Cross Country Fayetteville, NC to Sacramento, CA and back Routes

[VictoriaS87]

Wondering if these two routes would be sensible during mid-December. They were given to me for a summer trip, and due to weather differences, of course, I want to ensure we can avoid (if we can) any routes that may not be the best to travel on during the Winter.

Here is what I was given from a previous thread:

"As for routing if you drive, your best (fastest) route out would be to go up through Winston-Salem to I-77 north to I-64 west to St. Louis, I-70 to Kansas City, then I-29 up to I-80 which would take you the rest of the way. Coming back you could, for only a very few more miles, drop down on CA-99 to CA-58 east at Bakersfield to I-40 east all the way to Memphis, use US-78 to cut down to Birmingham, and pick up I-24 east which will bring you out on I-95 a bit south of Fayetteville."

We like the southern route given for the return trip, because we would like to stop in Phoenix, AZ on our way back briefly.

Any advice is much appreciated!

[Midwest Michael]

The difference between a summer trip and a winter trip isn't too dramatic, at least if you're trying to just get from point a to point b as quickly as possible. Even in winter, your best bet generally still is to stick to the most direct route, so you are on the road the least amount of time, and thus have the least chance of seeing a storm.

The one variation is that if you have two (or more) routes that are very similar in distance. In that case, keeping an eye on the weather forecasts should be what you use to decide which of those to take. There is no way of knowing which route will be better until just days before your trip - and you can't go far enough south to avoid the risk of winter weather - but specific forecasts let you know which route is most likely to see bad weather at the specific time of your trip.

Adding a stop in Phoenix would actually significantly change your route options for the way home - although I-40 would still be one option. A number of combinations using I-10 would also potentially come into play.

[glc]

Just to refresh the recommendations, in the winter I'd recommend the extra 55 miles - on the way out take I-95/I-20/US-78(I-22)/I-40/CA-58/CA-99.

On the way back, retrace your steps to Kingman, then take US-93 to Phoenix. This will avoid the LA traffic. (Alternately, at Kramers Junction, take US-395 to I-15 to I-215 to CA-210 to I-10) Then take I-10/I-20 back to I-95 just to see some different sights.