Drive from SC to CO
 

In January my 18 year old son and I are driving from Bluffton, SC to Ft. Carson for him to report to his 1st duty station. We will be taking the southerly route through GA, AL, MS, AK, OK a bit of KA and up through CO. We have 4 days to make the trip and would love any suggestions of unusual or historical places to see, eat, and stay.

If you can make it to Memphis (10 hours), it will make the next 2 days a little easier. See Beale Street at a minimum in Memphis. The Arcade restaurant on Main St. across from the train station was a hangout for Elvis.

Thank you, Tom! Memphis was my goal for day one, so glad to hear it's a good plan:) We may get there kind of late, but I figure there will still be a lot going on.

I drove across the country with my son when he was about 23. It's a great memory for me. We had a rule that we would stop to see one sight along the way--such as a state capitol building or another place such as a giant ball of string. It was fun to research our next destination while driving--gave us a change from music. We also ate and drank locally each night. We enjoyed local beer from all over. Have fun during your drive.

You will need to watch the weather - especially in Colorado. We are all getting a little nervous about winter. We have had an abnormally warm fall/early winter with no snow. Our concern is that these things tend to balance over time. No snow now may mean lots of snow and cold later. You might a little extra time at the end to adjust to any weather conditions.

Thank you all for your input! I'm excited - and nervous! We've both grown up on a small island in the south east, so we've never driven in snow! Hopefully it'll hold off until we're there :)

Then make sure you have very good, all weather tires with plenty of tread on the tire or park it. Driving in and on snow is an acquired skill. Fortunately Fort Carson and the Colorado Springs area tend to have less snow.

What fmpden says is true--watch the weather forecast 5 days out from your start. I drove to Denver one time and in the space of a day encountered icy roads and had to stop in Kansas. It can happen in a very short time.

Thank you for all the safety info! Do you all have a favorite weather app that you feel is most accurate out there?

weather.com on the TV!!

Unfortunately the Colorado Department of Transportation does not seem to have an official app. (Wyoming has an excellent one).

But here's the CDOT webpage:
http://cotrip.org/home.htm

The Interactive Map Road Conditions link will give you good current information. Note how you can filter by region or highway once the map is up. I'd keep that handy.

But as noted above keep an eye on the forecast and adjust your route if necessary. Sometimes snowfalls are localized and a difference of 50-100 miles can be be huge.

Good luck!

You can get a huge difference in 5 miles especially if you are going up hill. And watch wind direction. Winds from the east (NE, SE) can bring heavy snows on the east side of the divide.

NOAA.gov is the best forecasting for weather. I rely on NOAA in combination with Cotrip.org for road condition reports in CO

Thanks for all the great advise! We’ve made it to Birmingham and are aiming for Oklahoma City tomorrow. Any special things we need to see on this leg of the trip?

Check your antifreeze

Looks like you may get a break. We have been unusually cold for the past few days but a break is forecast for the weekend in the mid 50s. No snow.

OKC has a nice arts district. Bricktown is touristy but nicely designed. Probably not best time of year to visit either, though. What parts of Kansas do you think you'll hit?

You left Bluffton just in time--3" of snow is projected!! Talk about places not ready for that!! LOL

If you're on I-70 in western Kansas, the oldest geocache on earth is off the Mingo exit (SE of Colby).