January Travel

[QC Torpedo]

I will be driving a small class A from Northern Illinois to Arizona in late January 2017. Please help me with tips on how to avoid bad weather and bad road conditions. I know it's been done!
Thanks.

[NO3putt]

1. Stay on major roads, i.e. Interstates
2. Be flexable on your time schedule
3. Be prepared to have some waiting out for snow, i.e. Have full propane, be prepared to run your generator,
4. Drive safe

[RBR]

I go south every January from Illinois & have had very little problems. I either go to Arizona or Florida, but I start out the same way. I go straight south on I 55 till I hit I 12 in Louisiana then I go east or west. I 12 runs into
I 10 it's a little longer but once you are you are south of Memphis you have very few weather issues and it's usually warm enough to camp comfortably. West Texas is the only area to watch, can get a little chilly there.

[DKRITTER]

Not to be snarky but simply put head south, I'd probably go south to I-20 then west.

My biggest concern would be road conditions and like has been said take your time.

[B and B]

My BIL heads south on January 2nd snow or shine. He gets to florida just fine in snow or not. Has a SOB fiver and SOB truck.

He has issues on the way home. 3 years in a row he has wrecked some part of his trailer either on a tree, hotel wall or curb. Good thing a dealer in Ontario has stock of used Titanium's he can trade up too!!

[wahoonc]

• Head South
• Be flexible
• Monitor the weather
• Be prepared to ride out a storm in a rest area or truck stop (couple of days)
• If conditions go bad STOP and ride it out
• Have fun!

I have to travel all over the country for work, my company has a perverse sense of humor, they send this Southern boy north to NY in January and February! I have holed up in hotels along the way more than once when the weather went bad. Usually I can dodge through by paying attention to the forecasts and planning ahead.

Aaron

[fanrgs]

My best advice--stay off I-40 from about Little Rock west through Arizona at that time of year. If ice and snow storms don't get you, the wind from the west will. Driving an RV west into a constant 45 MPH headwind is absolutely the pits--not only scary, but mentally and physically draining. And I have driven I-40 when it was closed at the NM-AZ border due to wind so bad, it was blowing semi-trailers over into the median.

I would follow the other suggestions and use I-10 or I-20, although even I-20 in Texas has a couple of pretty bad ice storms during most winters. In that case, you just "hole up" for a few days until it melts. I-10 is the safest bet for an uneventful (at least for weather delays) trip to the SW at that time of year. Biggest problem is that it takes you through Houston, with America's worst freeway traffic (IMHO, worse than LA's)!