Well, if the rest of the winter is like it has been so far, you won't have any problems at all! That part of the country had one bad storm this year and nothing since--it's been in the upper 40's--50's for most of the past week here (eastern KS). They will close down I-70 if it gets really bad, but typically it is clear.

I live in Oklahoma, What brings you here in January? Just curious. January can certainly be snowy and icy. This winter has been nearly hot so far though.

really just interested in entering the states.

I was trying to figure out if they were just going to drive in and then turn right around or if they were going to do something. I was going to suggest a couple of things and several places to eat. Most of these would be in Tulsa or OKC, but I didn't know exactly what they had in mind.

Why not fly to Oklahoma City and then go north to Kansas and west to Colorado if the weather is good?

Going to spend most of our time in the Denver area. Just kind of going in and out of KS and OK but will spend one night in one of these states and then head back to Denver. Originally wanted to fly in to Denver and out of OKC but the cost of the rental car was through the roof if we don't pick up and drop off at the same place. . Anyone have advice on a good circular route we could take to keep from traveling the same road each way?? Thanks again.

As others have pointed out, the more interesting things to see in Oklahoma are in OK City, Tulsa, and perhaps Bartlesville. There's relatively little to see in Western Kansas, and that's the area that's most likely to be affected by snow. I think you've miscalculated, or perhaps you just want to touch your feet in several states, but this is a horrible drive and will leave you little if any time on the ground to do sightseeing.

You might want to drive due east out of Denver to Wichita (don't stop yet), then south to Oklahoma City, see the memorial for the bombing and perhaps then spend the night. That's a full day of driving from Denver. Then up to Bartlesville on the next day, stopping briefly to see either Woolaroc or the Price Tower, have lunch at Murphy's (burgers) or Dink's (bbq), and then onto Tulsa, where you might be able to something if you rush (maybe the Gilcrease Museum). Spend the night again. Or maybe drive from OK direct to Tulsa, see something, and then onto Bartlesville in the afternoon, where you can probably spend the night more cheaply at the Holiday Inn Express by Washington Park Mall, and then drive on the next day. But either way, don't miss either Dink's or Murphy's if you stop over in Bartlesville.

Next morning, drive back to Wichita and on to Denver. Not sure what you can see along the way there in Kansas. If you stopped briefly in Dodge City, that might be interesting I guess in a touristy way, but it may be out of the way and would not be the most efficient driving route back to Denver.

If you go to OKC--go to the OKC Bombing Memorial.
Good places to eat
Big Truck Taco-It was originally in a truck but now is in an old drive in. Best Tacos ever-I mean absolutely the best.
The deep fried avacado is awesome and the white bean dip is great too.
Mutts Hot Dogs(owned by the same people that own Big Truck)
They even have Kobe hot dogs.

Cattlemen's Steakhouse. Get the Mountain Oysters or the Chicken Fried Steak w/jalapeno gravy. They are known for their steaks. If you get steak get the George Bush Steak.

Cuppies and Joe--cupcakes and coffee
its about two blocks from Big Truck


On Route 66 in Acadia-visit Pops 66
Largest variety of Sodas and Root Beer on the planet. If you like Gourmet Rt. Beer this is the place. Bulldog Rt. Beer is the best if they happen to have it. Bulldog rt. beer is at the top of a lot of top 10 lists.

Bricktown in OKC is an ok place to visit

Irma's Burger Shop is great for burgers

Sounds to me like this is a checklist kind of trip. Cross a state line, check it off the 50 state visit list, go to next state, repeat.

Maybe see Capulin Monument. I can't think of a durn thing to see in Kansas but flat grass land with a few cows along the way.

Keep in mind that although it has been okay so far, winter storms can and do pop up. Western Kansas can be a misery in a snowstorm and they will shut down the interstate if necessary. So it is possible you could find yourself in Denver and not be able to drive into the states you want, or find yourself stuck in one of the other states and not able to get back when you want. In January, I personally wouldn't count on being able to do this trip from Denver. Well, in February either.

<<Are the roads generally passable during this time of the year? Hate to make the trip and then be unable to get to KS and OK.>>

Yes, Maybe, No. I've been in terrible driving conditions in SE Colorado and Western Kansas January - April and at other times the road conditions have been great. In June I've dodged tornadoes and hail while driving I-70 through Kansas. It is a toss-up.

Just interested in visiting OK and KS? Whatever for. Just back from Christmas in Wichita but that was with family. As for weather, so far so good in many place in the U. S.

