Get a good set of maps, maybe join AAA if you don't already and ask them to plan several routes for you. Then look at the weather when you plan to go and choose the route that has the best weather.

Equip your car with what you would need to survive for a few days if you get stuck somewhere.

Stop and rest frequently and hole up if things get scarey. The northern states generally handle bad weather very well and clear roads within a day of a storm.

Best of luck.

I'm here in the Rogue Valley and have driven back and forth to Kansas City many times.
I'd Take I-70 to Denver, then head up I-25 to Hit I-80 at Cheyenne. From there just keep on heading West.
When you get to Reno, check the weather conditions for
Ca 89, which heads up and across California to Mt. Shasta,
where you intersect I-5. Just 75 miles to Oregon.
If all is clear, that's the best and shortest route, and scenic too.
If it's dicey on that route, head on down I-80 towards Sacramento, but at the Nevada City/Grass Valley exit, Take Ca 20 due West, keep going and you'll intersect I-5 at Williams. Head North and in about 4 hours you'll be in your new home.
If there's a major snowstorm, they won't let you thru anywhere anyway.
You'll need a set of chains to be legal in snow zones in California and Oregon, but those roads are heavily traveled and you should have no problems.
live cam links:
http://www.dot.ca.gov/
http://video.dot.ca.gov/
http://tripcheck.com/Pages/RCmap.asp?curRegion=0&mainNav=RoadConditions

Stop for a Basque meal in Winnemucca and welcome to the West.

BTW, it was sunny and 60 here today.

If you use Google maps, you will go across the northern desert of Nevada and the eastern desert of Oregon to get to Medford. That is recommended. www.viamichelin.com will take you to Reno and then connect you to I5 above Redding. That is the safer route. However, in either case I would purchase chains in case they are needed.

We drove from Cheverly, Maryland to Seattle and arrived on Washington's birthday, so your trip won't be that much different. We drove west on I-80 through Chicago and Cheyenne to Salt Lake City, up I-15 to I-84 and then west to Portland. Never got above 6000 feet; I-70 through Denver was just too high for comfort (for us...maybe not for you).

Ran into snow requiring chains once, between LaGrande and Pendleton, OR. Watch www.tripcheck.com for Oregon road conditions.

In one sense, February is a good time to travel cross-country -- you're pretty guaranteed a vacancy at any place you want to stay. Watch the Weather Channel each night, and be willing to (1) change your route or (2) stop if weather conditions make you feel uneasy about continuing. With the flexibility you're bound to have, you can avoid just about any kind of bad weather you'll be running into.

According to Google Maps (which I find generally to be remarkably accurate) it would take you around 8 hours longer (wheels turning) to travel via the southern tier - through Texas then NM and southern Arizona on I-10 - to LA, then up I-5 to Medford, than a more northerly route, such as I-70 and/or I-80. That would help you avoid the high Rocky Mountain passes, and would (probably) limit your chances of chain-up requirements to the Siskiyous (California/Oregon border), at least once you got past the Appalachians.

Going further south would also have a (minor) advantage in terms of longer daylight hours, so you actually might be able to make the trip with the same number of overnight stops as you would in a more northern track. How many days have you allocated to the drive?

Not trying to sidetrack the issue, but have you looked at the cost of just shipping your car and flying? When you count fuel, hotel costs, etc., you might discover that the price difference isn't all that great, and it would save wear and tear on the car and possibly on your psyche as well.

Thank you all for your replies.

Gardyloo, I have thought about shipping my car and then just flying there. Don't know the cost of a car shipment yet. But I am freaking out either way. If I drive, I will be able to bring some things with me in a car. But driving in those winter conditions can be suicidal, I am afraid! Is it really that?!

Is there a way to map out the route to avoid high elevations on the way? Or if I take some small road around it( provided it is possible), will I be stuck in the snowed in unpassable area anyway?

Guys, if you were making this trip, which way would you map it out for yourselves to avoid high elevations and still get to my destination? As far as how many days I will have for the drive, well, I don't really have a particular deadline, but perhaps a week or so.

Use www.viamichelin.com. It assumes a current date for the drive and will use the lowest elevations. If, for example, you tried to detour via Yellowstone, viamichelin would route you around the national park because it is closed to vehicular traffic in this season--at least that is what it does when requesting an Alpine route.

