Traveling with motorhome
 

Any tips for travelling with a motorhome from Denver to LA in winter. We are travelling with 3 young kids.

Really have no idea what you are asking. Watch the weather. Obviously, you don't head into the mountains with a storm brewing, The vast majority of the time, roads are clear. If the weather is really bad you may find a chain law in effect which means you have put on chains over Vail pass and the tunnel approaches. Other than that, would be no different than driving a car.

South on 25 to 40; west on 40 to LA. Raton Pass is the high point and (in my experience, which is limited), less likely to have bad road conditions than 70. Full disclosure: My RV was a 28' Class C.

I have driven a car east from Grand Junction into Denver and had snow on the road.

We are from south africa, rather new to us winters. Would you rather hire a car or take a chance for a week skiing at steamboat and then visiting california and surrounding areas for 2 and a half weeks(in december) Thanks!

If you haven't driven in snow, I don't think you want to do this.

The time you spend in California you could rent a car.

Could you fly from Steamboat to California?

Schalkie, not sure what your plan is. I saw the other posting about Steamboat. Will you have the RV (motor home) with you in Steamboat? Understand you apprehension if you have no experience with driving in snow but we have modern roads with aggressive snow removal. And the number of days in the winter when it is actually snowing is very few. As long as you have some flexibility and are not forced to drive on a certain day to meet a fixed schedule, you will be fine. There are only a few areas where snow can be a problem -- mostly on mountain passes. Once you are west of Vail it is pretty dry. If you going to be here in December, snow is generally light during that month. Of course, there are always exceptions, If you hit snow, it will take a couple hours to adjust but just go a little slower and let the other idiots fly pass you.

If you have specific questions, contact me off line. Is there a particular reason you have chosen Steamboat?

Is the plan to sleep in the motorhome at the ski resorts? I realize they are heated, but at that altitude it'll likely get down to around zero overnight. I'm thinking you'd need to bundle up and use extra blankets to keep comfortable.

dear Sundown,
No, we are planning staying in a condo for the week skiing in steamboat and then back to Denver and from there we will hire the motorhome for 3 weeks ending in LA.

If you are renting the RV in Denver, this will probably already be covered but I would make doubly sure that the RV you rent is weather-protected. When we bought our first RV back in the stone age, one of our first trips was to Steamboat Springs (from San Diego) in the winter time. We were quite comfy in the RV and the furnace did a good job of keeping us warm and toasty.

What we did not know was that all the water and sewer lines were outside the heated area. They froze solid and, once we got to warmer areas and they thawed, we were quite surprised at just how many holes could be caused by freezing those lines. It was a very expensive mistake to repair.

Schalkie--I think you should go to the forums on www.rv.net. You will find valuable info there. have fun