What others have said, you just don't know until the actual time. The "weather" will come from the west, so if it's clear in Denver, you'll be fine.
I have driven to Denver across Kansas and one year had to pull of in Goodland, KS because of the ice and snow--had slid off the road twice!! Kansas doesn' take care of their roads in that situation as well as Colorado does.
BUT check the weather channel and do what you want to do about touching states.

And Oklahoma takes even less care of their roads.

There is a good chance that the weather comes from the North, but that is only true about 75% of the time. Many times it only rains in the south and if its cold well there you go= ice and snow just in the south and just cold in the north. You are more likely to run into ice the further south you go and more likely to have snow to the north. Right now the 10 day forecast for where I live in Oklahoma is good for the 10 day. Usually we get 2 or 3 snow/ice periods each year(sometimes more sometimes less and sometimes not at all).

<<...so if it's clear in Denver, you'll be fine.>>

Not necessarily, if their route takes them south from Denver there is the possibility of snow even if Denver is clear. How about doing this in May?

Anything is possible, of course. There is always the possibility of looking at weather.com OR even the evening news for the weather in Kansas and Oklahoma. Geez folks. There is no real answer to this question.

So, if the weather in Salt Lake is good, then the weather in Denver will be good and then Olahoma will be good and finally the eastern part of the US will be good. LOL.

The next time I need to go to the midwest I think I'm going to take a detour south through Oklahoma and pick up some tacos. Yum!

They are that good.

Here's a link to their Hot Dog Joint
Pretty upscale dogs.
http://mutts-hot-dogs.com/Mutts_Amazing_Hot_Dogs/Menu.html

Link to Big Truck Taco Menu
http://www.bigtrucktacos.com/Menus.html

The 5th Amendment on thier menu they tell you the next day on facebook what it was you ate. It could be Tofu, Venison, Rabbit, Quail, etc. It's a mystery. The Flaming Lips and the Crispy Cado are my two favs. The joint is basically a really kicked up version of Street Tacos. It has been on Food Network or the Travel Channel a couple of times.

Thanks for all the responses. Sounds like we will be putting this trip off for a while. We are doing the "checklist" of states. Only need CO, KS, OK, IA, ND,and WI. THought this might be a good way to get three of the final six out of the way. Hubby will probably be headed back to the Middle East next month and don't know when he will be back in the states after that. January was the only "travel" month we had and hoped to get some of the states marked off our list.

If you can wait until the week of and check the forecast then by all means go for it.

But I think you're taking too much of a chance if the only reason for visiting is just to check off those states. Of course, you could just make the most of any bad weather by staying in Denver - it is a very nice city to visit.

ND, IA and WI are all having a very mild winter as well. I'm in Minneapolis and we hit 50 today, no snow on the ground. If you flew into Minneapolis you can drive to Fargo, then make a loop down and hit Iowa and SW WI before coming back to Minneapolis to fly home. But same caveat for Denver, you would have to wait until the week of to book airfare as things are dicey in the winter.

Well you could just do the wait and see game. You can get a lot of last minute fares in January a lot of the time at good deals.

Why don't you just pick a city in one of your checklist states and have a back-up plan in case the weather doesn't work in your favor? At least you could knock another state off your list and have a nice trip with your husband before he leaves.

Thanks for the links spirobulldog.

The advice offered above to pick a city then wing it depending on the weather makes sense to me. If you decide on that then have a look at the Unisys weather model. I have found it to be pretty darn accurate. They have pages with 3 and 10-day models. Here is the 10-day page:
http://weather.unisys.com/gfsx/gfsx.php?inv=0&plot=pres&region=us&t=24h

The charts are technical but you'll easily get an idea of the big picture. You'll see the time links for 12h, 24h, 36h ... 9.5d, 10d. The chart in the above link will change within 6 hours or so. Right now there is a mass of wet weather sitting over eastern Oklahoma and Arkansas.

Times on the charts are in GMT so subtract 6 hours for where you are concerned. For example if it says noon on Tuesday then it's 6 AM Tuesday. Midnight Wednesday means 6PM Tuesday, etc.

Here is the 3-day page, where you can see either precipitation, or temperature and wind:
http://weather.unisys.com/nam/nam.php?plot=pres&inv=0&t=6
http://weather.unisys.com/nam/nam.php?plot=surf&inv=0&t=6

I've found these to be more accurate than the National Weather Service when planning outdoor activities. Obviously the closer in to today the better, but I'll not offer a guarantee on accuracy!

Good luck.

for good information on road condtions in CO, go to cotrip.org
It's usually very up to date and they have quite a few cameras. We always check before driving over to the western slope of CO in the winter.