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Old 12-09-2008, 09:36 AM
 
Location: Alaska & Florida
1,629 posts, read 5,367,775 times
Reputation: 837

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I drove this summer from San Francisco to Orlando.

I spent the nights in these cities:

Orlando, FL
New Orleans, WA
Houston, TX
Carlsbad, NM
Pagosa Springs, CO
Aspen, CO
Torrey, UT
Las Vegas, NV
Los Angeles, CA
San Francisco, CA

That route was great! Especially from Carlsbad to San Francisco.
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Old 12-09-2008, 11:01 PM
 
Location: Georgia, on the Florida line, right above Tallahassee
10,471 posts, read 15,781,793 times
Reputation: 6435
Quote:
Originally Posted by solo again View Post
STAY AWAY FROM CRATER LAKE!! .
Good words to live by. I had some work to do in Klamath Falls and took (what I thought to be) a shortcut.

Here's a picture of what it looks like when it snows.
Klamath+Falls,+Or.+snow+day+003.jpg (image)

I did it in my Accord with no chains. I. am. an idiot. But, I made it. I just had to drive like 5 miles an hour for many, many hours. I feasted on fear for those hours.
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Old 12-10-2008, 12:37 AM
 
Location: Cosmic Consciousness
3,871 posts, read 17,055,509 times
Reputation: 2701
Quote:
Originally Posted by 70Ford View Post

I. am. an idiot.

Never. You are, as I've said elsewhere, our very own and very precious Les Stroud.
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Old 12-10-2008, 03:29 AM
 
Location: Georgia, on the Florida line, right above Tallahassee
10,471 posts, read 15,781,793 times
Reputation: 6435
Amazon.com: Northern Bushcraft: Kochanski: Books

Veering waaaaay off topic....One of the best bushcraft books that I've read.
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Old 12-10-2008, 05:44 PM
 
Location: New Mexico
263 posts, read 1,076,352 times
Reputation: 120
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauralk80 View Post
Hi PNW'rs,

The BF and I were planning to move up in June, but looks like Jan/Feb now, waiting until summer to do the drive is not an option We need suggestions for doing this drive in the winter,we are both native Floridians...has anyone:

done this drive? or something similair from the southeast?
done this drive in the winter?
done this drive with ZERO snow/ice/mountain experience??
done this drive with a big moving truck? we will have a penske truck and towing a corolla behind, will have my cat also

I have to admit I am getting pretty worried about this...I dont even know what snow tires/chains/salt- dont know about any of that, we dont even own coats yet, let alone special car stuff for cold weather

Some friends just did the drive from MD to Everett in January and they said dont even think about doing the quicker diagonal route across the country in winter, they suggested head due west to CA then up I-5 into OR, take 101..what do you think?

Our biggest concern will be safety, not time

Thank you thank you!

Howdy! I'm from Arizona (phoenix) where we too do not get any snow. My story: I moved up to Washington in April of 2007. I drove the I10 to LA, then the I5 to Seattle. Around Oregon I started seeing electronic signs flashing "Oregon state law requires snow chains...yadda yadda". I just packed up a day befor ein Arizona and nearly had a heat stroke (exaggeration) ;-) so I thought..what the hell, snow in april - no way???!! So I stopped to get gas and the lady said 'oh no, there's no snow now". That was just before the Oregon border (Yreka). I got across the border (near medford) and I waited two hours in snowy, windy conditions while the oregon state workers cleared the roads. While sitting there the officer on patrol was telling everyone they needed snow hcains to pass if and when they get the road cleared. Wow!!! I never even seen snow chains so I sure as hell didn't have any. Fortunately there was a couple guys that loaded up their pickup with some and sold them...and they helped me put them on. When they finally let us through it was the scariest thing ever...i'm not exaggerating now. I swear I thought i was going over for sure! I was driving like 5mph and i coulnd't barely see the front of my car and the road was coiled up like a rattler making things worse.

this was the evening in late april my friend. i had a car with a 5*8 trailer and felt unsafe the entire way (and it was sunny and dry all the way from phoenix to mt. shasta)...i wouldn't even think about brinigng a fulls-size u-hual with a car trailer at this time of year. really, it's about double the amount to have a moving company move the stuff, so if you can afford it i'd go that route.

otherwise, something i've been pondering - I'm glad the 'solo again' user mentioned it - is going around medford near the coast. pretty much the only reistance you'll have from dallas to seattle (going way of I-10 to I-5) is mt. shasta near redding, california, and the worst being medford, oregon area. I don't think shasta will be so bad you have to avoid that, but medford could be.

