Which Route Should I Take?

I have to drive a 22 foot moving truck and pulling a car from Birmingham AL to Olympia, WA. I see that google maps has two routes to take. I am trying to avoid as many mountain passes as possible for obvious reasons. I drove a 26ft truck with car carrier in November down I-5 thru CA and did the whole Oregon, Calif mountain passes and was scared to death for 2 whole days.

One route has me going: Kansas I-70 to Colorado, then I-80 Wyoming to I-84 to Idaho and I-84 thru Oregon to Portland then I-5 to Olympia.

Other route goes more North. Kansas I-29, South Dakota I-90 thru Billings Montana, Idaho, Spokane, WA thru Stevens Pass down into Seattle area then I-5 south.

One other question. When I am going slowly up and down steep grades where you truckers are passing me going really fast, should I put my emergency lights on so you can see in advance I'm going really slow? I dont want to annoy the truckers.

Thanks in advance for your help to a woman driver going across country.

I have to drive a 22 foot moving truck and pulling a car from Birmingham AL to Olympia, WA. I see that google maps has two routes to take. I am trying to avoid as many mountain passes as possible for obvious reasons. I drove a 26ft truck with car carrier in November down I-5 thru CA and did the whole Oregon, Calif mountain passes and was scared to death for 2 whole days.

One route has me going: Kansas I-70 to Colorado, then I-80 Wyoming to I-84 to Idaho and I-84 thru Oregon to Portland then I-5 to Olympia.

Other route goes more North. Kansas I-29, South Dakota I-90 thru Billings Montana, Idaho, Spokane, WA thru Stevens Pass down into Seattle area then I-5 south.

One other question. When I am going slowly up and down steep grades where you truckers are passing me going really fast, should I put my emergency lights on so you can see in advance I'm going really slow? I dont want to annoy the truckers.

Thanks in advance for your help to a woman driver going across country.

Hello patty. So you're trying to avoid mountain passes on your trip to Seattle? Well to tell you the truth, I think your best bet is actually the 20_10 to CA, now here are 2 options. You can take 10 to 210 (San Bernardino) to 5 ,(and miss horrible traffic thru LA if you get there in the day time) Then you'll have the mountain pass of the grapevine just north of santa Clarita, which isn't all that bad, then the mountains thru extreme northern CA thru Medford OR.

The second option on the south route is a little easier mountain driving which also near San Bernardino take 215 to 15 Up El Cajon to 395 to 58 down the pass of Tehachape to 99 to Sacramento and pick up 5 again. I recommend this route up 99 over 5 as there are a hell of allot more truck stops and towns to stop.

Taking 70 to 25 to 80 then you have a good drive up Sherman pass between Cheyenne and Laramie. (But going up is way safer than going down) to 84 but this route leaves you with a problem. On 84 a little ways before Pendleton OR is one of the worst mountain pass decents in the US known as Cabbage pass. If you didn't like I 5 you'll absolutely hate west bound cabbage. It's 6% grade with switchbacks all the way down.

If you're trying to avoid mountains, don't even consider 90 thru Montana.

Lastly as far as using hazards when going up/down mountains, if you're going less than 40mph, go ahead and use em. But it won't hurt of you use them at less than 55 either.

TLDR: my recommendation is the southern 10_15_395_58_99_5 route.

Hope you have a safe/enjoyable trip.

Hmm. Ok. So 10 to CA huh. Even if it means going south to 10 instead of heading North from the get go. I am actually driving from Cape Coral, FL but was going to drop something off to someone in Birmingham, AL. His cat. LOL. But that seems a rather drastic out of my way route just to drop off a cat if I really need to go the I-10 route.

So taking Hwy 99 up California instead of I-5 is better? I would think I-5 would be better for driving, what with 4 lanes or more opposed to Hwy 99? Or does Hwy 99 have 4 lanes? And wouldnt Hwy 99 have a lot more stops? At every City? Stop lights and so forth? Whereas, I-5 would be no stops?

Or how about from Birmingham, AL dropping down to I-20 at Jackson, MI and driving I-20 past Dallas and Odessa TX and hooking up at I-10 then?

I20 goes thru Birmingham. No need to drop south in Mississippi as 10 and 20 merge together before el Paso. Stay on 20 from Birmingham and you'll merge with 10.

