Virginia (Shenandoah Valley) to Phoenix Route,Thoughts?

I 40 is a straight shot and mostly very good road but... Not sure you want to be that far north in January. If you do go that route definitely head south on I 25 and go west on I 10 through Tucson. You would probably be safer weather wise to get further south and make most of the trip on I 20.

:C

I40 will have some high ground in NM and AZ and a whole bunch TRUCKERS... I10 is really becoming a desolation route through West Texas and you may encounter Border Patrol stops and searchs...

When we go WEST from here in Northern Neck VA we head for I81, head south to I40, then head SW pn I59 trough ALA and pick up US82 - Follow that MS and AR to our other homeland of Wichita Falls TX... Then angle down SW to pick I10 and follow that on into Phoenix... Somethings we just keep heading West From Wichita Falls and angle to I40 and get some really nice scenery before picking up I17 at Flagstaff AZ then on into Phoenix...

ALso living in the Phoenix area back in the day we always know the back roads down off the AZ HIGH COUNTRY but would not recommend any of them with bigger rigs... Our OFF-ROAD POPUP trailer goes any where our 4WD Truck will pull it...

We love waking up in the morning in the AZ high Country and watching the sun hit the RED ROCK canyons and mtns...

We like taking another route out of Flagstaff heading for Payson through the AZ High Country. After PAYSON going south it all levels out and comes into the Scottsdale area from the North. Might even pick up the Apache Trail and come out at Apache Junction and then head on into Phoenix that way... Pure GOD's country for us...

None of this is recommended using the bigger trailers...

Roy Ken

I-59 thru alabama is one of the roughest roads I have ever been on.
bumpy

Desert Captain wrote:
I 40 is a straight shot and mostly very good road but... Not sure you want to be that far north in January. If you do go that route definitely head south on I 25 and go west on I 10 through Tucson. You would probably be safer weather wise to get further south and make most of the trip on I 20.

:C

x2 nothing between the north pole and Amarillo TX but three tumbleweeds and a four wire barbed wire fence and two of the wires are broke.

I strongly suggest you go south and take I-10 across. Even this far south yo may get weathered in. I make this trip 4 times a year (florida to Yuma AZ) and just about know I-10 by heart. However, winter
time is always a surprise. Last year, I was snowed in while staying in Lafayette LA. I-10 was snowed and frozen and closed for 3 days.

The border patrol is no problem. You will pass thru one (in NM) east bound and one(in TX) westbound. Road is basically good except some areas in LA.

Good luck.

Desert Captain wrote:
I 40 is a straight shot and mostly very good road but... Not sure you want to be that far north in January. If you do go that route definitely head south on I 25 and go west on I 10 through Tucson. You would probably be safer weather wise to get further south and make most of the trip on I 20.

:C

GoogleMaps shows the trip at 32 hours for I-40; and that's if you take I-40 all the way to Flagstaff and I-17 down to PDX.

It also lists the trip at 33 hours taking I-81, I-40,I-24 to I-59 and I-20 through Jackson, Shreveport, Dallas and other points south. The extra hour might be worth it to avoid our (iffy) winter weather down here. (Like KO mentioned... There were places well south of us in Tuscaloosa that got hammered with ice 'n' snow last year!)

You all have been very helpful and I appreciate all of your thoughts! I agree that the sooner we can get further south probably the better off we will be.
All the best.
Fred

Fred, perhaps it will be excused if I interrupt this thread briefly to tell you that we will be at Charolotteville at Misty Mountain RV Park, September 10, 11, and 12. We will be participating in the "Harvest Festival" at Monticello on Friday and Saturday. We stayed at Misty Mountain a couple of years ago for our first visit to Monticello.

And in regard to your question: we live just off I-20 in East Texas. Unless there is really bad weather you could follow I-20 all the way to where it joins I-10 as one possibility. Getting around Dallas/Fort Worth is not really difficult on I-20. It drops around south and when we have followed that route the traffic has moved along at freeway speed.

I think the biggest factor for your trip will be the weather. If it's not bad you could follow I-40 across New Mexico as you mentioned. Santa Fe is one of our favorite places to visit, but we have never gone in January.

We have made the trip to California following I-10, but we branched off at I-8 to go to the San Diego area.

Wish I could be of more help, and we are familiar with the routes all the way from Charolottesville to the West Coast, but all our experiences have been in the Summer.

I suggest you head down I-81, then I-59 in Alabama to I-20, and then turn west.

My wife and I traveled cross country from Richmond, VA beginning the last week in February 2014. Even then, we were trying to stay in front of cold, bad weather. It was hit or miss. Fortunately, our second night out, we drove about an hour south of Birmingham, AL. We got a cold rain that night. If I had stopped where I originally planned, about 1.5 hr north of Birmingham, we would have been in sleet and freezing rain.

If I were you, I'd get to I-20 as soon as possible, but even then you could run into some bad weather.