I'm driving across the country!

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Anybody know a good way to get from the Midwest out to the Pacific Northwest without my car getting fucked up around the Rockies from pulling a trailer?

Oh, the fun that IS moving cross-country...

― Lt. Kingfish Del Pickles (Kingfish), Tuesday, 24 August 2004 14:18 (twenty-one years ago)

You could always try going the other way around.

― Huck, Tuesday, 24 August 2004 14:19 (twenty-one years ago)

I-80 wasn't that bad on my brother's shitty Nissan when we drove out there.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 24 August 2004 14:23 (twenty-one years ago)

Follow the Ore*on Trail - cross the continental divide in the basins of SW WY, then head thru the Snake River Valley to Boise, Baker City, OR, and on NW to the Columbia River

― abbnab, Tuesday, 24 August 2004 14:51 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah, but how long will that take me?

― Lt. Kingfish Del Pickles (Kingfish), Tuesday, 24 August 2004 14:58 (twenty-one years ago)

oh wait I'm sorry, we took I-90 and I-94 so we could go to Yellowstone. If you wanna get some sightseeing in (and you really should), it's a good idea.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 24 August 2004 15:02 (twenty-one years ago)

we went I-64 to I-29 (not really applicable for you) to I-90 to I-94 down to Yellowstone, then down to Grand Tetons, across the Jackson Pass into Idaho, picked up I-84 into Portland. You could do that then take I-5 up to Seattle, or bypass Portland and pick up I-90 again somewhere in Western Washington.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 24 August 2004 15:04 (twenty-one years ago)

well, i'm looking for the quickest way to get from Michigan to Portland, but one which won't kill my car's tranny.

― Lt. Kingfish Del Pickles (Kingfish), Tuesday, 24 August 2004 15:20 (twenty-one years ago)

is your car pre-op or post-op?

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 24 August 2004 15:32 (twenty-one years ago)

currently pre-op. i need to find a place around here to install the hitch.

― Lt. Kingfish Del Pickles (Kingfish), Tuesday, 24 August 2004 18:14 (twenty-one years ago)

so it's a female-to-male tranny, I get it.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 24 August 2004 18:16 (twenty-one years ago)

actualy, it's currently asexual. i'm driving a grand prix, so there's no hitch at all.

― Lt. Kingfish Del Pickles (Kingfish), Tuesday, 24 August 2004 18:26 (twenty-one years ago)

cool stuff we saw on our route included grafitti near Burnt Prairie, IL that read "AMBER IS HOT!;" the Gateway Arch in St. Louis; dorky punk kids in Omaha; Wall Drug in Wall, SD; the Badlands; Mt. Rushomore (okay not so cool), Geronimo (very cool) and the Black Hills; Custer's last stand; Yellowstone (very cool, esp. the bison herd that stopped traffic - baby bison are totally cute!); the Grand Tetons; Dick Cheney's house; a neighborhood in Boise, Idaho that looks exactly like Logan Square in Chicago; and Eastern Oregon and the Columbia River Valley.

okay, so we really didn't see Dick Cheney's house.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 24 August 2004 18:30 (twenty-one years ago)

Why was Mt. Rushmore not cool? It's FOUR BIG HEADS.

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Tuesday, 24 August 2004 18:46 (twenty-one years ago)

of HONQUISTADORS!

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 24 August 2004 18:46 (twenty-one years ago)

maps are your friend

― oops (Oops), Tuesday, 24 August 2004 19:02 (twenty-one years ago)

oh take the fun out of it, whydoncha

― Lt. Kingfish Del Pickles (Kingfish), Tuesday, 24 August 2004 19:39 (twenty-one years ago)

seriously, the route I suggested doesn't have much in the way of steep grades for your l'il tranny car to conquer, except for the Jackson Pass part which you could totally bypass if you wanted.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 24 August 2004 19:40 (twenty-one years ago)

the half-moon was blood red last night as it set.

i wonder if this is an omen.

Fate
Up against your will
Through the thick and thin...

― Lt. Kingfish Del Pickles (Kingfish), Tuesday, 24 August 2004 19:43 (twenty-one years ago)

how long do you want to take? I really think it's worth seeing as much stuff as possible (if I didn't make that clear).

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 24 August 2004 19:45 (twenty-one years ago)

we're leaving from michigan on friday evening, and my buddy has to be at the portland airport by noon on labor day.

in other words, won't be much time for sight-seein'.

― Lt. Kingfish Del Pickles (Kingfish), Tuesday, 24 August 2004 19:53 (twenty-one years ago)

oh that's plenty of time! my bro and I did it in 5 days!