Now I drove back from Washington to Arizona in December and during th day the roads were basically clear with snow mostly on the sides....maybe I got lucky, but whatever, I paid for a moving company for the way back because what happened in April. It's really scary not having any control of your fate. Good luck with whatever you do and buy some chains now....they're not that hard to put on, though i thought they were a pain in the butt to take off (especially with 36f temps, a polo shirt, thin jacket, and no gloves ;-). still, probably only 5-10 mins to put on (for two wheels) and same to take off. of course you should only drive 15-25mph with them on.
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Old 12-10-2008, 11:48 PM
 
Location: Tumwater, WA
36 posts, read 228,749 times
Reputation: 106
My wife and I moved from Orlando to Olympia (about an hour south of Seattle, in case you're not familiar) last February. I was driving a 22' Penske truck, and my wife was driving my car. We had to take the diagonal route since our trip involved visiting her family in Colorado Springs along the way. We made it to Colorado Springs in three days easily and had no issues or bad weather whatsoever. It was actually a really nice drive (except for Kansas, which was extremely long and boring).

When we left Colorado Springs two days later and headed north into Wyoming, we ran into our first bad weather. Apparently, I-80, the main east-west interstate through Wyoming, is always very windy. Still, we figured it was better than alternative, which would be taking I-70 through the mountains (and I'm still glad we did). On the day we drove through this part of I-80, it turned out to be very windy (as usual) and snowing. We took it relatively slow and didn't have any problems until the sand that had been thrown on the road started getting kicked up by passing semis and making my windshield dirty. To make things worse, I ran out of windshield washer fluid (my fault for not checking before we left). We had to stop at least once right on the side of I-80 because I couldn't see a thing. I wiped off the windsheild as best as I could (it's very hard to get to on that big truck) and we continued to the first rest area we saw. Luckily, we had remembered packing the stuff from our garage in the truck last, and that included a jug of windshield washer fluid. Unfortunately, it wasn't the kind made for cold weather, so it ended up freezing up. In the end of all that, I had no working windsheild washer fluid, wipers covered with ice, and a dirty windshield. On top of that, there's NOTHING in this area of Wyoming (I read a while back that Wyoming is the most sparsely populated state in the country). And driving a truck like that through very strong crosswinds was a challenge in itself. Luckily, there wasn't much ice, except on a few bridges. Anyway, we were finally able to stop at a gas station that had better windsheild washer fluid, and we got things cleaned up a bit, then got back on the road. All this caused a lot of extra stops (every rest area and then some) and cost us 3-4 additional hours. By the time we made it almost to Utah, we were past the bad weather and everything was fine. We ended up staying in Utah that night, just south of the Idaho border,well short of our goal of Twin Falls, Idaho.

The next day, things were going smoothly until we made it to Oregon. The truck, which was almost brand new, started making some noises and losing speed when going up hills. After struggling with this for a while, we ended up stopping in La Grande, Oregon, a very small town. We called Penske and they said they'd send someone to look at it. A guy showed up in his pickup truck less than 10 minutes later! I couldn't believe it. On top of that, his garage was right across the street. So we drove the truck over there and he checked it out. Turns out the fuel filter was filthy and needed to be replaced. Unfortunately, there wasn't a filter available in La Grande, so it had to be driven over from Pendleton, about an hour away. We hung around La Grande for a few hours until the truck was fixed. Once everything was taken care of and we took the truck for a test spin and saw its newfound power, we got back on the road, probably around 10-11 PM. We had originally intended to make it to Olympia that night, but the weather in Wyoming and the truck problems threw that idea out the window. We made it The Dalles, Oregon, and decided to call it a night. The next morning, we made it to Olympia in about three hours.

