On The Road 2018 - Kind Of

Hi all,

Well I’m getting on the road early this year by leaving the day after Christmas.  My wife and I wanted to visit our California son and family and flying out and back for me to arrive home and drive back out didn’t seem logical.  The decision was for us to drive out and I start my solo walkabout from California and she flys home.

The bad weather before Christmas, the severe cold afterwords, and the “Bomb” storm were good reason to leave early and be gone from New England.

Having cleaned the camper roof of snow and yet again ice from an ice storm I decided that it was time to tarp the camper until I left.

We were greeted on the 26th with a good track of weather with a cold front with snow coming through the day before.  Although a cold morning, it was not the severe cold that occurred in the beginning of January.

This is my 5th year of travels, haven driven cross country the four prior years.  Timing the weather, when possible to not get stuck in poor driving conditions is always my goal.

I use intellicast surface maps to plan my trip timing.

Here you see Clear cold weather from Boston to Dallas.  This allows me to take a more northern route saving some miles of traveling a more Southern route.

My travels across country with my wife included hotels.  My first night in Roanoke, VA via I84, to I81

The second night was in Little Rock, AR via I81 to I40 

Then it was the longest day as we decided to make this a 4 day trip across country.

936 miles from Little Rock to El Paso, TX via I30 to I20 to I10.  It was a long day with some pretreating of roads for ice before and around Dallas.  We broke through the warm front around Midland, TX and I knew we would have great weather for the rest of the trip.

From El Paso it was a not as long day ride to San Diego via I10 to I8, making it in 4 days and driving 3260 miles.

Technically, this travel was not part of my 2018 Travels but it will explain my next posts.

I stayed in San Diego until Monday 1/8/18 under sunny warm skys doing family things and fussing with the new camper I have yet to sleep in.  It was a great time.

Brent

macaloney@hotmail.com