Travel Help

[Shark Bait]

Hello everyone. I was supposed to fly home from San Diego Wednesday, but the flight was canceled. Something about a snow storm?

So I decided to DRIVE home, which may have been a poor choice. Too late! I am at this moment in Flagstaff, AZ, which is cold and dry. I was planning to go over to Albuquerque and up I-25, but that sounds kind of iffy.

It actually looks pretty good to go up to Durango, over a ways on Hwy 160 and then up Hwy 285 to Fairplay or over on Hwy 50 to Pueblo. Then it looks like it gets bad either way.

Does anyone have any suggestions? Unfortunately I'm driving a Saturn Ion with no snow tires. My 80 is sitting in the Pikes Peak lot at DIA. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Hulk]

http://www.cotrip.org/rWeather/All_Regions_122006_234958.html

I-25 is closed south of Denver. I-70 is open, but icy and snow packed. 285 is all open, but icy and snow packed. 160 is in good shape, but Wolf Creek Pass will be sketchy.

Why in such a hurry to get home? Stay in Phoenix and have a nice day; then drive home Friday.

 

[Shark Bait]

http://www.cotrip.org/rWeather/All_Regions_122006_234958.html

I-25 is closed south of Denver. I-70 is open, but icy and snow packed. 285 is all open, but icy and snow packed. 160 is in good shape, but Wolf Creek Pass will be sketchy.

Why in such a hurry to get home? Stay in Phoenix and have a nice day; then drive home Friday.

Thanks Matt!! I had been on the cotrip.org site. We're way north of Phoenix now, in Flagstaff. The Hwy 160 route looks pretty good and then Hwy 285. We'll see how far we can get.

 

[IanB]

Link no worky, I'm stuck in Nebraska, 76 is closed. Any ideas?

 

[MDH33]

Link no worky, I'm stuck in Nebraska, 76 is closed. Any ideas?

How are the roads in Nebraska? I was planning on heading that way tonight. Supposedly the snow is tapering off this afternoon and the roads are suppossed to reopen for Friday.

 

[IanB]

How are the roads in Nebraska? I was planning on heading that way tonight. Supposedly the snow is tapering off this afternoon and the roads are suppossed to reopen for Friday.

They closed 80 behind me last night. In a 4x4 (I have a rental Kia Sorrento ) its not that bad, 76 is still closed though. It just started snowing again though

 

[nuclearlemon]

sorry ian, but everything to the east is closed.

 

[IanB]

sorry ian, but everything to the east is closed.

Ok, but the first local here who says "You ain't from around here, are you boy?" and I'm driving around the barricade and going for it...

 

[wesintl]

I would come I70. by the time you get to denver you "should" be able to make it to parker.

 

[nuclearlemon]

just keep in mind that i-70 will suck east of denver where it's still blizzard conditions and you can be fined heavily if caught on a closed road.

 

[MDH33]

I'm stuck in Nebraska, 76 is closed. Any ideas?

Hey Ian, you still in Nebraska?? I was planning on heading up 76 to 80 tonight and going through. Wondering if you could give me a status report on those roads?

 

[nuclearlemon]

all major highways are now open EXCEPT i-70 westbound. what did you do to piss off cdot ian?

 

[IanB]

I made it. I went north of I-80 through the Nebraska countryside and got west of the roadblocks.

Martin - 80 is pretty clear until Nebraska, 25 is a skating rink from Longmont to Ft Collins, pretty clear after that. Don't know about 76, never saw it. I wouldn't go tonight, the roads are icing badly and it was total carnage on i-25, new carnage too, the lights were on in the vehicles and drivers were in them. Lots of black ice.

 

[IanB]

I really want to reiterate, I would NOT drive east tonight. I barely made it here and its getting colder out there.

 

[MDH33]

Thanks for the heads up. We're going to wait until Friday morning. Glad to hear you made it back in one piece.

 

[IanB]

Thanks for the heads up. We're going to wait until Friday morning. Glad to hear you made it back in one piece.

It was a close thing, several times, but fuggit I'm home in CO and there's snow!

 

[IanB]

Thanks for the heads up. We're going to wait until Friday morning. Glad to hear you made it back in one piece.

Oh and safe travels!

 

[Shark Bait]

Well, Jeanette and I made it home about 45 minutes ago. We had to park the rental car down the street and walk the last little bit. Considering the conditions, Flagstaff, AZ to Parker, CO in a little over 12 hours isn't too bad. We picked up US-160 halfway from Flagstaff to the AZ border and took it all the way to Walsenburg. I-25 really wasn't too bad at all. It was dry and clear until around Castle Rock, and that stretch up to Lincoln Av was snow packed. I'm not sure I'd want to make the drive again any time soon. The flight from San Diego is usually around 2 1/2 hours. Tomorrow I'll go up to DIA and return the rental car and pick up the 80. It's good to be home.

 

[corsair23]

Glad you made it home safe Chris!!

Next time, couldn't you just fly in to a closer airport that isn't closed and drive from there? I know you would miss the excitment of the road trip in the rental car though

 

[Shark Bait]

Next time, couldn't you just fly in to a closer airport that isn't closed and drive from there? I know you would miss the excitment of the road trip in the rental car though

We thought about it. But most United Colorado Springs flights go through Denver first, which was closed. I-25 was closed most of yesterday and part of today, so Albuquerque probably wouldn't have done much good. SLC. I suppose. That's only an 8 hour drive. They were going to put us on a Southwest flight through Las Vegas, Wednesday, which was supposed to land in Denver after 9 PM. So we would have been stuck in Vegas. United told us they could get us on a flight from San Diego to Denver this Sunday. We didn't want to wait that long. Not a whole lot of choices.

It was kind of cool. Saw some pretty country. Almost ran over a Road Runner AND a Coyote in AZ today. That little Saturn Ion did really well. It was a little noisy and seems kind of cheap. I wouldn't own one.