A really brief check with some online shipping rate estimators says it will cost around $1000 for you to ship the car. (The cheapest I found was $920, up to $1400.)

The road distance is around 3000 miles depending on your route, and assuming you get 25 mpg and gas costs $3.50 a gallon, then you're looking at $420 for fuel. At 450 miles a day (which may be pushing it if by yourself) that's 7 days, so using, say, $120 per day for lodging and food (may be high, may be low) that's another $840, so your costs would be something like $1260. Car maintenance or repairs, or extra days waiting out the weather, would be on top of that.

A one-way air ticket between BWI and MFR for early March is $225. So add that to the cost of shipping the car and you're within a sneeze of the driving cost.

The major differences are (a) you'd have to ship the things you'd take in the car (although some carriers will allow the cars to have contents inside, provided you pay extra for insurance) and (b) you'd have to deal with not having a car for the days the car is traveling but you're not. (The car would probably take 10-14 days to make the trip.)

So assuming the out-of-pocket costs are close to a wash, the remaining questions are, how you value your time, what price do you place on not being nervous (or, alternatively, how would you value the experience of driving coast-to-coast - it can be a lot of fun) and, could you do something on the days when the car's not available that would earn income to offset the relocation costs? All there for you to decide, but it's not rocket science.

As for the driving route, I personally would take the southern route and not gamble on being delayed by weather, or having to chain up when you're by yourself and unfamiliar with mountain/snow driving.

Regardless of your route, it's not as if you're going to need St. Bernards to come and rescue you from a snowdrift. Just keep the radio on, stick to Interstate highways, and recognize that if the weather is THAT lousy, they'll close the highways and recommend that drivers hold up until things are plowed/cleared etc.

Have you ever done a very extended drive by yourself? Do you enjoy driving? (I love it - but I know a lot of people don't care - or even dislike it.) Are you comfortable driving in snow or ice?

Taking either route across the country you need to be prepared for ice or snow and possibly being stuck on the road. (My parents were stick in heavy fog in Apr going through W Va and just managed to follow the taillights of a large truck to a giant truck stop where they waited about 7 hours for the weather to clear.)

If you do drive, in addition to having the car tuned and making sure the battery and tires are in top condition, you should take:
Water and food for a couple of days
Flashlights/batteries
Portable radio and batteries
Blankets
Snow equipment (shovel, de-icer, car brush and scraper, heater for the key/lock)
Chains if you run into bad snow
Something to give you traction in ice (kitty litter or similar)
Full set of detailed road maps
Never let the gas in the tank go below half - and if there is no place to fill up - find a motel or fast food place until yuo can sort things out

I would listen to the weather on the radio every couple of hours - since conditions can change rapidly - and would also call ahead to where you will stay each night - so they can notify authorities if you don't appear on time.

Given that I love to drive I would do so - but probably take the southern route.

I agree totally with nytraveler. I would do it but only by the southern route. Be prepared to wait out ice even then. Bring an extra book and a couple of dvds for your laptop, and you can wait it out in a motel.

I'm sorry, but it is ridiculous to drop down to I-10 to come clear back up to Oregon. And the route taking I-84 will add a good 500+ miles to the trip too. The Passes, such as they are,
on I-80 are very mild. You will probably not encounter any winter weather at all. You don't want to take OR 140 in Winter. I have driven the route I described in Winter and Summer. You are freaking out over nothing.

> But driving in those winter conditions can be suicidal,
> I am afraid! Is it really that?!

No, it is not suicidal. I've driven in snowy weather for over 25 years, and I'm still alive.
I recognize and can accept that you have real fears, even if I don't share them or (frankly) even understand them. But I honestly think you can get around these fears.
If you've driven in snowy and wet weather in Maryland, then you can handle similar weather in the west. Indeed, you even have a huge advantage in this trip, simply because YOU have control over where you will be driving. If I-80 through Wyoming looks bad, then just go south to I-70. If I-70 through Colorado and Utah also looks bad, then just go south to I-40. If I-40 looks bad but I-80 looks okay, then go north to I-80. If all three look bad, then just spend a day in the city where you are, and wait till the interstates get clear -- they'll be the first roads that are made safe.
Note that your biggest danger on this long trip will not be weather, but fatigue. And, if you constantly fret about bad weather, you're going to get tired a lot more quickly. So just watch the Weather Channel each night, be flexible on your route, and enjoy any (short) stay wherever you might be forced to delay your journey.