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 24 August 2004 19:53 (twenty-one years ago)

correct, NEXT friday. that gives us a little less than 72 hours.

i'm already burning Lindsay Buckingham onto the road trip mix disc, just to give it the right mood.

― Lt. Kingfish Del Pickles (Kingfish), Tuesday, 24 August 2004 19:54 (twenty-one years ago)

correction!, rather

― Lt. Kingfish Del Pickles (Kingfish), Tuesday, 24 August 2004 19:54 (twenty-one years ago)

oh in that case take lots of trucker speed.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 24 August 2004 19:55 (twenty-one years ago)

And don't forget the Jerry Reed and Red Sovine.

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Tuesday, 24 August 2004 20:00 (twenty-one years ago)

nah, i can't. tears up my digestive system something fierce.

this is why i'm taking my road trip buddy with me, assuming his wife stops giving him so much shit for being gone for 3 days.

― Lt. Kingfish Del Pickles (Kingfish), Tuesday, 24 August 2004 20:01 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah, but how long will that take me?

It seems like a pretty straight shot across, perhaps the most direct route you can take on interstates - I-80 to I-84. Taking 90 to 395 to 84 might be similarly direct (and more scenic), but seems to me to get into more mountains than you want. Not that I've driven either.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 25 August 2004 12:12 (twenty-one years ago)

ok, well i-80 or i-90 seem to be the only real options here. 80 is slightly shorter in length (I assume you're coming from Southern MI - Ann Arbor?) and sounds like it has an easier (much easier?) grade, but the length isn't that different and the grade of 90 should be fine. 90 will be less-trafficked and through fewer big cities once you get out of the great lakes, though depending on your route you may go through both Chicago and Milwaukee before you head west on 90. evidently, lots of trucks on 80 - don't know the implications there. and the weather will be a few degrees hotter on 80. neither is particularly scenic, writ large, but the scenic sections of 90 are probably a lot better than those of 80. i'd probably give 80 the edge, but would switch if weather and/or roadwork/closings (you should check these somewhere) favor 90.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Saturday, 28 August 2004 15:14 (twenty-one years ago)

It's more expensive and I dunno if it'll be any quicker, but my sister took this ferry on the way back from the West Coast a couple years ago and said it was very nice:

http://www.ssbadger.com/

It gets you up to I-94 which then joins up with I-90. She said it was very pretty.

― Aaron W (Aaron W), Saturday, 28 August 2004 15:29 (twenty-one years ago)

either way, it's gonna take you probably at least 40 hours. i assume you're sharing the driving. if you take 80, I might split it up this way - go to Chicago friday evening, make Lincoln or Grand Island, NE by Sat night, Rock Springs, WY on Sun night, and the Columbia River by Monday night - from there you can continue to Portland or sleep a few hours and head in early AM to beat traffic/give you lead time to the airport. on 90, i'd go to Chicago Friday, Sioux Falls Saturday, Billings Sunday, and the Columbia River Monday night, same as above.

evidently, the biggest grade on 80 is coming into SLC.i don't know if you avoid (worsen?) the grade by skipping SLC and heading NE on 84 to Ogden, which may be wise anyway (it's one instead of two sides of a triangle)

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Saturday, 28 August 2004 15:39 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm not sure whether the ferry makes sense. It might if you're going to take 90 and would otherwise stagger things the way I do. You may well cut Fri and Sat time behind the wheel by 2-3 hours, depending on what the state roads across Wisconsin to 90 are like (these are more direct than going South to 94, though I don't know that they're faster), but you'll add clock time, most likely - you could still presumably make the same destination Sat night, but you'd get there later if you take the ferry. That isn't the only factor in the tradeoff. You also add 4 hours on water. For some people that would be good, and for some it would be bad.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Saturday, 28 August 2004 16:50 (twenty-one years ago)

Gabbneb, I don't know you, but I think that maybe you are a robot. You're still one of my favorites on here.

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Saturday, 28 August 2004 17:19 (twenty-one years ago)

bring your chains, they had to close one of the passes here(colorado, thoguh if you take 80 you won't go into colorado so nevermind) yesterday because of snow, though it's meant to be nice this week.

― keith m (keithmcl), Saturday, 28 August 2004 20:06 (twenty-one years ago)

seven years pass...

I'm driving from Portland, OR to Tampa, FL in a few weeks. Am I going to die?

― musicfanatic, Thursday, 2 February 2012 04:44 (fourteen years ago)

Not if you bring enough astronaut diapers.

― Aimless, Thursday, 2 February 2012 04:50 (fourteen years ago)

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