more important than anything else. At 400 miles a day, you're being given 7 or 8 days for this drive? We recommend limiting yourself to 500-600 miles a day - which means you've got 2 or 3 extra days to work with, and 2 or 3 days where you can stop and wait out a storm if need be. That is more than enough in nearly all cases.
The bad news is that no one can tell you what the weather and road conditions might be 2 weeks from now. All you can do is keep an eye on the forecasts and stay flexible, both to avoid a storm if one is in the forecast and to pull off and wait if conditions do deteriorate.
I will say the generic advice many people will give of "go south" is actually pretty horrible advice as all it does is adds time to your travels, reduces the extra time you have if you need to wait out a storm, and provides very little protection from winter weather (as the current problems in Texas should be a good reminder of). Going south also means places that are less ready to deal with snow if they get it, and often can get ice storms instead of snowstorms, and I'll take driving in snow over ice any day of the week. The general routes you should be looking at for this trip are either ones based on I-80 and I-90 - with the more northern I-90 actually often being preferred across the Rockies, due to easier travel through Montana vs. the High Plains of Wyoming.
I will also say that I would not necessarily recommend renting a 4WD vehicle, especially if you aren't already comfortable driving in snow. When traveling in winter weather on the interstates, the most important thing is the ability to stop - and 4WD does nothing to help you in that regard. Instead, it often gives people a false sense of confidence which can lead to crashes. 4WD is very helpful if you're in a spot that's just got several new inches of snow, and the plows haven't been out on the road yet - but when talking about long distance travel, the better answer is to simply stay put until the plows have gone through, especially since the Interstates are usually the first roads to be cleared during and after a storm.
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