Where to go for 4th of July in Los Angeles?

Drive from Los Angeles to Montreal in the winter?

• hey! My intuition (and my mom) are telling me this is crazy... but here it goes. I need help figuring out whether this proposed road trip is a) feasible b) really THAT dangerous or c) possible, (based on what you recommend which roads to take). I myself am going to be a senior in high school (18 years old) and I want to drive from Los Angeles to Montreal from around December 17 to get back around the 2nd (3rd or 4th). First of all, the contents of the car will be: Myself, my friend (same age), my brother (24 years old) and his wife (23 years old). The car is a Dodge Nitro 2008 in great condition. So... firstly, how long will it take? Which route do we take? Google maps is telling me i-15 to either 1) i-80 2) i-70 and 3) i-40. We want to get there in like 3 days (we'll switch shifts) - from what my intuition is telling me, the winter will delay us. Should we even bother doing a northern route? Will we die on this road trip? With this route, should even aspire to make it in that time frame (i can't miss too much school). So yeah - what do we do? Where do we go? How do we go? Should we go!? Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!

• Answer:

  It can be done, but (there's always a "but"). 1. Every passenger will need a passport to cross the International border in both directions. 2. You will need to "winterize" the car, IE: Antifreeze protection to 40 below, snow tires (a special order item in So Cal) or tire chains that actually fit the car. 3. The distance is roughly 3000 miles EACH way. Even driving 24 hours a day it will take all of 4 days each way. You can't drive 70 MPH, or tailgate on snowy, icy roads. 4. WRONG route for an young, inexperienced driver who hasn't driven on ice and snow. You DON'T want to be crossing the Colorado Rocky's in winter. Instead take I-15 to Barstow, then I-40 & I-44 to St Louis, on to Fort Wayne, then to Detroit. Cross the border into Canada. Then on Canada Hwy 3 and 401 to Montreal. 5. By the time you get there you'll probably need to head back on your limited schedule 6. Quebec is a French speaking province. You'll probably need a basic understanding of French. Many people do speak English, but ofter WON'T because they act like the French. 7. Your California car probably dose not have undercoat protection. The salt used to clear roads back East will start to rust out your car's fenders and quarter panels.