Hello Folks,Need to tap into your experience, so please advise. My wife and I are retirees and lately joined the Motorhome Class "A" RV family, we are planning our "FIRST" trip from SoCal to Denver in mid November to join our daughter and son for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year, and kind of worry about the mountains roads in winter, so I have a few questions:1- I-15 and I-70 or better I-40 and I-252- Please note that the coach will be our primary residence for approximately 8 weeks.3- Of what I need to be most concerned, as far as the coach system/appliances etc. etc. how about the water use....city or holding tank.4- How long the coach can be sitting on the level/support hydraulic pistons?5- Or best, stay home and take our first trip in spring or summer. Thanks a bunchGerard and DorisCoach: WinnebagoPull: Grand Jeep Cherokee "Summit"Travel partners/navigators: Toy Puddles: Kody and TobyAffiliates: Good Sam Club - Elite MemberSociety of Plastics Engineers "SPE" - Senior MemberMusic: Country

Tire chains, and plan on being cold or at least cool most of the time.

You will need tire chains (required by law) on some of the mountain passes if it snows.That alone should dissuade you from going in winter;Living in the MH in the winter will not work well if you plan to have water unless you find a way to keep the water from freezing like a heated compartment. How do you plan to dump when it is freezing. FlyingJ may well be your only option for dumping. Unless you have a rig equipped for winter you will go through a lot of propane trying to keep warm.Your first trip should be close to home for shakedown

"Cold camping" can be done in an RV but it is anything but comfortable. RV's are not insulated very well, resulting in enormous amounts of propane being used. Probably on the order of 20 gallons every 24 hours. Getting propane that often will be a chore. I camped for 3 days in -10 degrees in Mammoth. While it was Ok for the short period, I could not imagine what 8 weeks would be like. Everything freezes, inside of your windows (condensation), exterior water supplies, power cords get brittle. If you have never driven with chains on an RV, well, let me tell you, it is no picnic. Some of the passes into Colorado get into some serious elevations +8,000'. I respect your ambition, but I think for the inexperienced RV'er, you are going to be miserable. I was a seasoned RV'er and it was barely tolerable.

Thank you guys, I truly appreciate it

Consider I-10 to Las Cruces, then I-25 to Denver. I-40 and I-70 can both be brutal in the winter.I-10 seldom gets blocked by snow, but if it does, you might have to wait a day or two.The only snow problem on I-25 is Raton pass, but if it's closed you just wait a day or two in Raton NM.Leave some slack days in your schedule (leave at the beginning of November) so that if you have to lay over somewhere along the way because of snow, you just wait a few days here or there.Don't let the calendar push you to attempt to get through bad weather.

Need Your Advice | Good Sam Community

25 Replies

Popsie
Explorer
Oct 04, 2015
Consider I-10 to Las Cruces, then I-25 to Denver. I-40 and I-70 can both be brutal in the winter.

I-10 seldom gets blocked by snow, but if it does, you might have to wait a day or two.

The only snow problem on I-25 is Raton pass, but if it's closed you just wait a day or two in Raton NM.

Leave some slack days in your schedule (leave at the beginning of November) so that if you have to lay over somewhere along the way because of snow, you just wait a few days here or there.

Don't let the calendar push you to attempt to get through bad weather.
Winnebago2015
Explorer
Oct 04, 2015
Thank you guys, I truly appreciate it
2bzy2c
Explorer II
Oct 04, 2015
"Cold camping" can be done in an RV but it is anything but comfortable. RV's are not insulated very well, resulting in enormous amounts of propane being used. Probably on the order of 20 gallons every 24 hours. Getting propane that often will be a chore.

I camped for 3 days in -10 degrees in Mammoth. While it was Ok for the short period, I could not imagine what 8 weeks would be like. Everything freezes, inside of your windows (condensation), exterior water supplies, power cords get brittle. If you have never driven with chains on an RV, well, let me tell you, it is no picnic. Some of the passes into Colorado get into some serious elevations +8,000'.

I respect your ambition, but I think for the inexperienced RV'er, you are going to be miserable. I was a seasoned RV'er and it was barely tolerable.
darsben
Explorer II
Oct 04, 2015
You will need tire chains (required by law) on some of the mountain passes if it snows.
That alone should dissuade you from going in winter;
Living in the MH in the winter will not work well if you plan to have water unless you find a way to keep the water from freezing like a heated compartment. How do you plan to dump when it is freezing. FlyingJ may well be your only option for dumping. Unless you have a rig equipped for winter you will go through a lot of propane trying to keep warm.
Your first trip should be close to home for shakedown
donn0128
Explorer II
Oct 04, 2015
Tire chains, and plan on being cold or at least cool most of the time.

Forum Discussion

Need Your Advice

25 Replies

About Motorhome Group

Related Content

Tire Advice

Advice traveling in Colorado

Purchasing advice?

Turnbuckle advice

Alaska advice