Seattle to San Francisco drive

[seattlelatte]

Unfortunately the first leg of your trip will highly likely take considerably longer than 6-7 hours if you planning to leave after work on Friday. From experience, you will find yourself in fairly heavy, stop and go rush hour traffic on I-5 at the following choke points: South Center Hill, Federal Way, Tacoma Dome, Joint Base Ft. Lewis/McChord, Olympia and possibly as you pass through Portland area. I'd say you will need to add an additional 2-4 hours onto your trip minimum. This doesn't of course take into consideration any delays/slowdowns due to traffic accidents and/or less than ideal weather conditions along the way.

So instead of arriving in Medford around midnight-1pm, it may be closer to 3-4am.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by tobester

You do realize it could take over 2 hours just to get past Olympia on a Friday evening?

This. Leaving at 5pm on a Friday is a bit self-defeating. He should either leave at 2:30, or at 6:00, after the worse of the weekend rush traffic has passed.

On the other hand, if it's true he'll be making his return drive Saturday evening, after just spending a day in the Bay Area, he should forget the whole thing. That's crazy.

[TrueTimbers]

I am a person that drives 1000 mile days sleeps 6 hours in my big diesel truck meant for the open road at a truck stop, rest area or Walmart parking lot and keeps going for another 1000.

1600 miles round trip doable if one is experienced with long distance.driving..

Do the pass awake and in the day!!!!!!!!!

Forget the pipe dream of the coast..

[tobester]

gotta ask - have you heard of airplanes?

[jack84]

Thanks all for your responses.

Just to clarify, the drive back to Seattle is Sunday evening and going to work Monday morning.
I realize it will be a tired long drive but flying is not an option because the wife can't fly.

[tifoso]

OP,

If getting to SF as quickly as possible is indeed your goal, the fastest way on wheels is taking I-5 south all the way to the I-5 cutoff just south of Dunnigan, CA (Exit 553). Follow I-505 to the end and get on I-80 West to SF.

In bad weather (read: snow and ice) this can be a tricky drive in places all the way from Roseburg to Redding. But you may have caught a break there: The CURRENT forecast (it can change) for that area predicts rain, but not snow.

Good luck and stay safe!

[kyled]

Originally Posted by jack84

Thanks all for your responses.

Just to clarify, the drive back to Seattle is Sunday evening and going to work Monday morning.
I realize it will be a tired long drive but flying is not an option because the wife can't fly.

Well, that's something completely different. You're wife is with you. You can switch driving. My family did a 1600 mile round trip when I was a kid under much worse time constraints...we drove a full 800 miles, attended a funeral, and drove back 800 miles. The whole thing took like 28 hours. My dad drove for most of it but my mom took over when he started to look drowsy.

[TrueTimbers]

Originally Posted by tobester

gotta ask - have you heard of airplanes?

Post 911 air travel sucks.. When you live rural or going to a rural destination driving is faster, even a couple thousand mile drive.. It is also WAY cheaper if you have a family and sleep in the vechical.