San Diego to Chicago
 

I am 80 and disabled and do not drive. Due to a family tragedy my wife who is 70 will be driving us to Chicago in the next 2 days. We are driving because of the supplies I have to take and because we will need a care when we arrive. We will be there for approx 2 months.

1. Should we take the 40 or 80?

We don't want to get into a winter storm so thinking the 40.

Any ideas or suggestions would be helpful.

Thank you.

Sorry about your family tragedy. Snowstorms are not likely in May along I-80 but just to be safe maybe you should do I-40. You can return on I-80.

Only 12 miles more on I-40 but 1 hour more drive time 29 vs. 30 hours. It is tough for anyone over 70 to drive for 15 hours in a day. Sorry for your loss.
You may encounter traffic tie ups in New Mexico due to forest fires.

I've driven from San Diego to St Louis a couple of times in the last couple of years, via I-40, in November/December. I think it's very unlikely that you will encounter winter storms now. You don't say whether or not there is a date by which you must arrive in Chicago. I found 500-600 miles a day is very doable. Here's the route I'd suggest for you.

Day 1: San Diego to Flagstaff, AZ via I-8, then then follow the sign to Phoenix and take the loop to I-17N. Don't stop at Dateland, just past Yuma for gas, their prices are way higher than others!

Day 2: Flagstaff to Amarillo, TX. It can be windy in the Texas panhandle. There are thousands of wind turbines!

Day 3: Amarillo to Topeka, KS

Day 4: Topeka to Chicago.

Four full days. I always topped my gas tank up at half-full and also used the facilities at the gas station. The ones I visited were very clean. Be sure to take plenty of water to drink and re-stock en route. If you don't have SiriusXM satellite radio, I highly recommend it. There are plenty of hotels to choose from to stay at night and DoorDash delivers!

Enjoy your drive!

There is potential snow forecast for the next few days along I-80 Wyoming, so definitely I-40. But there are fires along that route as tomfuller noted. You can check here for fires:
https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/
but with the strong winds lately that can change quickly.

There is also a decent chance for sizable thunderstorms Kansas - Missouri - Illinois over the next few days.

Keep an eye on things, adjust your route if necessary, have a safe trip.

Thank you
 

Thank you everyone for your valuable suggestions.

We will be taking your suggestion Barbara and keep our alerts on for weather changes.

I should clarify that for day 4, I meant Topeka-Des Moines-Chicago. Not via St Louis.

You have to watch out for sudden moves into your lane by 18-wheelers. I just set my cruise control and let my fabulous car take care of almost everything!

Having driven this it's faster to leave I-40 at Tucumcari and take a 45 degree angle route (not straight east to OKC then straight north) to Minneola KS then you have several options to I-70. Note tolls exist in parts of OKC and I-35 in Kansas, as well as on I-70 between Topeka and KC and all over the Chicago area, even a stretch of I-80 just before the Indiana border.

tom_mn, I have looked at that route on google maps each time I've driven to St Louis. As I didn't know what that road was like, two-lane, four-lane, lots of gas stations or not, I decided to stay on the interstates. What is it like? I don't believe there's a significant improvement in time.

Mostly it’s 2 lane but there are long 4 lane stretches, too. Roads are in good shape and it drives fairly quick, speed limits are pretty high, and trucks use it so it must be faster. I like the small towns on the way since as you know interstates in the middle of the country can be deadly boring. I don’t remember services as being a problem, but Tucamcari to Liberal KS is lonely former dust bowl area but Dahlhart and Guymon on that stretch are larger towns.

tom_mn, thanks for that information.