Travel from Central Ohio to Arizona

The safest way is to head directly south and take I-10 across. Why risk ice or snow?

We have traveled to the Phoenix area many times departing from Indianapolis on December 27th. We travel I70, I255 & I270 south around St Louis to I44 to near Springfield, MO. There are a few campgrounds east and near Springfield. We only want a good 50 amp electric service. From Springfield, we continue on I44 to the Kilpatrick Turnpike to go around Oklahoma City to pick up I40 west of Oklahoma City. From Missouri past Oklahoma City is mostly toll roads. This route angles across the route to make the trip shorter. The tolls are less than the added fuel cost to avoid the tolls. We stop for the night at Sayre, OK at their city park and then continue on I40 to Dancing Eagle Casino about 50 miles west of Albuquerque where we stay the night and then continue on I40 to Flagstaff and south on I17 to the Phoenix area. We watch the weather carefully along the trip and are prepared to turn south at Oklahoma City, Amarillo, and Albuquerque to eventually to I10 through El Paso and on to Phoenix area. If you have to take the south option, the trip is about 280 miles longer. only once in 12 years have we had to turn south. Two years ago, the temp was 11 to 14 degrees until we got to Flagstaff and from there south it got warmer to 69 in Phoenix. When it is that cold we do run the LP gas furnaces and supplement with electric cube heaters at night. We did not have any freeze up. Indianapolis to Phoenix is 1,770 miles, and we travel about 450 miles per day more or less.

We always leave Palm Sunday to return home and have worse bad weather them when we were going to Phoenix. Our bad weather has been snow and ice from 50 miles west of Albuquerque to Clines Corner, NM. One time was a couple of hours delay and others slow travel for possibly 100 miles. Other times were heavy rain all through Oklahoma and Missouri. Take your time and be safe.

There are a lot of routes you can take. One thing that you should do is plan your trip around the weather. If bad weather is in the forecast then move your trip up or back as driving in bad weather is just not worth it.

Flagstaff number 1 to mess up a trip, Tx. panhandle 2. Keep it easy.

We are from just above Indianapolis, Indiana our first trip we wanted to get south out of the snow first so we took I 65 to Birmingham, Al then took 20 west to Dallas, Tx follow 20 on the south side of Dallas
its a lot of traffic but not as bad as the other way. Stay on 20 till you get to I10 at Van Horn, Tx on the west side of Texas. If possible try to hit El Paso either about 3 AM or on Sunday. Traffic in El Paso is BAD. You can follow I 10 all the way to Tucson, Az. We get on 8 at Tucson and go to Yuma if you want to go to Pheonix stay on 10.

The past few trips we would take I 70 out of Indianapolis to Effingham, Il at Effingham take I 57 south, at Sikeston, Mo 57 changes to 55 to west Memphis, take 40 at West Memphis to Little Rock
(do not follow I40 to Oklahoma City it is very bad) then take I 30 out of Little Rock towards Dallas. At Dallas take 635 south to I 20 and follow I 20 on the side of Dallas again to I 10 at Van Horn, Tx and on to Arizona. Again watch El Paso. This is the route we have taken the last few trips because it cuts across country and cuts the milage down.

One note when we are traveling we always stay overnight at Wal Marts.(easy in and out no hassle)
Park out to the front edge go into the service desk and ask if it is okay to stay overnight. I have been told NO two times....Texarkana, Texas and Goodyear, Arizona.

To avoid snow, I would guess that you will want to head south as quickly as possible and then take I-20 or I-10 west to Arizona. I-40 can sometimes have heavy snow at that time of year but it does take you into northern Arizona. I guess it depends on where you are coming from and what city you are going to.
We usually travel in the Winter out West and we have very seldom had to delay any travel on I-40 or even I-80 because of snow. The snow can be a little bit of a problem with some of the RV parks as to whether or not they have their roads cleared but the major roads are usually cleared quickly. Your return trip in late March may still bring you snow so the route you take may depend on what Mother Nature is doing.