Driving in bad winter weather

[cimplexsound]

I go to Lake Havasu City in the winter and Park City in the summer. So Arizona actually is my final destination for winter. Fortunate for me I don't have as far to drive as you do. But 600 miles of traveling can still see some frightening weather.


1979 Dodge Tioga Class C 24 foot. 1987 Fleetwood Bounder 34 Foot.

[RVThere]

Originally Posted by cimplexsound

Are they still alive in there???! Yah only a fool drives on black ice.

Don't know. This was an early season snow fall (early October 2013) in southern WY on I-80. We came through a day or two AFTER the snow fell. As another poster said, it is your own responsibility to check the weather forecast and not be surprised by a storm.

[OLYLEN]

The larger, heavy RVs actually handle rather well on snow and ice. Just no quick moves on the drivers part. Several western states have laws that you must carry chains even if you won't use them and will check and ticket for not having them aboard. The biggest problem with a RV is stopping distance, weight equals inertia and the stopping distance increases fast as speed even thought to be low increases. I don't start south until Jan. and watch there weather well, I will park for what ever time it takes to clear enough to go no chains and reasonably save. HAVE I driven in snow YES did I like it NO, but one can drive safely if the need arises and you have some experience in/on snow and ice. But remember an over night in a nice park is much better than a night in the ditch.

LEN

[wa8yxm]

Feburary (As I recall) 2006, left out of Las Vegas headed to Salt Lake City to get some adjustments done on my Sat-TV dome at Motosat.

Nice clear roads... Drove straight into the worst blizzard of the winter.. Well I am experienced at winter driving (in cars) but the road kept getting whiter and scarier and finally I found a rest stop and pulled off and parked,,, Got out and walked over to the assoicated eatery for the evening meal...... About a third of the way there I realized I'd forgotten something in the RV and returned, when I turned around my footsteps were allready filled in with new snow.

Next morning, back to the eatery for breakfast... News was on, telling about all the cars lining the ditch.. Of course by then the road comission had done it's job and the roads were damp, but clear and nice and black again (When it comes to roads BLACK is Beautiful less its black ice)

Made it to Salt Lake no problem.

As for that news story about cars lining the ditches... NOT KIDDING.

[Skip426]

A broken tire chain would do more damage to a motor home in a 1/8 mile, that a blowout. I'd never consider using them.
In 4 years of owning this MH, I consider it a snow magnet , and when I replace tires, I'll be installing traction treads. I've moved my departure date for the south forward, by 6 weeks over previous years and still manage to find the storms, somewhere along the route. As others have mentioned, full propane , never run on lower 1/2 of the fuel tank, supplies on board for 3>5 days, be ready to hunker down and let the DOT do the clean up on the roads, and proceed when it's clear.

[cimplexsound]

Originally Posted by OLYLEN

The larger, heavy RVs actually handle rather well on snow and ice. Just no quick moves on the drivers part. Several western states have laws that you must carry chains even if you won't use them and will check and ticket for not having them aboard. The biggest problem with a RV is stopping distance, weight equals inertia and the stopping distance increases fast as speed even thought to be low increases. I don't start south until Jan. and watch there weather well, I will park for what ever time it takes to clear enough to go no chains and reasonably save. HAVE I driven in snow YES did I like it NO, but one can drive safely if the need arises and you have some experience in/on snow and ice. But remember an over night in a nice park is much better than a night in the ditch.

LEN

I can sure relate to the braking distance scenario. My motorhome is only 25 feet long, but it weighs 10,000 pounds, 😨 and I can feel a big difference in the braking process compared to much smaller vehicles. Safety is the key here, and in a Motorhome putting on the brakes is just that an actual process you go through to safely bring the rig to a stop. Well said.


1979 Dodge Tioga Class C 24 foot. 1987 Fleetwood Bounder 34 Foot.

[cimplexsound]

Originally Posted by Skip426

A broken tire chain would do more damage to a motor home in a 1/8 mile, that a blowout. I'd never consider using them.
In 4 years of owning this MH, I consider it a snow magnet , and when I replace tires, I'll be installing traction treads. I've moved my departure date for the south forward, by 6 weeks over previous years and still manage to find the storms, somewhere along the route. As others have mentioned, full propane , never run on lower 1/2 of the fuel tank, supplies on board for 3>5 days, be ready to hunker down and let the DOT do the clean up on the roads, and proceed when it's clear.

A broken tire chain can be pretty dangerous indeed. 😱 That's the thing I love about motorhomes. You have a comfortable place to hunker down when Mother Nature won't let you go anywhere.


1979 Dodge Tioga Class C 24 foot. 1987 Fleetwood Bounder 34 Foot.

[Clay L]

I have driven my motor home in blowing snow twice - against my better judgment but under pressure to get to relatives that needed help because of illness.

We lived in NH for 18 years I had a 112 mile round trip commute from Concord NH down to Wilmington MA, so I am no stranger to driving in really bad conditions with a lot of traffic.

