Iowa to Mesa,AZ- I40 or the "southern route" with 5th wheel

[pirlbeck]

My wife and I are heading to Mesa, Arizona later this month and want opinions on the different routes. Will be pulling a 36' 5th wheel with a Dodge diesel and possibly a Ranger on a small aluminum trailer behind the 5th wheel. Still debating about taking the Ranger down.

I bought it new and this truck has never been driven in the winter, so it has never been driven on salty roads and I don't really want to start now. It is a 2006 and has zero rust and I would like to keep it that way. That being said, I do plan on giving it another coat of Fluid Film before we take off.

Anyway, the shortest route is diagonally through Kansas and then hit I40. This route is 1385 miles and with good weather 21 hours and 21 minutes according to Google Maps. My concern is the higher elevations and the possibility of winter storms and/or high winds along with pulling a 5th in the mountains.

I found this route listed below on an RV forum and it is 1781 miles and 27 hours. This forum post was from 2004. I think we are a lot less likely to hit winter weather on this route and I think for the most part it misses the steeper mountain grades. I have never pulled this 5th wheel in the mountains so I have no real experience with that to fall back on. I have traveled the mountains with this truck and a pickup camper on the back and the exhaust brake worked very well, but this 5th wheel is a LOT heavier then the pickup camper. Are these still good roads or is there a better way to avoid I40 in eastern AZ and western NM?

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Here is a copy and paste of the post from 2004.

"My wife and I drive this route some two times a year from DFW to Jamestown ND and it's well worth the try. Take I-29 south thru Omaha down to Mile Post #10, then NE Hiway 2 west to Nebraska City. Turn south on US 75 to Topeka KS. At Topeka you can take the Kansas Turnpike which is I-335. Continue on I-335. At the OK state line it becomes I-35, stay on I-35 all the way to Denton TX, then take I-35W to Ft Worth, then to I-820W to I-30W. Don't take I-35E to Dallas, the traffic and construction is nightmare of unbelievable proportions. Stay on I-820 until you get to I-30 West to Weatherford TX. I-30 plays out and becomes I-20. If you miss I-30, then take the I-20 West exit which is about 5 miles further south. Continue on I-20 west to Van Horn TX, where it runs into I-10. Was just up there a couple of months ago. There's very little construction of any major stretch. Anything along I-40 from Little Rock to Gallup NM, this time of year is a roll of dice, especially between Amarillo and Albuquerque. Hope this helps, enjoy."
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Should I just plan on taking the extra time for the southern route, or is the I40 route no big deal so long as we watch the weather forecasts and wait any bad weather out?

Thanks!

[lane_hog]

I-20 -> I-10 is a flatter boring drive that I've done many times,

I've also been stuck in the snow between Van Horn and Sierra Blanca in early December... Don't assume you'll never see it.

[pirlbeck]

Thanks for all of the replies and the info on different routes. We will definitely keep an eye on the weather as we go. Right now I am thinking regardless of the weather we will drop down to I-10 and hit Mesa from the south via Tucson.
Thanks again!

[LMHS]

I-40 west of ABQ tends to get a little iffy in the winter. It may be clear and dry or it may be a ice rink. And it changes in a matter of hours. And of course there is Clines Corners (NM) I-40 Ex 218. Their weather is subject to change drastically in very short order at any time of the year. Last years pile up was limited to only a few miles in either direction but it made national news.

In winter, I tend to staying well south of I-40. But that's me.

[dapperdan]

We're headed from Milwaukee to Mesa starting on the 26th of this month. We've done this route a few times, always successful. The key is to pay attention to the weather! So far you could say we're "lucky" but never had any serious issues weather-wise. Two years ago we postponed our trip by about two weeks due to the freeze that took place in southern the states. Arriving in OKC that year aprox. half the RV park we stayed in sustained water line damage to almost half their park, so weather is for sure a real concern/danger!

Just have to be aware and adjust for the weather, a few "weather" days planned into the trip is the practice we observe. YMMV

Good luck with your trip! :B

Dan

[Snowman9000]

Yeah you have to watch the weather and decide. Heck it might be in the 50s that week.
We made some trips through Oklahoma on 40, but other times we had to take 20 to 10 through Texas. The weather forecast made the decision for us.

As far as mountain driving, 40 has some, no doubt. Not much on 10, save for a short stretch west of El Paso. You could handle 40.

[lane_hog]

OKC-AMA-ABQ-FLG-PHX is the most direct route.

It's a 200-300 mile detour to go OKC-DFW-ELP-TUS-PHX, so that's really a choice of last resort with today's diesel and gas prices.

I think I'd just be watching the weather forecast coming into both OKC and ABQ.

Driving across Oklahoma and the Panhandle you may get ice depending on the month, which is far worse than snow.

ABQ-FLG is where you'll hit snow. It's not as expensive to reroute ABQ-TCS-DEM-TUS-PHX, but it's still longer.

[rk911]

us? we'd take the extra time and head south. when we were snowbirding we'd leave home in NE Illinois right about now and head south on I-55 to I-12 and then west on I-10. Usually, when we were at or south of Memphis we would lose the really cold (<32) temps.

When we would head out to Mesa in March for Spring Training we'd take I-57 south to I-70/44/40 and west from there. There were a few years when 40 was closed around Flagstaff due to a spring blizzard. Plan B was I-25 south from 40 in ALB to I-10.

In your case I'd head south and pick up I-10. you still might encounter a bit of snow and/or ice (we did in 2020 at San Antonio and again in Las Cruces) but it was minor. the big issue was the lack of highway snow/ice removal equipment. So, we hung around for an extra day to let the sun take care of the roads.

[JKJavelin]

You might want to give a better location of your starting point in Iowa, but I-40 has a lot of elevation in the west. If it were me, I would take I-35 straight south to I-20 at Fort Worth to avoid most chances of snow. It'll cost more in fuel and time, but I got caught towing in snow last January, and I don't want to do that again!
JK