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We will be doing a road trip between Austin and Seattle. Ideally, we wanted to take a northerly route there, and follow a southerly/eastern route back.
We have a son with some respiratory issues. He really doesn't do well with much over 5-6k feet without supplemental oxygen, which we would really like to try to avoid as he understandably doesn't like it, scares him, takes away from the fun, etc.
We have pretty much figured out that if we stay on I-10 and I-5, we could make the trip to and back without much problem. But its pretty out of the way. I was hoping for some other options, at least to use on one of the legs, following something a bit more northern and direct. I was thinking about leveraging I-25 and I-90, but I could really use some advice from someone who has experience with this trip.
I would say that hour-long runs up to 6k feet is not a problem, but anything much more than that, we would just stick with our I-10/I-5 plan. Is there a way to get to/from Seattle from Texas, up through the north, without hitting over 6k feet for very long? thanks!
I believe I-25 is above 5K feet for most of its length. It tops out over Raton Pass at 7800 feet, but it's slightly above 5K through most of Colorado. In Wyoming it starts out at 6K feet in Cheyenne, then drops slightly below (or at) 5K until it joins I-90 in Buffalo. I-90 is marginally lower. While it stays below 5K most of its length, it does climb to a little over 6K in parts of Montana. I believe it's above 5K feet for about 100 miles in Big Sky Country.
And I think that would be the lowest northerly route you'd find by interstate. (I-70 [especially] and I-80 are both much higher than I-90.) But if you took secondary roads north (I-35, then pick your way north to I-90 in South Dakota), you could avoid the higher elevations of I-25 and only have to be concerned with the 100 miles or so in Montana.
I-110 to I-5 is not out of the way, in my opinion. I've driven from WA to TN and TX more than once, and drove through Wyoming and through Nebraska, Utah, Idaho, etc., (not in that order LOL) and it was much more hassle than when I just took I-5 down to LA and took either I-40 or I-110.
The northern routes are prettier, but not faster and are more harrowing to drive, because of the mountain passes and weather. A sudden thunderstorm in WY with rain like I've never seen before in my life, where everyone just had to stop on the freeway and wait. A tornado chased me part of the way, too.
If you just want to get there, take the easy, straight, boring, low-stress, low-elevation route.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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Maybe they are driving an air cooled VW van?
Gonna be a LONG trip either way if that is the case.... BTDT. !
Either blisting heat or watching the Uhaul trucks pass you like you are standing still on MT mtn passes.
Just about torched mine in Buffalo, WY when a fuel line broke in engine compartment.
Burrowed in for a good night's sleep and most all the tents and tent trailers were blown over that night... (We were safe(?) in our VW camper van )
The responses have been very helpful. I think taking I-35 North until it terminates, then hop onto 29 to I-90, is probably the lowest elevation route from Austin to Seattle, from what I hear on this site and subsequently researched. Thanks WYONEWK for that recommendation! There is so much conflicting information on the web about this topic. Some say that I-90 is much higher elevation than I-84, for instance. I don't think that is correct.
Nosnowfor me - We definitely know that the I-10/I-5 route is fairly direct, beautiful, etc. We were just hoping to not come and go along that exact same route, but take the north route either to or from for a change of scenery.
Stealthrabbit - no, we have to confess to being yuppies living the American dream. I grew up in air cooled vans or worse, as a military brat, without much $, but lots of love. It was a fun unbringing and I didn't know that we didn't have much . We will be driving a 2016 Airstream Interstate, which is a Mercedes Benz Sprinter van conversion (class B RV) with supplemental A/C, bathroom on board, 2 high def TVs, diesel engine, etc. We ordered it earlier this year, with this trip in mind. 4k+ roundtrip.
All good routes with nothing close to 6K altitude and you’re heading northward to I-84 out of Twin Falls.
Austin I-10 west to Tucson and Phoenix
Phoenix US93 to Kingman and up to Las Vegas
Vegas I-15 to US93/US6 towards Twin Falls
Twin Falls I84 to Portland/Vancouver
Portland I-5 north to Seattle
The road summits at 4,193 feet (1,278 m) above sea level before descending to the Grand Ronde River and La Grande. It passes by North Powder and Baker City and through the Burnt River canyon. Around Huntington, it crosses into the Mountain Time Zone then briefly follows the southwest bank of the Snake River (Brownlee Reservoir), then continues to Ontario before crossing the Snake River into Idaho.
Well I am shocked that it doesn't get above 5k in Utah, but good to know!
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. We will be driving a 2016 Airstream Interstate, which is a Mercedes Benz Sprinter van conversion (class B RV) with supplemental A/C, bathroom on board, 2 high def TVs, diesel engine, etc. We ordered it earlier this year, with this trip in mind. 4k+ roundtrip.
