New Airstream Owner moving to the PNW - Help requested

[PKI]

I do not feel that I5 is a white knuckle drive. Traffic is just traffic. You drive attentive and get down the road. Stay away from the hoards that bunch up at speed limit plus five or ten and won't give up the fast lane. Note - in CA the towing speed limit is 55 mph, so you will get passed a lot. Therefore a balanced and sway free rig is appropriate as it is everywhere. It is most important when the wind falls accross your path of travel. Most of our travel on I5 had a head or tail wind. That's easier to handle, but not without hazard, so take reasonable care.

Note as well that HW99 parallels I5 for much of CA. Folks like HW99 because it has 3/6 lanes in place for much of the distance. That is not the case with I5. Unfortunately, the 3/6 lane sections of 99 are outside of the major cities on it's route. Inside those cities, the lanes drop back to 2/4, as it is not so easy to expand highways in populated areas. Note as well that truck traffic is heavy on both routes. Stockton and Sacramento are major trucking destination and transfer points. Many East/West routes that feed these cities carry heavy truck traffic as well. I80 and HW 4 do for sure.

Two final points. Do not expect that trucks are going to respect the 55 mph towing speed limit. You are most likely to get a ticket for towing too fast on highways like 395 or similar secondary two lane routes. CHP wants to keep traffic moving on the major routes. As with all situations, your experience may not be similar and the above is my personal opinion.

Travel safe in CA, we want you to take a smile home from our state. Pat

[MontyV]

we have homes in Santa Fe and Portland. We have driven every way. over to bakersfield to avoid snow storms, up through Colorado and into Wyoming and up through Utah. There is climbing through moab and along that route. but your options for places to stop where there are things well worth seeing are increased. I would stop in moab, but use a park on the S side that doesn't cater to the offroad RVs. those have a lot of engine, stereo and drunken noise. plan your gas stops in advance though. there is one station N of maob right at the junction with the interstate that charges more than double any other station.

[njaspers]

Originally Posted by Acheron2010

Stay away from the private toll road Hwy 76 north of Denver. The 43 miles cost me $42 in a mail-in toll invoice - there are no toll booths and very small signs. I stayed at Ft. Collins North KOA . . ..

Are you referring to E-470? That loop is a tollway from south to north Denver metro on the east and yes, it is pricey. To the best of my knowledge, I-76 going northeast from Denver is absolutely toll-free.

[Moodywelman]

Keep I not mind that I-80 through Wyoming is the the most often closed freeway in the US, it can snow any month of the year. The elevation between Cheyanne and Laramie is over 9000'.

[andyherman]

I wasn't specifically referring to CA since I've actually never towed in CA, although I lived in Long Beach and did the I-5 commute to John Wayne every day. Traffic in CA is unlike traffic anywhere I've ever lived (12 states altogether). Traveling at 65 MPH south on I-5, then coming to a complete stop for no apparent reason - assuming it must be an accident, but no, nothing. Back up to 60-65 for a couple of miles then back down to zero again. I did start using PCH since it was nowhere near as busy (and this was leaving LB at 5:30 AM to try to "beat" the traffic).
Last spring I drove south from Eugene to Grants Pass on I-5 towing the AS. South of Roseburg there were several grades and semis were backing up going up the hills, many driving on the shoulder. Since I had a great view from my truck I could see the traffic jamming up on the shoulder and in the right lane (2 travel lanes southbound at that point) so I pulled into the passing lane doing 40 MPH as was everyone else in that lane. A guy came up behind me in the passing lane and decided he wanted to bypass everyone so he pulled into the curb lane only to find the semis crawling along at 30-35 MPH. I watch him pull alongside me and he sees the traffic blocking his path. So he decides to floor it and whips into the space between me and the guy in front of me, then has to slam on his brakes to avoid hitting the guy in front of me because we are all just going 40 MPH. I then have to slam on my brakes towing the AS.
Sorry, but that's white knuckle driving.
Since I'm semi-retired now, I guess I'm not in as much of a hurry as everyone else seems to be.

[Cheryle]

We drove to the Olympic Peninsula from Asheville NC for a move in May of 2017 but don't have much info on regular private campgrounds. We stayed at Military Recreation areas in Denver and Wyoming. I will warn that we had a do an overnight in Montana due to a closed pass with wintery conditions in mid to late May. Being winterized when you get near the mountains is a good tip, as well keeping a close eye on the weather forecast and having back-up overnight options available. We used Allstay's App for campground listings near us for last minute options and did well.

[Caffeinated]

I drive the I5 from Portland to Palm Desert twice a year, every year for the last few. Traffic is bad everywhere, and Seattle traffic is worse than Los Angeles, by a scosch. There are idiots on the road everywhere, but if you give yourself a bit of extra space, and don't get competitive, you should be OK,barring any run ins with impaired and crazy drivers. Heading to the PNW in April, in a La Niña year, with record storms already in the book I would choose the Southern route.

Mike

[Rocinante]

When we had snow in Denver in April of 2015, all southern routes were just as bad as Denver, or even worse. This included a route through Sante Fe. Just no good. Our only exit was north. So, check conditions and expect surprises when evaluating the distribution of bad weather. Here's our blog post about the experience, which also has a few helpful links for road conditions: https://www.casarocinante.com/Blog/C...k-SP-Aurora-CO