99 is 4 and 6 lane all the way up to Sacramento and no stop signs or speed limits under 55. But if you're towing a trailer in California, the speed limit is 55 regardless.

Totally agree with my friend Terry.

You won't be able to completely avoid mountains, but the route he suggested is definitely the easiest. On 58 in CA you will have some grades but they're nothing to really worry about. I'm on that road very often. Its not flat there, but it sure beats I5 if you want to avoid the Grapevine.

You'll be fine champ!

I have to drive a 22 foot moving truck and pulling a car from Birmingham AL to Olympia, WA. I see that google maps has two routes to take. I am trying to avoid as many mountain passes as possible for obvious reasons. I drove a 26ft truck with car carrier in November down I-5 thru CA and did the whole Oregon, Calif mountain passes and was scared to death for 2 whole days.

One route has me going: Kansas I-70 to Colorado, then I-80 Wyoming to I-84 to Idaho and I-84 thru Oregon to Portland then I-5 to Olympia.

Other route goes more North. Kansas I-29, South Dakota I-90 thru Billings Montana, Idaho, Spokane, WA thru Stevens Pass down into Seattle area then I-5 south.

One other question. When I am going slowly up and down steep grades where you truckers are passing me going really fast, should I put my emergency lights on so you can see in advance I'm going really slow? I dont want to annoy the truckers.

Thanks in advance for your help to a woman driver going across country.

This is your 1st route you have and I would do this one if you're trying to avoid mountain passes. You'll have a small one when get into Wyoming before you drop down into Laramie but its a nice quick one and nothing to worry about unless snow is on the ground. The next Mountain pass you'll have to deal with won't be till you hit Oregon and we truckers call it Cabbage or Blue Mountains. Take this one with caution if you're not comfortable driving through Mountains.

So to me this is the best route for you and if I was making this same trip I would most likely take the same route. DO NOT go the other route if your not wanting to deal with mountains. You won't like going through Western Montana, Northern Idaho and down Snoqualmie and more than likely it will be raining through that pass.

If you don't like Mountains, I5 is not going to be your Cup of Tea going to Washington. I5 North of Redmond, CA is all Mountains and its Non stop till you hit Oregon and its a long downgrade. Then once you get threw that, I5 Oregon is all up down till you hit Salem, OR. and after all that then it's smooth sailing but from reading your post you wouldn't like that kind of drive.

Hmm.. I guess it boils down to going thru California/Oregon and the long drawn out up down, up down of one big long mountain pass, but easy enough with not a lot of continuous knuckle driving down hill steep grades OR little to no long drawn out CA/OR mountain passes but going thru Cabbage/Blue Mountains right before Pendleton's steep grade? So long drawn out and easy mountains to hardly any mountains but one doozy, scary one at the end?

What's the best thing to do when your going down a steep grade anyway? And are we talking 6% down Cabbage for like miles and miles and miles? So should I drop it down into a lower gear? Or the lowest gear? It's the constant braking and worrying about burning up the brakes and trying not to go too fast down the hills that scares me the most.. I cant thank you enough for all the input and help. I did this trip in November 2013 and I swore I would never do it again. But it was a bigger truck and I had a car on a car carrier. I plan on leaving in 3 days. So no worries about snow. Just hot weather.

Hmm.. I guess it boils down to going thru California/Oregon and the long drawn out up down, up down of one big long mountain pass, but easy enough with not a lot of continuous knuckle driving down hill steep grades OR little to no long drawn out CA/OR mountain passes but going thru Cabbage/Blue Mountains right before Pendleton's steep grade? So long drawn out and easy mountains to hardly any mountains but one doozy, scary one at the end?

What's the best thing to do when your going down a steep grade anyway? And are we talking 6% down Cabbage for like miles and miles and miles? So should I drop it down into a lower gear? Or the lowest gear? It's the constant braking and worrying about burning up the brakes and trying not to go too fast down the hills that scares me the most.. I cant thank you enough for all the input and help. I did this trip in November 2013 and I swore I would never do it again. But it was a bigger truck and I had a car on a car carrier. I plan on leaving in 3 days. So no worries about snow. Just hot weather.

Cabbage is your best bet, the steep downgrade at the end is 6% but its very short compared to the other route of up and down and the California route has a 6% downgrade too so you can't avoid that. I'm not sure how long Cabbage's downgrade is but I can't imagine it being any longer then 5 miles.

What kind of vehicle are you driving?