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Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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The road is PLENTY wide and safe. Do be mindful of others, and let them pass. Some people have been over this route MANY times and take it as a 'commute' (including me). Sometimes I slow down and enjoy the wild flowers.
It can be VERY cheap to do this trip (I frequently get $10/ day rental cars (40 mpg) UNLIMITED mileage!)
The road is PLENTY wide and safe. Do be mindful of others, and let them pass. Some people have been over this route MANY times and take it as a 'commute' (including me). Sometimes I slow down and enjoy the wild flowers.
On the last trip to Idaho, I saw a number of signs instructive people to pull off the road when there there six or more cars behind them. I thought that was very effective in meeting the needs of the tourists and the locals.
Best time to go I believe is in the fall right after the summer crowds have left.
I was in Yellowstone the 3rd week of April 10 years ago and it looked like I had been dropped in Siberia in the dead of winter. Only the short northerly road was open. Cool to see once at that time of year. I can only imagine that May is mud season.
I've been in late summer and it was much better. Personally I think September would be ideal.
Tim Cahill, a fantastic travel writer, did a piece for Travel & Leisure magazine in 1991 called 'The Best Road Trip in America" --it's not available online but you may be able to find it on microfilm in a library -- in which he started in Red Lodge, Montana, and drove the Beartooth Highway into Yellowstone, then took US 89 north to Glacier. I've recreated this trip three times and still consider it my favorite road trip.
Two add-ons to the trip if you have more time: the Badlands in South Dakota are spectacular, though not exactly close. They were on the way for us one time, driving from PA to begin the Cahill recreation.
And continuing north into Canada to visit Banff and Jasper parks -- also amazing.
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