I want to take a little 6-year-old low-mileage Hyundai Elantra wagon from the Orlando area to the Seattle area at around December 20th, and be home for New Year's Eve.

My first thought is to just avoid the mountains. They're nasty, it's a nasty time of year, and I'm not an experienced mountain driver. The idea of sharing tortuously winding 50-mile-per-hour downhill ice-covered speedways with huge semis scares me a bit.

And so far, it seems like the best way is to take the most direct route to Los Angeles, then cruise up the 5 until I hit Seattle. However, that's at least 500 extra miles that I'd rather not have to drive, and lord knows how much gas I'd rather not have to pay for.

I'd like the opinions of some of the vets here. Could a kid like me handle a more direct route? Is there something I'm missing? I'm half-tempted just to wait until summer but man, it'd be nice to get that car back sooner.