The major problem with driving the motor home in snowy conditions was the snow/ice building up on the wipers lifting them off the windshield and rendering them ineffective.
Both times I was on two lane roads with not much shoulder and no safe place to pull over and clear the wipers.
I had the heater on defrost going full blast and the defog fans on high but the heat generated just couldn't keep up. I managed to get far enough to the right to jump out and quickly clear the wipers but visibility was bad and I was scared to death fearing that someone would rear end me before I could get back up to speed.

After that I told my wife that I would never do that again and I haven't.

[cimplexsound]

Originally Posted by Clay L

I have driven my motor home in blowing snow twice - against my better judgment but under pressure to get to relatives that needed help because of illness.

We lived in NH for 18 years I had a 112 mile round trip commute from Concord NH down to Wilmington MA, so I am no stranger to driving in really bad conditions with a lot of traffic.

The major problem with driving the motor home in snowy conditions was the snow/ice building up on the wipers lifting them off the windshield and rendering them ineffective.
Both times I was on two lane roads with not much shoulder and no safe place to pull over and clear the wipers.
I had the heater on defrost going full blast and the defog fans on high but the heat generated just couldn't keep up. I managed to get far enough to the right to jump out and quickly clear the wipers but visibility was bad and I was scared to death fearing that someone would rear end me before I could get back up to speed.

After that I told my wife that I would never do that again and I haven't.

Clay the thing I like about my Class C is the overcab bed shelters the windshield from a lot of precipitation. For example you don't have to go out and scrape the snow and ice off the windshield in the morning because that large over hang can be heaven scent at times. On the other it can result in a class C becoming very top heavy in snowy weather.


1979 Dodge Tioga Class C 24 foot. 1987 Fleetwood Bounder 34 Foot.

[cimplexsound]

Originally Posted by cimplexsound

Clay the thing I like about my Class C is the overcab bed shelters the windshield from a lot of precipitation. For example you don't have to go out and scrape the snow and ice off the windshield because that large over hang can be heaven scent at times. On the other it can result in a class C becoming very top heavy in snowy weather.


1979 Dodge Tioga Class C 24 foot. 1987 Fleetwood Bounder 34 Foot.

1979 Dodge Tioga Class C 24 foot. 1987 Fleetwood Bounder 34 Foot.

[Mr_D]

Originally Posted by OldDoggy

How many recomend getting a set of chains before heading west this winter. Planning a Michigan to California trek this December. Would like to go I-70 through Colorado, the canyon west of Denver is what I am concerned about. Even I-40 at that time of year might be a chain required route. In 2009 east bound we spent a day waiting for the snow to melt between Ash Fort and Flagstaff. Then it was 25 mph nose to tail when it opened back up. Seen lots of chains laying on the road that were thrown by the trucks. No way to stop and pick them up, we were going single file.

Just Another Old Doggy, Don

Here in WA all vehicles weighing 10,000# or over are required to have chains that fit your vehicle to be carried over certain of our passes. This starts in November and goes through the winter months. You may never need them but are required to have them anyway. I have chains, but never intend to install them as Newmar says not to use chains.

[cimplexsound]

Originally Posted by wa8yxm

Feburary (As I recall) 2006, left out of Las Vegas headed to Salt Lake City to get some adjustments done on my Sat-TV dome at Motosat.

Nice clear roads... Drove straight into the worst blizzard of the winter.. Well I am experienced at winter driving (in cars) but the road kept getting whiter and scarier and finally I found a rest stop and pulled off and parked,,, Got out and walked over to the assoicated eatery for the evening meal...... About a third of the way there I realized I'd forgotten something in the RV and returned, when I turned around my footsteps were allready filled in with new snow.

Next morning, back to the eatery for breakfast... News was on, telling about all the cars lining the ditch.. Of course by then the road comission had done it's job and the roads were damp, but clear and nice and black again (When it comes to roads BLACK is Beautiful less its black ice)

Made it to Salt Lake no problem.

As for that news story about cars lining the ditches... NOT KIDDING.

Rrrr. Your telling me. Utah seems to have the dumbest drivers in the country. I have seen some pretty fantastic Motorhome wrecks here. At least it wasn't me. 😦 The thing about Utah is, you have to watch out for the other guy quite literally. Because in Utah they don't watch out for you.


1979 Dodge Tioga Class C 24 foot. 1987 Fleetwood Bounder 34 Foot.

[Jbmsr]

Hey we are from Florida!
We parked it for 2 days at a truck stop until it blew over.
First time driving in snow.
Jesse

[cimplexsound]

Originally Posted by Jbmsr

Attachment 75359Attachment 75360Attachment 75361
Hey we are from Florida!
We parked it for 2 days at a truck stop until it blew over.
First time driving in snow.
Jesse

I love Florida


1979 Dodge Tioga Class C 24 foot. 1987 Fleetwood Bounder 34 Foot.