Get over yourself. Relax and for heavens sake only have one thread.

Gretchen,

I don’t know why you even go into these forums. Be mean? This is a rhetorical question, don’t answer.

If you have nothing nice or helpful to say, please do not comment, reply or respond to people’s request for help.

"Relax" is good advice.

How casually you speak of chains!

People on the East Coast don't use chains. We get lots of snow in New England, and I haven't had any since 1973. I have had studded snow tires and a real 4 wheel drive Jeep with compound low gearing and several Subarus and have never been stuck despite plenty of winter trips into the mountains.

The OP is coming from a state where the governor (2010) took all the snow plows off the road -- too many cars -- and let the cars continue until the roads were rutted masses of ice. In Massachusetts last week, the governor banned private cars from all road until they were cleared.

The OP is coming from a state where I watched a public service worker blow all the snow -- about 22" -- off one side of the sidewalk then blow it back on from the other direction. These are not people who are experienced with snow.

I suspect the OP is young and perhaps female. How is she going to put chains on? Yes, there are garages and the AAA advice is excellent, but have mercy, folks. The OP is coming from a different world.

He/she can have real snow tires or studs, and also wing it,, as most of us do. There are crews at any chainup point. You pay em, they put on the chains. Or you can choose to stay put and not go thru the checkpoint.

He/she can have real snow tires or studs, and also wing it,, as most of us do

To invest in snow tires or studded tires adds far more to the cost of the trip than a pair of chains.

Guys, you all have very good points. Thanks a lot! I will consider all of them.

And, yes, I am a girl, though I should be able to put those tire chains, if/when required! I love driving, though not in the bad winter conditions.

1.Some of you are suggesting a more southern route in an event I decide to drive. What are your thoughts on taking and driving the route 40, instead of the route 10, as it is not as much of a dropping down south, though still is considerable.

2.Does the route 40 have as many high elevations as the other, northern ones do?

3.I try to watch the weather conditions/forecast. I guess, to get a more specific one to the route I will be taking, do I check the states I will be driving through, that are of a more concern? That is my logical conclusion, and something I never had to do before-so not familiar with that.

Michael, if www.viamichelin.com. assumes a current date for the drive, will it be useful in estimating the weather a week or two from now? Or did you mean that it will use the actual date for the drive? I need to get on that and see what it does!

Again, thank you all for your help!
Really appreciated.

Viamichelin simply gives the standard route closings. Interstates will be considered open. However, if you ask for the recommended route, I think that it will take the roads with the lowest possible elevations in the winter. As I mentioned previously, Google map might offer the shortest route, but not the safest; viamichelin does that. As I re-read my earlier post, I correct my posting to say that the Google itinerary is not recommended.

I-40 has some high-altitude stretches; over 7000 feet in some places in New Mexico and Arizona (I think 7500 near Flagstaff) so the possibility of snow or freezing/icy conditions can't be ruled out. For example, from March last year: http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/18/us/winter-storm

Of course that doesn't mean it would happen to you; in all likelihood it wouldn't. But you could, for example, take I-40 as far as Albuquerque while keeping an ear open for conditions in the high country in E. New Mexico and N. Arizona, and if it sounds dicey, bug down I-25 to I-10 and keep going at lower and warmer altitudes (I-10 tops at under 5000'.) I suspect the "time penalty" for doing this would be on the order of a couple of hours, so not a huge thing in the context of your overall drive.

The only way to get useful weather information is to listen to the local radio every couple of hours and check local TV and weather.com or accuwether.com every morning and evening. Weather information more than 2 or 3 days in advance is useless.

(When my parents were stuck in for there was no mention of it on the radio and they thought April would be safe - they just drove into it - and were smart enough to follow a big rig into a truck stop - since the truck's lights were all they could see - the shoulders of the road were hidden in fog and they were afraid of driving off the highway.)

