Lincoln, NE to San Diego-Warm Weather ASAP
I will be driving to San Diego for New Years and I want to get into warm weather asap, but not going too far out of my way. Would appreciate suggested routes to keep me warm.
Forum Discussion
From Lincoln the shortest way to warmer weather is US-75 down to Dallas then I-35 to San Antonio, so you can follow I-10, the southern-most Interstate. But depending on how air masses move around, it can be pretty cold all the way down to at least Austin, and again along I-10 in the high country west of San Antonio maybe as far as Tucson.
However, US-75 may not be the fastest way, because there are cities to slow you down, like Omaha, Topeka and Tulsa, and quite a few of small towns without recently built bypasses.
You don't have much in the way of diagonal routes to cut distances, so the route is mostly sides of rectangles. There is thus nothing too much out of the way so long as you keep going south and west.
Timing is important. If you were to leave on US-75 now, you will be in 50+ temperatures by the time you get through Kansas, in the 60s in North Texas, so you could start across I-30 at Dallas/Fort Worth rather than going down to I-10. But but the time you get to New Mexico, you will be in a sub-freezing air mass. Wait 2-3 days, that cold air from the west will have moved over the plains and there will be no place warm much north of I-10.
However, US-75 may not be the fastest way, because there are cities to slow you down, like Omaha, Topeka and Tulsa, and quite a few of small towns without recently built bypasses.
You don't have much in the way of diagonal routes to cut distances, so the route is mostly sides of rectangles. There is thus nothing too much out of the way so long as you keep going south and west.
Timing is important. If you were to leave on US-75 now, you will be in 50+ temperatures by the time you get through Kansas, in the 60s in North Texas, so you could start across I-30 at Dallas/Fort Worth rather than going down to I-10. But but the time you get to New Mexico, you will be in a sub-freezing air mass. Wait 2-3 days, that cold air from the west will have moved over the plains and there will be no place warm much north of I-10.
