Driving south in winter. Winter tire dilema.

[bassman284]

Al I know is, when I head south in late Feb I'm keeping my plow tires on. Although, I'll be towing a 5th wheel....

I'll bet those bad boys sing on the highway.

 

[WIMUSKY]

Actually they're not bad. When they were new they were suprisingly quiet....

 

[82rude]

What does the wife have for a vehicle old?I would think 3 weeks in fla would take 6 months off of the winter tires life maybe?Problem with winters is they will not stop as fast in hot weather believe it or not and may handle a little oddly but nothing that cant be adjusted for.The new all weathers would be perfect .As for ice racing with studs it reminds me of 15 years ago when I had my first knee replacement I was in the hospital waiting in my temp room for the operation and the guy next to me was just brought in from a snowmobile endure race and the sled behind him took a jump big time and landed on top of him with 196 plus studs!There was not one inch of his body the wasn't black and blue and several punctures all over .Ouch a munga!

 

[aspeck]

Hey, last week I drove from Denver to Central PA I. That snow and ice muck that came on quickly with nearly bald tires! It wasn’t so bad, just kept it around 40mph and avoided people ... who needs tread?

Okay, the reason was SIL is moving back from Denver. I flew out to drive her back. 3 weeks earlier she had her car checked out and guy said it needed tires ... he would get if it was his wife’s car, but would be okay for him. Was going to charge her $1,000. I told her to wait that I would get them for her for $600. Who knew then we were going to get the weather we got???? Wednesday she is getting new all-seasons.

 

[achris]

Gee you guys... $2.70 A GALLON! Really, that's CHEAP... For petrol, on a cheap day, my wife is paying $1.40 a litre... That's about $4 a US gallon... I'm paying even more for diesel... In Europe it's about double that. So stop complaining about fuel prices...

 

[alldodge]

All Islands are higher 3.78 in Hawaii

and 3.78 liters to the gallon so that would be 5.29 a gal at 1.40 a liter

AND this is the USA and we like complaining

 

[achris]

All Islands are higher 3.78 in Hawaii

and 3.78 liters to the gallon so that would be 5.29 a gal at 1.40 a liter

Ya forgot the exchange rate...

 

[aspeck]

Ya forgot the exchange rate...

But he got the complaining right! LOL!

 

[wahlejim]

Old Ironmaker I used to book corporate travel and studied tourism in college and just did a quick search for roughly the time frame you are looking at traveling. Granted, there are a lot of unknowns here so I went with the information I had. If you can get to Buffalo, you can fly down from there to Punta Gorda (30 minutes north of Fort Myers), round trip 2 adults for about $450. Using the airline partner car rentals, 700 for a car rental for three weeks (intermediate size, decent size 4 door). Puts travel and car rental for 3 weeks at $1100USD. Seems pretty reasonable considering wear and tear on your car, fuel, lodging on the way down, and the drive time. There are options out there if you dig deep enough. If you want advice on where to look and when, shoot me a message. (this price will probably fall in 7-10 days for about a 5 day period then climb back up again)

 

[82rude]

wahlejim I don't know about old ironmaker but personally I refuse to fly for the sole purpose that you see zero zip nada of the country and the people by flying.No matter where I go in north America it will be by car so I can experience all the beauty and diversity of our 2 countries.

 

[WIMUSKY]

I'm right there with ya 'rude. I love to drive. Sure, a plane gets you there quicker, but as u said, you see squat by flying. I like to see all the different terrain, sites etc. Plus, we like to take our home with us, no motels. And we save many hundreds of dollars by taking our pooches and not having to kennel...

 

[wahlejim]

I agree if it's a special trip I prefer driving if I can. However, I go down to Florida annually for mine and the Admiral's anniversary and we visit where we got married on a beach down there, as well as visit her parents who are snow birds and head south for the winter. Seeing the sights the first time was great. The 2nd time, less impressive. The third time, bordering on tedious. Now that we have 2 kids under 3 years old, flying is preferred if the budget allows. As they get older, I am sure we will drive more and visit more of what the country has to offer, but driving through a snowstorm with 2 kids in the back seat is not an option for us. Other vacations are typically driven, often with the boat in tow. Regular winter trips are not at this point.

 

[Scott Danforth]

right now, air-fair from Tampa to the midwest can be as low as $39 one-way with Frontier. I cant even drive up to the FL-GA line for that.

 

[wahlejim]

Yep, Frontier and Allegiant are the 2 basic ones to search. I like Allegiant because it flies out of smaller airports as well as bigger ones so it takes a lot of the stress out of flying. From parked car, checked bags, through security, and at the gate in 20 minutes with 2 kids in tow

 

[dingbat]

I've seen enough road side scenery and clouds out the window to last ten people a life time...I just want to get there and back the fastest possible way anymore.

Get on the plane in DC at 9 am. Be at the hotel in Orlando by 1 pm.

 

[WIMUSKY]

^^^^^^^^^^ That's how my Bro feels......

Although, he hasn't seen the scenery..... He always flies... But his wife is a reservationist for an airline, their tickets are cheap..

 

[JoLin]

You nneed to shop for a rental car and a flight, then "run the numbers." When I was driving solo from Long Island to Stuart, factoring in gas, tolls, lodging (one night) and an oil change, I found that if I was staying less than 3 weeks it made more sense to fly and rent than to take my own car.

Do the math for your trip with 2 people.

My .02

 

[dingbat]

^^^^^^^^^^ That's how my Bro feels......

Although, he hasn't seen the scenery..... He always flies... But his wife is a reservationist for an airline, their tickets are cheap..

I have a ton of hotel and travel points from business travel.

Try to mix in “get aways” with business travel when possible.