What is the best way to southern California from the Central US in the summer?
Hello, what is the best way from the Central US (Iowa) to southern California?
Should I go through Colorado/Utah/Nevada/California?
Or should I go through Iowa/Kansas/New Mexico/Arizona/California?
I realize there are more pros in going the Colorado route, because of Denver and Las Vegas. However, I just want to go the safest and easiest route to my destination.
Here are two cons I can think of. Please correct me if I am wrong.
Colorado route: I am told it is mountainous (steep cliffs, dangerous bends). I have never been to Colorado, but I have been through the mountains and didn’t feel very comfortable. Is it really dangerous? Going the main route, could I really fall off a steep cliff?
New Mexico route: I am told in the summer the temperatures reach upwards of 127 degrees. Even the best air conditioner can’t keep a car cool and since I am driving with a pet, that wouldn’t be suitable.
Any and all advice is greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
Jessica
added detail: I can’t fly as I’m with a pet. 
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6 Responses to “What is the best way to southern California from the Central US in the summer?”
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December 16th, 2008 at 5:38 pm
New Mexico route and I drive it at night or early evening. Keeps cooler out and car will be safe. You can get to cool areas to spend teh rest of teh night and sleep in the next morning.
December 18th, 2008 at 2:40 am
fly southwest…your gonna pay so much for gas…and get lots of oil changes…plus your tires…too much milage…fly southwest…there’s lots of airports out in so cal…depending on where you wanna go…the OC? like the show there’s John Wayne…there’s of course LAX for the city but there’s nothing out there just really dirty…and there’s Ontario which is in between them kinda more desert type area…but a lot less traffic
December 20th, 2008 at 6:41 am
fly
its quicker and probably cheaper
December 23rd, 2008 at 12:36 am
I have driven all the routes and like So. Dakota, Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon, California then South on Hiway one. Beautiful scenery the whole way and wonderful ocean breezes South. Just remember that 75 is the fastest you can legally go, but 55 saves you the most money. Also, they were building freeways thru the mountains when I first went accoss in 1959 on Route 66, I think they may be finished by now.
December 26th, 2008 at 5:02 am
Go the Colorado route. You won’t regret it, the scenery is spectacular.
December 26th, 2008 at 11:21 pm
The flattest route is I-35 Des Moines to Kansas City and The Kansas Turnpike to Wichita and I- 35 to to Oklahoma City . Take I-40 west from OKC thru Amarillo, Albuquerque, Flagstaff , Kingman and onto Barstow.
This route does not get hot until you are 40 miles west of Flagstaff. The reason is simple : from OKC and west you’re going uphill until you hit Flagstaff @ 7000′ . After that it’s all down hill. What you heard about NM only applies to the southern route through the state.
Once you cross the Colorado River 40 Miles west of Kingman it’s going to get really hot -as in 110+- and really empty- as in 120 miles to Barstow and nothing in between. It might be wise to grab a motel room in Kingman and sleep until around 3:00 am and then hit the road. You’ll be in LA by 7:00 am
Fill up in Kingman .
The Route thru the Rockies and the Red lands is spectacular.Having said that to the un- initiated it can also be highly stress full. Having a semi on your tail while you’re on a 5 mile ,6% downhill run through the twisties has a tendency to stress flat landers out. and if the weather turns bad it can get ugly.