Best time to head south?

[Cubey]

I am currently up in WA state staying a while. I debating if I want to stay up here through the winter since it's not THAT cold here where I am in winter. It's certainly not much colder than I am used to living most of my life in the south.

Anyhow, I am considering getting back on the road this fall some time and visiting family and friends in Arkansas and maybe staying a month. The route I will be taking won't be way of CA, AZ, NM. I came up here that way.. plus it's an extra long way around. I have gone through that way late last year into early this year. I want to see something else.

I am eyeing a route fairly direct from here which involves going SE on I-82 then jumping on I-84 through OR and ID, hitting I-80 in WY, then heading down by way of Denver, CO and hitting I-70 into KS and from then on, I shouldn't have to worry about ice and snow too much.

Just wondering when I-82, I-84, I-80 and I-70 starts to get bad so I can try to just miss that time period. I am thinking perhaps leaving out from here in September or October and getting down to my destination in Arkansas in November or December.

[Vetl82]

Cubey where u heading to in Arkansas?

[Cubey]

The Texarkana area.

[Vetl82]

Just wondering we live in northwest Ar area , Bella vista Ar is r home base.

[Vetl82]

Cubey where do u spend winter at, we r leaning toward Rockport Tx

[Cubey]

Originally Posted by Vetl82

Cubey where do u spend winter at, we r leaning toward Rockport Tx

I just left out full timing from Arkansas last October. I wintered in AZ (Benson in Nov-Dec, Quartzsite in the first half of January) and southern California (Slab City - second half of January) and then spent a month in Sacramento in February.

Then I hurried up to WA as my SSDI review snuck up on me and I had to check in at a Social Security office and provide an address of where I actually was for the medical review, which I had this past week finally. I have no reason to believe it won't come out fine, as the past 3 or 4 past ones did. But I digress.....

I am waiting the review and summer out for now. I intended to take up WA state residency eventually, but ended up doing so now so I wouldn't risk being fined heavily for not registering my van, etc. I was going to eventually settle up here anyway, so I don't mind it. It was come up here or make a u-turn and haul it back to Arkansas, which I really didn't want to do.

Thankfully there is an RV mail forwarding service in Seattle so I can keep my WA residency now and get my mail from there once I go back on the road. I had my mail going to my mom's house in Arkansas before all that transpired. Now I have a WA driver's license, plates, etc.

I might stay a couple months down there in Arkansas since the roads can get icy or snowy, but January seems to be the coldest month down there.

My ol' motorhome isn't very well insulated but I can run a small electric heater and/or my propane furnace and stay toasty warm. It just has a lot of heat loss is all. At least the cheap RV park I know down there doesn't meter electricity. It's a bit run down and you get train horns night and day rolling past, but I stayed there 6 months in 2008 and a month last year so I don't mind it any personally. I can sleep through 3am train horns about 300 feet away without any problems after the 6 months I lived there before. It only took me 3 nights to get used to actually.. and now it stays with me like riding a bicycle.. haha.

[Vetl82]

We r newbies , we are going to Custer SD June 12 th stay there a few days then on to somewhere around yellow stone. We aren't going through another winter in NWA , too dang cold . We pull a 35 ft FW .

[Vetl82]

We r going to Branson mo. on 20th of the month, it will be July 12 th when we intend to be in SD.

[raycon9]

i have been on the route you propose several times. to miss the bad weather i leave WA the first week in Oct. i left just a little late one year and got snowed in in cheyenne for two days, 10deg night.
I82 and I84 won't be a problem, its I70 where i have hit the weather.
i usally go around denver.
it depends on when winter arrives of course, but leaving early Oct is a good time.

[Cubey]

Thanks, I figured the beginning of October might be the last straw for avoiding snow in the mountain areas between here and there.

I may want to find a good new or used set of snow chains this summer when everyone is getting rid of them.

I checked road conditions ahead in Oregon before leaving California in March, especially several passes that do get snowed in badly in Dec-Jan. The roads were all clear and no snow expected anywhere, but I "broke the law" about not having snow chains with me when the highway dept in Oregon had a mandatory carry warning in effect. The only way visually highway patrol could know if you have them or not is on semis who carry them externally on their trailers.

The worst I hit was rain in Portland in the day and a half it look me to drive from Sacramento to the Seattle area which is what I figured, so I didn't need any had I bought them at that time.

My van has regular LT rated 16" tires so I don't need special RV size ones thankfully, just ones meant for up to 1 ton pickups.

Also, I was permitted to pump my own fuel in Oregon at the one gas station I had to stop at. I warned the attendant it would back up the filler tube and spray back out if pumped too quickly... which is entirely true, by the way. Like how fresh water tank gravity fillers do if they don't vent quickly enough. It's questionably "illegal" to pump your own fuel in Oregon but supposedly if you are worried they will damage your vehicle by doing it, you are permitted to.. or if you have a motorcycle or antique vehicle.