HELP!! MOVING road trip from WISCONSIN - CALIFORNIA! NEVER TAKEN ONE BEFORE!

[hannbann5678]

I need any and every piece of advice you guys have!

I will be moving back home to California (after 15 years, yikes!) this November, around Thanksgiving weekend. I'll be going from Southeastern Wisconsin to Orange, California. If possible I want to avoid any and all snow.. Driving in snow sucks.

Tips, advice, help-- ANYTHING is good! Help me! Totally new at this, I fly everywhere!!

[Midwest Michael]

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

Realistically, its impossible to plan a cross country trip in late November without having the significant chance of snow. As you very well know, you could see snow before you leave Wisconsin, and that chance of snow doesn't really end until you actually get to the west coast.

There are 3 main routes you can be looking at. The shortest is to go through Colorado, using I-43/39/88/80/76/70/15 via Des Moines and Denver. The biggest downside is that it is a very high crossing of the Rockies, and that can - but won't necessarily - be a weather issue.

The next alternative is to stay on I-80 across Wyoming and Utah to Salt Lake City and down I-15 from there. This doesn't go up as high as I-70, but does stay at a relatively high elevation that can see high winds, snow, ice, etc.

The third alternative is to head down to St. Louis and then I-44 and I-40 through OK City. This is farther south, but can and does see snow and ice across the southern plains, and snow across the high elevation areas of New Mexico and Arizona.

All three are within about 100 miles of each other, so there's not a huge distance advantage with any, so keep an eye on the forecasts and select your route based on which looks best at your exact time of travel. No matter which way you go, you'll need a good 4 days, and it would make sense to have a 5th available in case you do see bad weather which forces you to get off the road for a while.