Anyone ever made a similar trip?

Unfortunately, we opted for the 2WD Element, otherwise I'd say stick with the plan and travel up to NC/TN border area, visit family, head on to St. Louis, then through KC and on to Denver.
however, a couple folks have suggested we take I-10 West, from FL panhandle through TX to NM, then head north to Denver. Looks like it's more out of the way on that route, but then again less of a chance of bad weather/rockslides/anything like that (or so I would think).

Any recommendations for us?
Also, did we make a mistake getting the 2WD? We'll be in Denver from March - August but then likely back in FL.

Just check the Weather Channel and you will be fine....

No, you didn't make a mistake with the 2WD......you live in Florida.....It's not like you're moving to Denver forever!!!!!!!

Take many pictures and post!!!!!!

Anyone ever made a similar trip?

Unfortunately, we opted for the 2WD Element, otherwise I'd say stick with the plan and travel up to NC/TN border area, visit family, head on to St. Louis, then through KC and on to Denver.
however, a couple folks have suggested we take I-10 West, from FL panhandle through TX to NM, then head north to Denver. Looks like it's more out of the way on that route, but then again less of a chance of bad weather/rockslides/anything like that (or so I would think).

Any recommendations for us?
Also, did we make a mistake getting the 2WD? We'll be in Denver from March - August but then likely back in FL.

Stop by KC and have some BBQ.............call when you get close

Plan on only a one-way trip, you won't want to leave.

We live pretty close to I10 on the Texas East coast.
A few years ago we made a trip to Boulder.
We took Hwy 45 to Dallas, then 287 to Colorado. We went in July wearing shorts and arrived with the temps in the 50's...we had NO pants or jackets:shock:

Took the long way home, Roswell, and Carlsbad, and our van overheated several times on I10 through W Texas, not a car on the road for miles, I was fearing for the Hills have Eyes mutants!

Hey, we took I-10 West, to Lafayette, LA, then took 49 North to 20, took that west to Dallas, then North on 35, passed though OKC, Wichita, then hit 70 @ Salina, KS, and took 70 West to Denver. The trip was fine (about 3 days of sloooow driving), until we hit a snow storm in Denver, that wasn't fun w/ a "summerized" (tires, windshield wiper fluid) VW Jetta. PM if you have any questions.

First, thanks for the replies.


No, you didn't make a mistake with the 2WD......you live in Florida.....It's not like you're moving to Denver forever!!!!!!!


True...but like perfdata said, maybe it'll be a 1-way trip. ;) Also figured if we had the 4WD we could have just plowed through anything in NC/TN mountains, or near KC. Oh well.

ORANGEE, we actually have some family in KC (and in NC mountains) so we were thinking about stopping by that area...just need to try not to extend our timeline too far. But might take you up on a BBQ offer. :)

Jojo - that was my fear, driving through TX desert for miles on end trying to dodge crazy inbred mutants who live in the woods. :grin: haha j/k of course.
Interesting route to go via Dallas - didn't think about that. I know two weeks ago I flew to Denver from Orlando - at least I brought my jacket, I think temp dropped 50* on that trip.

mikEysee, might take you up on the PM offer. Thanks for the info.

First, thanks for the replies.

True...but like perfdata said, maybe it'll be a 1-way trip. ;)

About 11 years ago Mrs. Perfdata and I are out here looking for land. We're in a restaurant in the middle of nowhere and I excuse myself to go to the washroon. I come back and no Mrs. Perfdata, she's sitting with three hunters gushing all over them that we want to move here. So they ask, "Where are you from?" and we tell them Illinois. They then told us the three rules to follow:

1. Leave your Illinois additude in Illinois
2. Once you move here don't try to slam the door shut for others who want to move here.
3. Never forget why you moved to Colorado.

And we have never forgotten these three rules either.

Where we live, long-term 80-90% of the non-natives bail out and go somewhere else, it's remote (75 miles to Sam's Club) but it's exactly what we wanted.

http://www.perfectiondata.com/images/e/ValerieRioLandSmall.jpg

Awesome pic and "perspective" perf. Thanks.

A couple people have told us we're going to get "Rocky Mountain Fever" and want to stay, haha. I've lived in FL for a while now (wife is born/raised here) so we're definitely open to someplace different. 6 months in Denver should be a good trial run...

If only we got the AWD! :rolleyes: :grin:

Awesome pic and "perspective" perf. Thanks.

A couple people have told us we're going to get "Rocky Mountain Fever" and want to stay, haha. I've lived in FL for a while now (wife is born/raised here) so we're definitely open to someplace different. 6 months in Denver should be a good trial run...

If only we got the AWD! :rolleyes: :grin:

IMO Denver is just another big city. We are in one of the last undeveloped areas on the Front Range, 75 miles SW of Colorado Springs. We saw a map of Colorado at the state fair a couple of years ago, only a few counties were categorized as "mountainous", we're in one of them.

Drop us an e-mail and come down for a day or two, we'll give you the grand tour. You'll never be the same. And I'll introduce you to my neighbors who escaped St. Cloud.

Well, we made it. :)

We went up on I75 to Atlanta (made it through downtown ATL around 2pm in about 15mins), on to Nashville and stopped in St. Louis for the night. About 16-18 hrs (we left around 5:30am and arrived around 11pm), but I'm semi-counting a 45 min stop due to our cat experiencing some explosive diarrhea. :roll:

Left St. Louis around 10:30am STL time and made it to Denver (Lowry area) around 9pm MST. So about 12 hrs there.

Element was a joy to ride in, only hard part was going through MO/KS where it was pretty windy (25+ mph winds). But it wasn't that bad.

We had 4 suitcases, some boxes, a 75lb golden retriever, a cat and a GPS in the E. :) Wish I had some pictures, we forgot to charge our camera before the trip. Oh well, we'll get some on the way back.

Had a nice snowy intro to Denver on Sunday, too. Wife is cold, but loving it so far.

How long will you be staying in the finest state in the US?

Avalanche game is on now, Peter the Great is back! Catch it!

We'll be here until the end of August (as of now). Could change...

Had a blast snowboarding at Copper yesterday, but got stuck in traffic on the way up (I70 closed due to avalanche prevention) and on the way home (4hrs+ due to jack knifed semi truck).

Yeah, we're gonna try to catch an Avalanche game in person before the season ends.