Florida to Montrose Colo. in the winter?

[sofar-sogood]

Hi folks, we recently bought a home in Montrose and need to move our household goods there in late Feb or early March. We will be towing a 24' trailer with a 40' M/H.
I would assume that the southern route thru Texas would be better at that time of year? Does anyone have any input as to a route that would be most likely passable during that time frame?
I considered I70 but the pass at the tunnel might be tricky. Or maybe get on 50 and cross at Monarch pass? Or perhaps to come up thru Durango?
Any help would be appreciated.

[jolooote]

Which ever Rt. you decide on ...DO NOT try Rt 550 north out of Durango. I don't even like it in the summer! There are a # of places with NO Guardrail, barely enough room to paint the white edge line & straight down!!! I'm NOT stretching the truth.

[sofar-sogood]

Thanks to all, I have thought about the storage route but we have already got rid of our excessive "stuff" and whats left will fit in the 24' trailer easily so I can avoid making multiple trips if I just take it and the wife drive the toad separately.
I agree with the southernmost rt to Amarillo and then work my way over Monarch.
Its strange how the weather patterns are around Montrose, as stated, Gunnison, Ouray, and Telluride get lots more snow than Montrose. Im looking forward to getting this moving thing over asap.

[joe_b_]

More than likely, what I would do with such a move, would be the reverse of what we did moving this direction. I would rent a storage place here in south Florida and put all our non-required items in it for summer moving, then load the RV and the toad with stuff I had to have to start living in Colorado. Then go back in the summer for the rest of the household goods.

When we moved to Florida, we put the contents of a three bedroom 1891 Victorian home into storage at a place just south of Montrose and just brought stuff we felt we had to have with us. Then the following June, I started making round trips from Stuart Florida to Montrose and back pulling an enclosed two axle trailer behind my pickup.

I made three trips in June, putting just over 15,000 miles on my new truck. First time I have ever had to do three oil and filter changes in the same month. Everything remaining in storage after the three trips went to an auction house in Delta for disposal. LOL
Western Colorado gets much of it's snowfall in the spring, March and April normally. Ouray gets an average of 144 inches a year in town. (12 feet) south of town there are places that get over 50 ft of snow a year,

But every spring is different and once a person gets north of Ridgway, the area gets very little snow most years. Six or eight miles north of Ouray, up by the spot known locally as Tuffy's Corner, there is a big weather change, temperature, snow, etc.

One spring I had some spare time and decided to ride my motorcycle from Ouray to Brooksville Florida. Caught some nice weather and headed out. The trip to Florida was great with no problems, but coming back home a few weeks later, I got stuck in Poncha Springs for almost a week waiting for the ice to get off of Monarch Pass. I don't like riding a motorcycle on ice and snow. In the 40 years I owned a motorcycle, I never hauled one on a trailer or in the back of a truck. So asking my wife, in Ouray, to drive our pickup over to Poncha was out of the question. LOLl

[Heisenberg]

Late February and March is warm up time here in the Texas Panhandle. That being said some of those pre to early spring storms are really strong but not at all regular. But I would get to Amarillo via I20, US84 (4 lane divided), and I27. Very likely dry to Lubbock. Once in the high plains weather could be cold enough for ice but most of the time very dry. At Amarillo US 287 (4 lane divided) to Raton Pass, I25 to Pueblo, and then US 50 West over Monarch Pass to Montrose. Amarillo and north is the biggest chance of bad weather. I have been using this route for many years and odds are it will be the quickest and driest route.

[sofar-sogood]

I love Ouray, we cant wait to get out of this third word country-rat race. Shoulda done it 30 years ago.

[2gypsies1]

It's recommended that you take the most southernly route from Florida - I-10 to New Mexico and then I-25 north. We have been in heavy snow in April on I-40.

Semi trucks use I-70 and the tunnel constantly so I don't think you'd have to worry about the tunnel. The hwy will be clear if you're lucky.

Hwy 50 would be doable only if when you get to Pueblo, CO and I-25 you get a current forecast and road conditions and hightail it across.

I would not advise you to come up through Durango in winter.

Have a safe trip!

[joe_b_]

We lived in Ouray for ten years prior to moving to south Florida, which is in my top ten list, of dumb things I have done. LOL

We used to run back and forth in the winter, Thanksgiving time and/or Christmas to southern Oklahoma, to see my parents, but not to Florida. Shouldn't be any big problem getting to the Amarillo area, most of the time. However one trip we had to lay over in Shamrock Texas for a couple of days due to a snow storm. Just keep checking the weather forecasts and the pass conditions. Monarch is my favorite pass, east-west, in Colorado but it can be a handful. We used to disconnect our toad from our Class A and drive both over separately. A few trips we would stay south to about Gallup NM and then cut north. The best pass/road going north out of the Cortez area is to run on west to Dove Creek and take Hwy 141 to up by Naturita, then east on 145/62 to Ridgway and then Hwy 550 to Montrose. Some years we could make it fine going north out of Cortez on hwy 145 and go over Lizard Head pass to Hwy 62 and over Dallas Divide into Ridgway.

There really isn't anyway to get to Montrose without dealing with some passes that I know of. If the weather is good and Monarch is reporting no problems, then that was our choice, as it is faster. But a couple of times Monarch was bad, Lizard Head as well so it was west to Dove Creek and north.

For winter driving in western Colorado, I like roads that have a good shoulder, so if I do slide off, I will just get stuck, not drop 500+ ft. Monarch has a good shoulder most of the way.

We looked at buying a house in Montrose a couple of years back in both English Gardens and out on Spring Creek Mesa area. We go out every summer to western Colorado and still consider that area to be a favorite of ours. My wife grew up in the Springs and then Woodland for high school.

Some of the worst weather I have ever driven in has been in the Texas Panhandle, cutting from Amarillo, north to Dalhart, to Clayton NM and over to Raton. As bad or worse than anything we ever saw in 25+ years of living in rural Interior Alaska. LOL

On one trip from Clayton west, we had a ground blizzard in progress and visibility wasn't too bad but the wind was nasty. We were driving at a crawl trying to stay on the road and not get blown off. There was a hawk, probably a Red Shouldered guy, trying to fly across the highway. He would get about half way across and get blown back to the side. We pulled over, no other idiots out on the road that day, to watch him. After about 4 or 5 attempts, he finally landed and walked across the highway and burrowed his way into a snow covered tumble weed, to wait out the weather. Lot of memories from that trip. LOL