
Ask HN: Driving from east to west coast in early december, Is this a good idea? - smalltrader
I found a job as a full stack engineer in northern CA, will be driving from jersey with all my belonging in the car. My current planned route https:&#x2F;&#x2F;goo.gl&#x2F;maps&#x2F;oyzD7nE1YUG2<p>Do you think it&#x27;s a safe drive, I am worried about snowy highway conditions. The reason I can&#x27;t fly is because I have a pet that I don&#x27;t want to put on a airplane.
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epc
I drove an SUV from NYC to SFO in April 2011, alone with two dogs. It isn't a
particularly bad drive but it's extremely boring.

If the weather is clear, I80 is fine across PA, otherwise I'd take 76 (wider,
ploughed more often, better rest areas). 80/90 is fine across OH, IN and IL
assuming routine winter weather. 80 is flat across IA and NE, but you may
start running into plains winter storms. WY is a steady climb "up" into the
Rockies but from what I recall never truly felt mountainous. You hit a bit of
curvy winding interstate descending into Salt Lake and then it's flat again
(mostly) until you hit the NV/CA state line. When I hit CA in late April the
roads were dry but the snowbanks were still quite high on either side of the
road.

I hit one major storm in the high plateaus of Wyoming. I ended up pulling over
for an hour in a rest area until it blew through.

Assuming you have AWD or 4WD and there are no major winter storms you should
be fine. Be advised that CA requires chains in the Sierras (basically Reno to
Sacramento) under winter storm conditions.

If you're skilled at winter driving in the Northeast then routine storms
should be ok. But pack some emergency gear and rations for yourself and your
pet.

If you aren't skilled at winter driving, I'd suggest a longer route through
NM, AZ and up I5 or US101 in CA.

And keep in mind, the worst part of driving cross-country isn't your driving,
it's the rest of us drivers who are trying to figure out what that
notification on our phone was and take our eyes off the road.

Also beware Brooklyn, IA where the state police have a propensity for pulling
over _Black_ SUVs with _Black_ tinted windows and East Coast plates. In my
cases, the officers seemed genuinely shocked to find a pudgy middle aged guy
with two dogs.

If your pet is small enough you might consider getting a roomette on an Amtrak
train. Wasn't practical for me.

~~~
epc
Shorter alternate take: Don't check your NYC metro area street smarts when you
get in the car, drive defensively, be prepared for winter storms and possibly
getting stuck in the car for a couple of days in a worst case scenario, and
you should be fine.

I also found it helpful to have two cell phones on completely different mobile
networks (VZ and AT&T) as coverage gets spotty in the rural parts of NE, WY,
UT and NV.

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Gargoyle
You're going to get at least some snow on that route. I'm in the Sacramento
area now, and Donner Pass (the area around the NV/CA border) will definitely
have had some snow by then. In fact, it's snowed up there already this year,
though it quickly melted.

As someone mentioned, it's often a chains-required section of the interstate,
and it's even been known to close for a number of hours due to snow. That
said, they do a great job of clearing it as fast as weather allows.

I don't have personal experience with most of the rest of the route, but I do
wonder if taking the more southern route you have on your map rather than
right along the Great Lakes might make a difference in snow amounts.

