Dave's comments are exactly right on. You MUST plan your trip with both eyes on the weather in the winter.
A key difference between winter and summer weather: In the winter, weather systems that cause problems are often (?usually?) much bigger than in the summer. In the summer, it's almost always possible to get to your destination VFR by just detouring (sometimes an entire state) sideways to go around the bad weather. In the winter, you just have to watch and wait for a massive good weather system to make that long flight in a short time. (Today, at this moment, there's a single IFR system from the Gulf to the Canadian border and four to five states wide.) Yet, it looks like it's VFR in much of the area from Eastern Washington state and Montana to California and Arizona. If your ability to get time free does not have flexibility, then finding a volunteer pilot or trailering may be your main options. (I'd volunteer in a heartbeat if I didn't still have a denied medical blocking me.) Ed
