Need Help with a route from Yuma AZ to Illinois in mid April

[DGLEICH]

Hi All,

My stepdad passed and left us a 1995 Winnebago Vectra 36' with a jeep to tow along.

His lot fee is up end of April so will have to fly down to Yuma AZ and drive it home here in Illinois.

Hubby worried about mountain ranges/passes to go thru coming home from there. on a limited budget so cant take too long getting it back.

What is the best route to drive this bad baby home with the jeep in tow?? it sounds like I-8 might be a bad ride?? thought i saw high winds that way???

Per google maps we would take i8 up to i-40 (and it changes names multiple times apparently) 🙂

does not appear too many mountain passes?? snow???
any issues with drug cartels on that road? i saw a gov warning about it.

Thanks so much for your helpful advice!!!
Dianne

[DGLEICH]

Matt Colie...

3 days of bored driving... haha that was good...
they want to use old route 66 while using 40... they want to cut over and do that for a bit... does that make any sense?? or is it a bad idea???
no clue what the differences might be on 66......

thanks!

[DGLEICH]

Janss, we will be sure to find out what the seq of things are that need to be done.. i am making a list up of things to learn out there. they will stay at resort first night and learn things.....

rjdlooking.... how awesome that you enjoyed time with my stepdad... he took very good care of it! He left the boat to his nephew, so they are going to just have that shipped back... we will only be taking the rv and jeep back. glad to hear about no grades....

[rjdlooking]

I stayed in the same resort as your Stepdad and we have had a few drinks together lol. Mark took good care of his MH. Don't forget he had a boat also so let the Jeep tow it and someone drive the MH. As for a route take 95 north to the I40 then east. There a lot of good people in the park that will help your husband get ready to travel. There are no grades that MH will have any trouble with. Good Luck

[Janss]

Good point AJR. If they decide to tow the Jeep, they must look in the owner's manual under "recreational towing" (or something like that), not to be confused with the section for roadside assistance towing. My car also has a particular sequence of things I must do before and every 200 miles during towing.

[Matt_Colie]

DGLEICH wrote:
Hey Matt Colie

I have talked to my husband on costs and such. they have decided to stay the first night at rv resort to learn the rv and how it works from others there. They will use the tow jeep to run to walmart and get new sheets, pillows, blankets and food. and cleaning supplies! they WILL stay in rv. so that helps with costs. everyone tells us mark kept his fuel tanks full, so that should help on costs also.

i will let them know about having stuff for 3 days....

Thanks!
dianne

Dianne,

That is a very intelligent thing to do!
When ever I can, I urge new owners of any RV to camp the first night in their own driveway.
You also said "They", will he have a Co-Driver? If yes, one can be navigator and that takes a lot of load off the driver.
Will they have a laptop? If they do, they can look on-line for lots of help and instructions.
If they set one phone to be a hot spot, they can carry wire on the road. This can be a significant benefit. That phone will have to be on charge all the time as this trick can destroy the charge. It may also eat data, but it is worth it.

Finding an owners group on-line would also be a good thing.

Have him download (at least) Gasbuddy and RVParky. You can get food lots of places, but you have to know where you are going to fuel cheaply and sleep will be needed. Both are also available on the web and are easier to work from a keyboard.

Advise them to make a stop at a "Walmart" early on and provision for 3 days. Joliet can be bad in April, and if things get bad, they can hunker down some where and watch the chaos through the warm windshield.

Remind them every chance you get that the two good ways to get dead are driving tiered and pushing weather.

Also Wish Them Three days of Boring Driving for us all.

Matt - Here if you need me.

[AJR]

I do not tow a Jeep. I know the car I tow has a sequence of things to do after it is hooked up to the camper. I suspect the same is true for a Jeep.

Also, the car cannot be towed faster the 65mph. I do not know if that is true for a Jeep.

Driving both home sounds like the best idea for the reasons Janss & Executive stated above.

[DGLEICH]

bill satellite

we are going to Joliet IL

[DGLEICH]

Hey Matt ColieT

I have talked to my husband on costs and such. they have decided to stay the first night at rv resort to learn the rv and how it works from others there. They will use the tow jeep to run to walmart and get new sheets, pillows, blankets and food. and cleaning supplies! they WILL stay in rv. so that helps with costs. everyone tells us mark kept his fuel tanks full, so that should help on costs also.

i will let them know about having stuff for 3 days....

Thanks!
dianne

[Matt_Colie]

Maybe you aren't planning to stay in the coach, but I would advise that you be ready to do so. It is rare and you don't say where Illinois, but it can still get bad in April. To this end, have the coach provisioned for three days before departure. That way, if things go bad, all you have to do is find a safe/flat place and wait it out. When we were still employed, we only got to travel at the ends of the seasons and we did have to find a place to hold-up on a couple of occasions.

Matt

[Janss]

I agree with suggestion to drive the two vehicles separately. The Jeep behind the motorhome. Bring walkie talkies or cell phones for each driver. The Jeep driver will be able to contact the mh driver if they see anything amiss.

I would also suggest sticking to interstates. There will always be another lane for people to pass, as mh driver will likely (or should) usually drive below the speed limit. I only go 60-65 max. Although I've driven on a multitude of 2-lane roads, I always feel pressured by the vehicles behind me.

[Executive45]

1. Check the cost of having someone experienced pick up the coach and drive it home. Someone not used to a large vehicle may have some issues you don't want to deal with. I went from a 30' gasser to a 40' diesel and used 4 hours of seat time around the Houston area at 2am just to get a "feel" of the rig before driving it back to California. Towing will make it just that much more difficult.

2. If hubby and/or friend are familiar with large vehicles, and/or are determined they can make this journey SAFELY, for them and others on the road, then I'd use Google maps and enter destination and starting point. They will provide several different routes to get you back to Illinois. The southern route will be the simplest with no snow to be worried about. Northern routes in April can be iffy. We are headed east in April ourselves and I have mapped out the northern and southern routes depending on weather conditions. How long will they drive in a day? Figure 45-55 miles per hour average. The tires, even if new, probably aren't rated for higher speeds. Towing, I wouldn't think of over 60mph at any time.

3. I'd take I-8 East from Yuma to I-10 East towards Tucson. Stay on I-10 to Las Cruces, NM then take US 70 north past White Sands Missle range, (4 mile climb) to Clovis,NM. Take US 60 north from Clovis to Amarillo, Texas. From there it's all interstates depending on where you want to go in Illinois.

4. Another option, which might be the safest/easiest, is for one to drive the coach and the other drive the jeep. Stop at truck stops, sleep in the coach and continue on. The savings on hotel rooms will pay for the cost of driving the jeep.

If you tell us where in Illinois you're headed we can provide further info...Dennis

[DGLEICH]

Thanks MountainAir05 and Bill.Satellite

[DGLEICH]

Janss, thanks for the extra info... was not aware of that!!!!

[Bill_Satellite]

I would take I8 to I10 to I 25 to get you up to ABQ. I 40 to I44 to St. Louis. You don't sat where in IL but you can make a plan during your trip up I44.