Cross country

[owynfaulkner]

Hi everyone! My name is Owyn. My family and I will be hauling a heavy 5th wheel from California to the Mississippi gulf coast. I can take I40 or I10. We are heading out tomorrow Dec 14th. Which rout will be easiest on my truck (least amount of mountain passes and such).

 

[Dan_Frisbie]

It's December.
Stay as far South as possible.

 

[owynfaulkner]

Right.

 

[Knobs]

You might find this site useful.

Flattest Route

View the steepness of roads to your destination, and check the elevation or altitude of stops along the way.

www.flattestroute.com

 

[owynfaulkner]

Wow. Thank you. That IS pretty cool

 

[TheLooks]

I will say that I-10 in the Southeast US is abysmal. In Louisiana and Mississippi we were airborne more then ground bound. No sure how it is from East Texas on to Cali.

 

[Rich W.]

I-10 may be the farthest south but, as @TheLooks said, the road surface is terrible, and it is also very heavily traveled by trucks. I would take 40 as far as is practical- at least to Amarillo and maybe to Memphis.

 

[TheLooks]

I forgot to mention that I-20 is horrible also.

 

[owynfaulkner]

I will say that I-10 in the Southeast US is abysmal. In Louisiana and Mississippi we were airborne more then ground bound. No sure how it is from East Texas on to Cali.

When you say "abysmal" do you mean boring? I'm mostly looking for the flatest route.

 

[TheLooks]

When you say "abysmal" do you mean boring? I'm mostly looking for the flatest route.

No, no, no. The condition of the highway is unbelievable. You will test your suspension.

 

[Scotttkd2]

Hi everyone! My name is Owyn. My family and I will be hauling a heavy 5th wheel from California to the Mississippi gulf coast. I can take I40 or I10. We are heading out tomorrow Dec 14th. Which rout will be easiest on my truck (least amount of mountain passes and such).

Drove the 40 route this fall to get to FL from AZ, its smoother, but at this time of year will be experiencing snow/ice. The10 is the best route for weather, but is as miserable as everyone has already mentioned. Go slow and expect a lot of bad road and a lot of construction.

 

[Rich W.]

Drove the 40 route this fall to get to FL from AZ, its smoother, but at this time of year will be experiencing snow/ice. The10 is the best route for weather, but is as miserable as everyone has already mentioned. Go slow and expect a lot of bad road and a lot of construction.

Good points and while 40 is “smoother” it is far from smooth. If a decent weather window doesnt exist, you can expect snow on both the Arizona Divide and Continental Divide on 40. I’ve never experienced serious snow there but have driven through flurries and enough accumulation on the ground to make me nervous. And to qualify that, I lived in snow country for 20 years and have been traversing mountains in the winter all my adult life. So definitely something to think about. Hopefully you’ll have good weather. If not, the farther south the better.

 

[Nanc52]

Hi everyone! My name is Owyn. My family and I will be hauling a heavy 5th wheel from California to the Mississippi gulf coast. I can take I40 or I10. We are heading out tomorrow Dec 14th. Which rout will be easiest on my truck (least amount of mountain passes and such).

I-40 is pretty windy.

 

[owynfaulkner]

I will say that I-10 in the Southeast US is abysmal. In Louisiana and Mississippi we were airborne more then ground bound. No sure how it is from East Texas on to Cali.

Well, now we've done it. California's freeways were the worst. I popped two of the tires on my rv. That was i5 and i10. Then i10 sucked all the way through Texas Arizona and new Mexico. It smoothed out after we hit Louisiana.

 

[owynfaulkner]

Good points and while 40 is “smoother” it is far from smooth. If a decent weather window doesnt exist, you can expect snow on both the Arizona Divide and Continental Divide on 40. I’ve never experienced serious snow there but have driven through flurries and enough accumulation on the ground to make me nervous. And to qualify that, I lived in snow country for 20 years and have been traversing mountains in the winter all my adult life. So definitely something to think about. Hopefully you’ll have good weather. If not, the farther south the better.

Thank you. We ended up taking 10. It sucked but we got to our destination

 

[owynfaulkner]

Drove the 40 route this fall to get to FL from AZ, its smoother, but at this time of year will be experiencing snow/ice. The10 is the best route for weather, but is as miserable as everyone has already mentioned. Go slow and expect a lot of bad road and a lot of construction.

That is exactly what we experienced

 

[Rich W.]

Glad it worked out. I’ve taken 10 when it made the most sense, not my preference, but it does get you there.