we live in the durango area before that we lived in the dallas area for 20 years and made many,many rv trips to durango. don't know where you live in southern texas but the best route without any mountain passes is as follows.. take i 35 north to 287 north to amarillo, then take i 40 west to albuquerque,nm.from albuquerque take i 25 /550 north to cuba,nm than on to durango. you will not be going over either raton or wolf creek pass. all the roads are open, wide with many lanes and many places to stop for gas/diesel and over nighting.dallas is about 861 miles from durango going this way with elevation gains of 350 ft in dallas to about 6500 in durango.so far this season we have no snow on the ground nor is any predicted for the next 10 days.so no white christmas . also be aware that very few if any campgrounds are open in this area -so check before starting out.
as an aside you could stay in the albuquerque area and drive to durango-about 4 hours in good weather.
e mail me if you want additional detailed info.