You can do this safely - but you definitely need to watch the weather carefully - and if you are not comfortable driving in snow - just stay where you are until the roads are clear.

Gardyloo, thank you. Even though I-40 has those elevations you mentioned, it seems that the weather will be Ok there, without much snow/ice. But why can’t I check it out with a Google map, or can I? I tried to do it with the MapQuest—and that is not even an option.

Michael, I checked out that viamichelin map: it is pretty amazing! Quite interactive, gives different info—and all in one place and at the same time. I loved it. It also gives the weather forecast for 10 days! As far as it giving the safest route: it recommends taking I-80, I believe, and I’ve heard that I-80 is a beast in the winter. When I checked the economical option- it avoided I-70 and I-80, but put me on I-90, which is more northern. I hope that more northern doesn’t necessarily mean more hazardous in the winter?

Don’t know, but my head is spinning! I wish I knew which evil is the lesser one... I will relax when I am in Medford, though…

As a 22 year old I drove from the East Coast to the West Coast and back in February and March, by myself...pre cell phone days...ask an experienced driver about which routes would be best.

Depends on what part of the country you're in.
Up till the mountains take I-70, but
You don't want to go through the Colorado mountains in the Winter, so that's why you would head up to I-80.
I-90 puts you 500 miles north of the Rogue Valley and is just as silly as taking I-10. Do you think all traffic stops in the West all Winter?
I-80 is heavily traveled and it follows the path railroads and wagon trains have always taken because it is the lowest and has virtually no steep mountain passes.
BTW, 67 in Medford yesterday.

To add, you don't need to buy snow tires, studs, or chains, because if there is a storm you'd just wait it out anyway till given the all clear good to go.
You are making your 3000 mile trip into a 4000-5000 mile trip.

If I80 has problems, chances are that the more northern route also has problems, and the extra distance is really a drag when the speed has to be cut down to 30 or 40 mph.

you will need chains in Oregon- you may not need to use them, but frequently there are signs posted that say you need to carry chains or chains required- I have an all wheel drive and I still carry chains just in case, but have never used them. I would rather have a set in the car and not use them rather than wish I had carried some.

And since you are moving to Oregon, might as well get some before you leave.

The simple fact is that the end of February is still winter, and traveling from coast to coast will involve passing through potential snow country for at least part of the way. You might be in the white stuff leaving Baltimore, or in West Virginia, or Ohio, or Texas... No guarantees. So it becomes a question of risk v. reward.

You have to cross the Continental Divide somewhere, be it Montana (I-90) or New Mexico (I-40, I-10.) Some routes will have multiple mountain passes that could conceivably involve snowy or icy weather, some will have lower elevations but still be prone. Hell, just last week I was driving from Sacramento to Seattle via I-5, and was in snow flurries four different times just between Medford and Roseburg; I made it over the Siskiyous the previous day without snow falling, but there was plenty on the side of the road, and the outside temperature was hovering right around 32-33 degrees, enough to make me really slow down on grades and curves, black ice being, well, invisible. Ya takes yer chances.

Using I-80, I-84 and I-90 to get to southern Oregon will require you to cross two separate mountain ranges, the Rockies and the Cascades, or maybe the Sierras if you use I-80 all the way to California. I-40 will involve some very high country, and both it and I-10 will still require you to cross the Siskiyous, unless you take 101 up the coast in California and cut over to Grants Pass/Medford using US 199. That's another option that will virtually guarantee a snow-free trip if you stay way south. Of course it too will add hours, maybe a day.

The more mountain ranges you cross in winter, the higher the odds that you'll hit snow. Will you? Can't say. Do you feel lucky? And even if you do, nobody is going to point a gun at you and tell you to keep driving regardless. You can stop and hunker down, or fuss with tire chains, or buy a set of studs that you can use next year and the year after. Lots of solutions, none of them horrible.

For using googlemaps or mapquest to reroute yourself, put your starting point and then a city along the route you want to hit between you and there, If you do Baltimore to Albuquerque then use the add a destination and put the next city, like maybe Medford OR and you can get an idea on distances and times. If you have a place before Albuquerque put that in too.

Oh, yes, nytraveler, I agree with you. That was my concern too. Weather forecasts are not always reliable. Thank you.