Need Advice Planning Drive From Oregon To Kentucky

Hi! I’m getting ready to drive from Portland, OR to Lexington, KY with a horse trailer. My plan is to take 84-80-29-40. Since I’m traveling with horses I’ll need to plan my stops in advance, but I’m not sure how many miles it is reasonable to expect to drive in a ten to twelve hour day over that stretch of country. Specifically, how much time is spent driving through mountainous areas?

I’m fairly comfortable with this rig. I’ve been driving a 40’ horse trailer to and from Portland to Southern California regularly for years.

Thank you for any advice!

That is a question kind of outside of the focus here. And besides that, you don’t provide enough details to get an accurate answer anyway.

Out of curiosity, what is involved in transporting horses over such a long distance? How often do you need to stop to feed and water? Do they stay in the trailer the entire trip? Any permits needed to cross from state to state?

FYI, it’s very common for an over the road truck driver to drive 500 miles plus during an 11 hour shift. My personal best is 647 miles. Good luck with your journey, I love horses.

Your route is good road but why would you drop down to 40. 29 will take you into kansas city. Grab 70 to st louis and then 64 straight to lexington.

I guess driving time will depend on weather and how well the horses travel. Your looking at about 2400 total miles.

Howdy!

I am in Idaho and run that route every other week with a load of cheese from Jerome, ID to Greensboro NC. When I raised expensive dairy goats, I took my personal vehicle back that way several times.

You want to be on 84 to 80 with a short distance of 15 in Utah, WY and NE to exit 397 in Lincoln, which is 77 and US 2 to 29. Take 29 down to 435 which bypasses most of KCMO to 70. From there jump onto 64 40 mi west of St Louis and stay on 64 to Lexington. In St Louis as you cross over into Illinois it's really rough, but stay in the right lane.

Bookmark this link for Wyoming road conditions:

Wyoming Road Closures

If you have not run that way before pay attention to weigh stations, because some require ALL livestock to go in with your health certificate (for KY) and some it's over 10000 pounds gross vehicle weight.

As for how much you can do in a day... it depends on your comfortable speed, pulling ability in the hills, traffic and weather conditions. When I was running the goats back east, I did 575 to 700 mile days and that's with stopping for fuel. If you figure 575 to 650 miles in 10 to 12 hours, that's a good day.

Have a good trip.

Laura

That is a question kind of outside of the focus here. And besides that, you don’t provide enough details to get an accurate answer anyway.

Out of curiosity, what is involved in transporting horses over such a long distance? How often do you need to stop to feed and water? Do they stay in the trailer the entire trip? Any permits needed to cross from state to state?

FYI, it’s very common for an over the road truck driver to drive 500 miles plus during an 11 hour shift. My personal best is 647 miles. Good luck with your journey, I love horses.

They each have a bag of hay that they can eat along the way. Depending on the weather, I’ll stop every 4-6 hours to offer water. Usually that works out to happen during any fuel stops and one extra stop. I also top up hay bags at fuel stops if they are running low. I always find a place for the horses to get out of the trailer to rest overnight. There are some barns that offer overnight stalls for a fee. For traveling, we typically just need a health certificate and a negative Coggins test (proof that they don’t have a certain type of infectious disease). Both papers can be obtained from any equine vet.

I’m just trying to plan appropriate legs of the drive so that I can reserve overnight stabling, but I don’t have any sense of how long each stretch will take. For example, I know that when I go to SoCal, the first day takes me about 11 hours with stops to go about 450 miles. The second day is about 9.5-10 hours to go 550 miles. I’m hoping to get an idea of how much time (or distance) is spent in mountainous areas in the first couple of days of the drive until I’m through the Rocky Mountains.

Thank you! I’m looking forward to the trip, but also want to do my research so that I’m well prepared.

Your route is good road but why would you drop down to 40. 29 will take you into kansas city. Grab 70 to st louis and then 64 straight to lexington.

I see that route difference on Google maps. Thanks for the tip!

You want to be on 84 to 80 with a short distance of 15 in Utah, WY and NE to exit 397 in Lincoln, which is 77 and US 2 to 29. Take 29 down to 435 which bypasses most of KCMO to 70. From there jump onto 64 40 mi west of St Louis and stay on 64 to Lexington. In St Louis as you cross over into Illinois it's really rough, but stay in the right lane.

Bookmark this link for Wyoming road conditions:

Wyoming Road Closures

If you have not run that way before pay attention to weigh stations, because some require ALL livestock to go in with your health certificate (for KY) and some it's over 10000 pounds gross vehicle weight.

As for how much you can do in a day... it depends on your comfortable speed, pulling ability in the hills, traffic and weather conditions. When I was running the goats back east, I did 575 to 700 mile days and that's with stopping for fuel. If you figure 575 to 650 miles in 10 to 12 hours, that's a good day.

Have a good trip.

Laura

Thanks Laura! That’s really helpful to have that mileage vs hour range.

Your route is good road but why would you drop down to 40. 29 will take you into kansas city. Grab 70 to st louis and then 64 straight to lexington.

I see that route difference on Google maps! Thanks for the tip.

Thanks Laura! That’s really helpful to have that mileage vs hour range.

Also check with county fairgrounds. Sometimes they allow you to use horse barns or livestock pens. I did that once in NE about 10 years ago. I generally don't offload the goats, except to milk them.

Laura