LVSteve
Member
This is Part 2 of a series of posts I will make about our Christmas road trip to the northern edge of the DFW metroplex.
Having picked a vehicle, it was now time to pick a route and prepare. The obvious and most direct route is Vegas to Kingman on US 93 to pick up I-40. Drag east to Amarillo and slot right onto highway 287 towards DFW via Wichita Falls. Next is the 380 to slide east on the axis of Denton/McKinney north of DFW, avoiding tolls.
Thing with this route is that passing through AZ and NM you are at elevations above 5000' a lot of the time, reaching over 7000' in places in both states. These are not places to be if there is any chance of snow.
Planning an alternative route at lower elevations further south is complicated by geography and the dearth of decent roads in certain parts of AZ and NM. The obvious route is to work south and pick up I-10 in Phoenix. However, to get there involves Kingman and the I-40 again. The junction of I-40 and US-93 to Phoenix is at 5000' at the top of a long grade up from Kingman, so it is hard to keep it clear and safe. In bad weather, AZ often closes the I-40 to all eastbound traffic at Kingman. Oops. Should that happen, the only way to get to I-10 is to follow US-95, a basic 2-lane highway, south from Nevada through Needles, following the Colorado valley to Blythe. There is US-62 and AZ-72 that cuts the corner from the Parker dam towards Quartzite, but Google street view is hardly encouraging regarding the state of that road. On the I-10 you drag east through AZ, NM, until you get to I-20 east of El Paso. Drone on until you get to DFW. The elevation of I-10 does briefly exceed 5000' in SE AZ, but snow there is relatively rare compared to I-40.
Careful examination of the weather had us on the I-40 route both ways. Even so, I took a few precautions such as placing blankets, water, snacks, warm and waterproof clothes, boots, and a shovel in the SUV. Other prep was an extra 2-3 psi in the tires, more for added straight line stability than because of weight. Other tasks were checking the pressure in the donut spare, and a basic check of the oil and water. I got some washer fluid that could operate below freezing point and I scrubbed the windows inside and out. The window cleaning tools were thrown in the back for the trip.
Here comes another point against the BMW. In their infinite wisdom, BMW use rather soft glass in the windshield. My 328D is a 2015 and, being a desert car, you can imagine that the glass is now covered by a myriad of tiny pockmarks that disrupt your vision when the sun is low in the sky. No bueno.
Having picked a vehicle, it was now time to pick a route and prepare. The obvious and most direct route is Vegas to Kingman on US 93 to pick up I-40. Drag east to Amarillo and slot right onto highway 287 towards DFW via Wichita Falls. Next is the 380 to slide east on the axis of Denton/McKinney north of DFW, avoiding tolls.
Thing with this route is that passing through AZ and NM you are at elevations above 5000' a lot of the time, reaching over 7000' in places in both states. These are not places to be if there is any chance of snow.Planning an alternative route at lower elevations further south is complicated by geography and the dearth of decent roads in certain parts of AZ and NM. The obvious route is to work south and pick up I-10 in Phoenix. However, to get there involves Kingman and the I-40 again. The junction of I-40 and US-93 to Phoenix is at 5000' at the top of a long grade up from Kingman, so it is hard to keep it clear and safe. In bad weather, AZ often closes the I-40 to all eastbound traffic at Kingman. Oops.
Should that happen, the only way to get to I-10 is to follow US-95, a basic 2-lane highway, south from Nevada through Needles, following the Colorado valley to Blythe. There is US-62 and AZ-72 that cuts the corner from the Parker dam towards Quartzite, but Google street view is hardly encouraging regarding the state of that road. On the I-10 you drag east through AZ, NM, until you get to I-20 east of El Paso. Drone on until you get to DFW. The elevation of I-10 does briefly exceed 5000' in SE AZ, but snow there is relatively rare compared to I-40.Careful examination of the weather had us on the I-40 route both ways. Even so, I took a few precautions such as placing blankets, water, snacks, warm and waterproof clothes, boots, and a shovel in the SUV. Other prep was an extra 2-3 psi in the tires, more for added straight line stability than because of weight. Other tasks were checking the pressure in the donut spare, and a basic check of the oil and water. I got some washer fluid that could operate below freezing point and I scrubbed the windows inside and out. The window cleaning tools were thrown in the back for the trip.
Here comes another point against the BMW. In their infinite wisdom, BMW use rather soft glass in the windshield. My 328D is a 2015 and, being a desert car, you can imagine that the glass is now covered by a myriad of tiny pockmarks that disrupt your vision when the sun is low in the sky. No bueno.
