If you can live without some of your stuff for a few months, look into renting a storage locker in your current location. Drive whatever fits up in your sedan, and come back for what you left behind when you can be sure of clear roads all the way, either packed in the car or in a rental trailer depending on how much there is.
OP:
Can you give us more detail on how much stuff you have, so we can give you better recommendations?
Besides renting or buying a trailer consider the following options:
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Go to Uship and get some quotes for all your stuff–I think you can find much cheaper options than you were quoted (move the valuable stuff and stuff you need immediately in your car):
http://www.uship.com -
Consider getting a cartop carrier and/or shipping some stuff by Post Office or UPS. (thus you might get rid of the big stuff, get a cartop carrier and ship some stuff by Post Office or UPS–and only make one trip.)
As a northern mid-westerner, here’s my advice
Driving in snowy/icy conditions is not easy, but it’s pretty simple.
- Accelerate
- Turn
- Brake
…pick one.
If you try to do any two of these at once you will lose control of the vehicle. Simple physics and all.
Also, when it’s snowing and/or icy, drive well below the speed limit. See the rule above.
Driving in snow/ice just requires that you are well prepared for much less useful friction than you are used to. Be safe!
there is a huge variance in snow performance of “all season” tires. Some are borderline worthless in the snow.
and one key thing that winter tires will do that FWD/AWD/4WD will not do is help you stop faster.
it amazes me how many people will ask about spending thousands of dollars on a car which is supposed to be “good in snow” when they could just spend a few hundred on winter tires and turn any car into one which is “good in snow.”
“Fighting ignorance.” snerk.
As to all season tires, it really depends on how much snow you get. We get upwards of 25 and sometimes more than 30 feet of snow a year at my house. I just leave my dedicated snow tires on year round. Yeah, they wear faster, but summer is so short, it’s not worth taking them off. Anyway, in conditions like mine, a two wheel drive simply cannot be made into a car that will work with just putting snow tires on it. 4x4 is a must.
OP - Most of the advice in this thread is good. There’s a lot of ‘it depends’ though. Can you choose your moving day? Maybe do it over the course of a couple of weekends? Then just use your sedan.
Are you going to have to drive no matter what for work? Then get snow tires. If you have the option to stay home in bad weather, perhaps all-seasons will be ok.
When I first moved to where I am (11,200 feet) in the Colorado mountains, I tried to get by with a 4x4 truck, and a RWD car. I put studded snow tires on all for corners of the car. Got rid of the car after the first season. Chained up the 4x4 truck on all 4and put a plow on it. And bought a Jeep for my daily driver.
Average snowfall in My Shasta looks to be about 100 inches. That may be enough to warrant snow tires. Or an AWD. Noting, of course, that neither make you invincible.
Then on the other hand (and for several years I lived west of Divide, Colorado, over 10,000 feet and commuted to metro Denver daily) I have mostly had RWD, manual trans vehicles in snow country. I drive a lot. The only time I totally lost it and ended up in a ditch was in a 4WD Blazer because I made the rookie mistake of thinking that 4WD made me somehow invincible.:rolleyes:
So, 4WD or AWD really is good advice. But it won’t make you stop any easier on ice, and it doesn’t mean you can drive faster or less carefully than when driving a front- or rear-wheel drive vehicle. Tires, and driving experience/skill are more important than what you’re actually driving.
Ok, so car starts to slide, I turn where my rear is going, do I release the gas or give it more?
Depends if you’re in a FWD or RWD vehicle, and in which direction you’re sliding. And how fast you’re going. General rule is gentle acceleration, but if you’re going slowly and sliding forward in a RWD vehicle, popping it in neutral and gently pumping the brakes will stop you faster.
I like snow tires. But my main piece of advice is to do any maneuver more slowly, much more, than you are accustomed to. I never have to slam on my brakes, for example, because I am driving slow. I don’t accelerate while turning and I don’t slam on the gas either. Slow and steady is the ticket.
When you get a chance, practice in a quiet neighborhood. I learned at a shopping center, but that was before Sunday shopping. And I tried to induce skidding until my reactions were automatic. But I never do anything to skid anyway.
Of course, this advice is for after you move. If you can possibly get someone to drive who is experienced at snow driving, that would be best of course. But in the likely case you can’t, just do everything slow. Snow driving is not for the impatient.
What’s the kitty litter used for?
Traction, if you get stuck. You throw it under the spinning wheel/s. The piece of carpet I mentioned upthread serves the same purpose.
Seconded!
Thanks. That was my guess. Yes I saw what you said about old carpet scraps - good idea. In a pinch, the car floor mats can help in this way too.
Yup! I’ve ruined a couple of floor mats in my time. 
Now I carry carpet scraps in both vehicles.
I hope not, geez, that road is not much fun in July. It would make more sense to go up toward Grants Pass and come south, or even down to Willits and then north. 299 goes through the mountains, twists worse than a small intestine, and I would be surprised if it was snow-free the whole way.
you can also use sand, but litter is usually lighter. and maybe cheaper.
Sand is better, as it stays very usable even when wet. Being heavier is a plus, not a minus in winter. It’s also cheaper than kitty litter.
Only if stored over the drive wheels, right? That gives you extra traction, e.g., stored in the rear trunk in a front-engine rear wheel drive car - that’s a plus.
But for a FWD car then heavy sand stored in the rear trunk is not a plus.
I have AWD. 
But even if stored in the trunk of a FWD car the weight will help the rear wheels with braking.
Braking on snow?