Merry Christmas, everyone! Some people may end up driving over the holidays, and for those people, this one is for you. We’re taking a 4 day trip from the northeast to the southwest. The route covers 2261 miles, at a pace of 68.5mph, which means those days, especially the first three, will cover 548 miles. with the longest, dullest day for Tuesday.
DAY ONE (Sunday)
The weather is going to get a little bit interesting as the drive progresses, but for our Sunday, a strong ridge is parked on the east coast, and aside for some very dense morning in many parts of our route, the weather should cooperate. The drive will take us through some un-turnpiked Ohio and Indiana, before we stop in Greenfield, just east of Indianapolis.
DAY TWO (Monday)
It’s probable that we will get underway with dry but foggy skies on Christmas morning, but an advancing cold front will intercept us before reach the Illinois border. The heaviest rain is going to come in eastern Illinois, between the Indiana border and Effingham. The rain will mostly be wrapped up before we hit the Mississippi, however, and blustery conditions will take over in Missouri. The drive from St. Louis to Sampson, Missouri, which is about 40 miles before Springfield, will be windy and increasingly crisp, but dry.
DAY THREE (Tuesday)
It will be dry and sunny for the first time of our drive on Boxing Day, but one variable will be different. It’s going to be chilly as we pass through Oklahoma and head towards Amarillo. The wind will be a bit breezy, but not as bad as on Christmas. Some warmth will start building back in by the time we arrive in Texas/ We’ll take the Panhandle, Texas exit, which is in the Texas Panhandle east of Amarillo.
DAY FOUR (Wednesday)
The last day will be spent mostly in New Mexico, which is a notoriously difficult place to get right. It is higher in elevation than the Plains, a little bit wetter than the desert further west, and all together susceptible to the changing winds. OF course, the biggest fungible variable is temperature, which doesn’t matter unless it’s down towards freezing, which it won’t be. New Mexico won’t be a problem, and Tucson will be delightful.