Anyway, I suppose there's not much of a point to this except to share our experience of doing the Orlando to Olympia/Seattle drive in February. I think we were lucky to have only hit bad weather in Wyoming. We didn't see snow or ice anywhere else along the trip. Also, Penske is a great choice. Aside from the fact that they were the least expensive (even before the AAA discount, which knocked about $200 more off) and have the nicest trucks, they have unbelievably good service. I enjoyed driving the truck too, aside from the problems in Oregon. It was comfortable and had a CD player and cruise control. I don't know what I would've done without cruise control on that long drive. I wouldn't hesitate to use Penske in the future.

Anyway, enjoy your trip(s). If you do the route via California in February, then maybe you can do the diagonal route in the summer and see completely different parts of the country. I'm thankful that we took the route we did so we wouldn't have to drive the 800-someodd miles across Texas. It was nice switching states relatively often; it makes it feel like you're making more progress - at least until the states get bigger in the West. Kansas and Wyoming were the worst (and the most empty).
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Old 12-11-2008, 04:32 AM
 
Location: Georgia, on the Florida line, right above Tallahassee
10,471 posts, read 15,781,793 times
Reputation: 6435
Quote:
Originally Posted by ksproul View Post
....night......
Don't make the same mistake I did. Don't get to Seattle at 8 PM.

Get to Seattle at like 2 AM or 3 PM. Driving a 26 foot truck with 13 foot of car and trailer at 8 PM in Seattle is about as bad as waking your wife up at 4 AM and saying "Make me some pancakes."

Yeah, I know a guy that did that. When he came into work he was all like, "My wife's mad." and I'm all like, "Why's that?" and he's like, "I asked her to make me some pancakes." and I'm like, "that's not so bad." and he's like, "yeah, when I got up, I woke her up and told her to make me some pancakes." and I'm thinking, "we come in at 6 Am." so I'm like, "Rod, when did you ask her to make you some pancakes?" and he's like, "when I woke up" and I'm like, "When was that Rod?" and he's like "4 AM." and I said, "Dude.....you're lucky she didn't beat you to death with the frying pan."

Yes....there are people out there....just like that.

Spooky.
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Old 12-11-2008, 04:37 AM
 
Location: Cosmic Consciousness
3,871 posts, read 17,055,509 times
Reputation: 2701
Eric Cartman's back.
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Old 12-14-2008, 10:07 AM
 
62 posts, read 262,672 times
Reputation: 42
Default Call a moving service

I just moved from Orlando to Redmond and after doing some research, I actually saved money by contracting some Allied movers. They were a bit pricey compared to smaller companies, but at least they're reliable. It cost me about $1 per pound. Call all the big moving companies and get the best quote. Don't bother trying to save a few bux by calling a small local mover to do a cross-country, you'll probably end up having problems like hidden charges mid-move or major delays. Check out Allied, United, Mayflower, go to their websites and get the 1-800 number to speak with their sales reps. Then have them fight each other with the best quote. I saved $500 doing this when I moved. Allied gave me the best deal. If you factor in the time missed from work, the hotels and food and gas, plus the cost of the truck and insurance, you'll realize it's worth the money to have the pros move your stuff instead.

Last edited by SinDonor; 12-14-2008 at 10:17 AM..
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Old 12-15-2008, 12:49 PM
 
96 posts, read 734,475 times
Reputation: 81
My wife and I drove out to Seattle from Georgia in January 1998. We were driving a U-Haul truck and towing my compact pickup behind it. We took the "high road" up through Iowa, South Dakota, Wyoming, and Idaho. We encountered snow much of the way, particularly through South Dakota and Idaho. But truth be known, we actually enjoyed ourselves immensely! We were not on any time schedule and allowed ourselves to get plenty of rest along the way and if a report said that mountain passes were "iffy," we simply waited an extra day or two.

Hope that helps!
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