Cross country in December 2012

[Pankajdesai]

We are planning a cross country trip from Los Angeles to New Jersey. Would like to avoid cold weather. We will have ten days to complete this trip. I would appreciate if you can share your experience and suggestions. Kindly suggest name of places which we can visit during our trip.
Thanking you in advance.
Pankaj

[Midwest Michael]

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

The reality is that there is no route that can avoid cold/snow/ice on any cross country trip. Even the southern most route across the US (I-10) can and does see winter conditions.

The good news is that with 10 days, you've got quite a bit of time for this trip, so you'll have the opportunity to stop and see quite a few things and/or stop for a day or two if you do end up seeing a winter storm.

As far as what to see, that's largely up to you, at least to start. You are driving across the entire country, and there are millions of things you could possibly see, and we know nothing about what you might be interested in. If you've got a few things that are "must sees" for you, then we can help find some other things that would fit in with your goals, but we need more from you first.

[DonnaR57]

My husband, a former commercial driver, has criss-crossed the country during winter months many times. He has hit snow on I-10 and snow on I-90. With ten days to make a 5-6 day trip, you automatically have a built in "weather day".

Which route to take will depend, as said above, on what you want to see. Bear in mind that not everything is open during December, as far as tourist places go. Also which route you take will depend on where in NJ you are going.

One possible route would be I-40 across to eastern TN, where you pick up I-81 north to Pennsylvania. Then east on I-80, which takes you into the north section of NJ. Along that route - - Grand Canyon South Rim, Petrified Forest NP, Cadillac Ranch near Amarillo, Memphis and Nashville with their music connections, Shenandoah NP, and Gettysburg.


Donna