I Won't Be Home For Christmas: Orlando, FL to Seattle, WA

[Odysseus's Angry Cockerel]

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.

[RoadTripper Brad]

Welcome to the forum O.A.C.!

I think you should be able to drive a more direct route... actually, you should have few problems driving the most direct route. Now, you will have to cross the Rockies... no matter what. That shouldn't be too bad, but of course everything is dependant on weather.

Now, crossing the Cascades... there is a little hidden gem that everyone in the Pacific Northwest (PNW) knows about. They know when the passes shut down, the only way to get east or west is... The Columbia River Gorge. For people in Oregon and Washington, this means a detour of sometimes up to 1,000 miles! However, your journey puts you right on track to having the Gorge as your main route.

I would advise taking I-80 over the Rockies to Salt Lake City, then heading north to connect to I-84. I-84 will take you all the way into Portland, then you can go up I-5 to Seattle. Word of warning though, there is a little 'hump' to cross in Eastern Oregon. As always, watch the weather.

This trip might be a good time to invest in a portable NOAA/NWS weather radio.

You should be OK crossing the rockies. Just keep it slow and steady. It's cheaper to stay in a Motel 6 an extra night for the passes to clear up than it is to drive through LA and Phoenix!

-Arizona Brad

[Mark Sedenquist]

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.

I am not the grammar or greek fable police, but when did Odysses tangle with a cockerel? For that matter the possessive for Odysseus would be Odysseus' (the 's is redundant...) but I digress...

My first thought is to just avoid the mountains.

Good point, but going the southern route is a bad idea in December, unless you manage to hit a week of travel when the gulf of Mexico is taking a siesta. Most of the bad ice storms that hammer Texas, New Mexico and Arizona in December orginate in the warm waters south of the border. When wet, warm moisture slams into the artic winds roaring south from the artic -- great, snow and ice storms result.

A much safer and relatively snowstorm-free route would be to head north as soon as you can. It turns out that it is often too dang cold to snow (very much) in the northern plain states in December. To that end, I would use I-55 to I-70 to I-29 to I-90 to Seattle. No matter which route you choose, you will be extremely hard pressed to drive from Orlando to Seattle and get back to Orlando in ten days. The only way that will be possible is to have 10 days of the nicest December weather on record... And that you plan to drive at least 12 hours per day (EVERY DAY). Personally, I don't think it can be done, unless the return leg is by airplane. Be sure to read this article about doing Speed Runs safely!..

Mark

[Odysseus's Angry Cockerel]

I am not the grammar or greek fable police, but when did Odysses tangle with a cockerel? For that matter the possessive for Odysseus would be Odysseus' (the 's is redundant...) but I digress...

Egads, you're right, that's a rather unnecessary S I have there in my username. As for the cockerel, well, AFAIK, Odysseus had a cockerel mascot he kept with him at the helm of his ship... until he found himself and the last of his crew starving at the isle of the sun god; rather than eat the sacred cows at the island, he made dinner out of his poor little pet chicken to keep his crew satisfied for another day or two. Of course, they ended up slaughtering the cows anyway and incurring the wrath of the sun god, yada yada yada, and in the end, maybe the chicken never needed to be killed anyway!

(advice)

I never thought about the ice storms. Are they really that bad down south? Definitely sounds more treacherous than a little cold weather.

As for the speed run, I think I miscommunicate that: I wanted to be in Seattle by New Year's Eve, not to Seattle and back!

But no matter what, the consensus still seems to be that going the more direct route is better than to LA? My priorities are safety, then cost, then time here.

[Mark Sedenquist]

... in the end, maybe the chicken never needed to be killed anyway!

Somehow, I had forgotten about that story -- thanks for the reminder!

I never thought about the ice storms. Are they really that bad down south? Definitely sounds more treacherous than a little cold weather.

It is a geographic conudrum -- the same weather in Wyoming wouldn't cause any problem -- but when it strikes Texas -- look out! Yeah, getting hit by an ice storm in Dallas or anywhere along I-40 in Texas can be a real bummer....

As for the speed run, I think I miscommunicate that: I wanted to be in Seattle by New Year's Eve, not to Seattle and back!

Oh, then, a ten-day juant to Seattle is not going to be a problem -- no matter which route you use and what mother nature throws your way.

But no matter what, the consensus still seems to be that going the more direct route is better than to LA? My priorities are safety, then cost, then time here.

This is shaping up to an El Nino winter -- so predicting weather-free routes is problematic -- but I would suggest that direct beats all other considerations at this point.

Mark

[lhuff]

Some day I'll relate my story of traveling from Marshall,Texas back to Keithville, LA in an ice storm that the weather men failed to predict. (I almost ran over two cops - while they were on foot - completely not my fault).

The worst part about the storms. I see you live in Orlando - imagine for a moment that once every few years Orlando was hit by an ice storm. In other words - it's such a freak thing along the I-20 corridor that we don't know what to do. So you wind up with people thinking they can drive at 80 on iced roads and other idiots cruising along at 20 on the interestates. Not a good combo - lots of accidents, etc.

And now I am off to research my mythology because I have absolutely no memory of Odysseus and his bird.

Laura

[Mark Sedenquist]

If you want to read more "walks down memory lane" with respect to fun encounters with ice storms, snow and freezing mud, these tales have been moved here.

Mark