Jim P

Well Known Member
I'm starting to plan out a possible winter trip from the Seattle area to the Dallas area. There's a whole lot of desolate terrain out there as well as that whole winter-time weather issue.

Anyone familiar with a nice route as I'm not sure the most direct is going to be the best? I'm tempted to go the long way and head due south to SoCal, then hang a left once reaching the warmer temps.

Jim
 
Haven't flown it, but I've driven from Athens Tn. to Yakima in Feb. and did just that. I-10 to LA and on up I-5. Never saw anything I wouldn't fly in between Texas and home.
YMMV
 
I've done basically what you're proposing (Tillamook, OR to Memphis, with a stop in Dallas) and took the Southern route.

There is some terrain on the northern part of the route, but the central valley of California is utterly flat.

I flew from Tillamook to SMO (Santa Monica) in time for lunch, and took the southern route over El Paso to Dallas the next day.

If you stay on airways (over Blythe and Thermal, IIRC) you'll go south of Phoenix. El Paso is an easy leg from the LA area.

The terrain is interesting but there are good landing options for most of the route. I still feel better sitting on a parachute though...

 
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Something like this?

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A couple of years ago I rode along with a friend on this ferry trip. We crossed no high terrain and much of the time were below 1,000 AGL but did go high for a while in Oregon to clear weather.

We had to go to El Paso, but you could go from Saint George toward Albuquerque then Dallas.

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East of the Cascades, we were flying pretty high.

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It wasn't winter but it was wintry. We followed a basin for a long way in the basin and range country in Nevada to avoid having to go high there.


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Snow Canyon is just north of Saint George, Utah.​



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After Saint George, there is still the Pariah River, Grand Canyon and Monument Valley. This route may not be the exactly lowest and easiest, but it wasn't bad, as we were able to fly it in fairly bad weather, and it was pretty much on the scenic side. I can't say we flew over a lot of populated areas though.
 
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How is I-84 to Salt Lake then towards the four corners area? After that towards Sante Fe NM. I got a 406 MHz PLB because of the remoteness of that area.