What to expect when driving from Chicago to LA in January?|106668

I_ll be driving from Chicago to LA in January and I plan to take the southern route so I don_t have to go through the mountains during snow season. I_ll be driving through St. Louis, Oklahoma City, and from there, through the top of TX and middle of AZ and NM.

Any tips for navigating through the snow? I_m an LA native so I_ve never have experienced snow let alone driving in it. Thank you.

If you can afford it put some snow or all season tires on the car. When going through an area with snow or it_s cold enough to have black ice, slow the heck down! Keep plenty of distance between you and the other cars, theirs a lot of idiots out there. Have a cell phone with you, emergencies do sometimes happen. Put some Heet in the gas tank, it_s fuel antifreeze, keeps your fuel lines from freezing up.

I once knew a young lady named Kitty, many years ago.

You have a couple of misconceptions about the difference between the two routes
With the exception of the downhill trip thru Echo Canyon _I-80 W to I-15 S- the northern route is not mountainous
Neither the northern route -1-80W to I-15 S nor the Southern route I-55S to I-44 W to I-40 are going to be snow free until you get down onto the desert
On 55, 44, 40 that happens 40 miles west of Flagstaff
On 80 ,15 that happens as you get south of St George UT
The one huge advantage that the 55, 40, 40 route has is that it passes thru a lot more cities and towns
I-80W from Grand Island NE to SLC is one long lonely empty stretch of road at any time of year But in winter it_s emptiness can make it dangerous
Leave this Q open for a day or so and I_ll add some needed details
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Update
Tues :P.M.
Driving in snow
The key to driving in snow is that you drive gently and pragmatically
You brake gently
You accelerate gently
You turn gently
Sudden large movements will get you into all sorts of trouble.
You also set up your next move early
Case in point
You_re driving on a snowy interstate and you see that you have an exit coming up in 2 miles
Gently move over to your exit lane
At a 1/4 of a mile or so out lift off of your gas pedal to scrub off some speed
Gently brake on the straight to get down to 15 mph and then do your exit
Braking at high speed in the middle of a snowy exit has been known to have some real negative consequences .
If you_re driving at night under heavy snow conditions ,turning off your headlights But leaving your running lights on will significantly increase your ability to see where you_re going.
The reason that that trick works is that with your headlights on the snow reflects the light right back into your face and you can basically see nothing But glare .
When you turn your lights off the light magnification property of snow will illuminate the road enough to see quite a distance down the road.
However snow is not your biggest problem driving in and surviving very cold weather is .
Leave this Q open and I_ll tell you how to deal with that issue

Well my advice to you would be to get snow chains so as to be prepared. Make sure you don_t drive too close to anyone, as you will find out; there are real idiots on the roads. Drive at a safe speed and rest when you need to. Hope you have a safe and pleasant trip. OMG, last but not least be sure you have your cell phone and charger with you in case of an emergency.

snow = buy tires chains

dont hit animals

you might see a kkk meeting if youre in the south (texas and around there) in the night

try not to hit people
ull see lots of trees and rocks and some desert
and expect a little rain with heat
im doubting the snow

A nightmare.