Quote:
Originally Posted by xz2y
Thanks for the advice. So you are suggesting that even the I-80 and I-84 route is risky in late November due to possible storms? Flying would be preferable, but I would need to ship the car in that case, or I could drive a more southerly route (longer but could be fun with a friend). I can get maps at AAA here in MI, but would love a website that tells me about elevations on various interstates through the mountains. Google maps and mapquest are good but don't give info on elevations. Thanks again for your post!
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If you look on a map, the straight road is going to be flat and the wiggly road sections will be through some sort of rough terrain. I picked up I 80 north of Denver, in WY. From there to PDX, the only mountains we drove through were in Eastern OR. We drove this in June of last year. We noticed that it was stormy in WY, even though we drove through flat (mostly) land. I have to think that there would be snow during the winter.
I know that conditions can be bad in the Columbia Gorge. We've driven it many times, in the winter. Weather there is very changeable. You could have snow from Pendleton almost to Multnomah CO. Or ice. Or wind or icy rain driving in a horizontal line. However, I imagine the weather is much worse in the Dakotas and WY in the winter.
This is one of those things where you have to weigh the risk. Its a long drive in possibly bad weather.