Route from Salt Lace City to Oregon coast

We left Bandon , went north and caught 42 E to rt. 5 then south to Mount Shasta.
Took rts 89,44,36 ro Susanville, Ca. stayed overnite and continued south on 395 to Reno/Sparks. Enjoyed the drive throughthe National Forests and the stay in Susanville. Road good, and not alot of traffic.

US20 vs US26 from Ontario to Bend. If you are in a hurry take US 20 and if you to sight-see take US26. On 26 stop in John Day at a free State ran Chinese museum and then the John Day fossil beds and interpretative center. Both of these are well worth the extra travel time (IMHO). Bend is a little over 3600 ft high and Santiam pass is 4817 ft high, the climb is quick out of Sisters and mostly down hill from the top on both US20 and US26. If Corvallis an important stop I would take US20 but if not I would take OR22 to Salem then on over to Lincoln City. Have a great trip.

As far as Bend there's not much in the way of grades. And since Bend is already around 5000ft, the climb to the Cascade crest isn't much on any route. OR58 south of Bend (to Eugene) has an almost imperceptible climb to its pass. The drop to near sealevel at I5 will be longer, but not steep on most routes. US26 across the south flank of Mt Hood has more of a climb on the east side, in part because it cross the Deschutes River at a low level.

Highway 20 through Sweet Home had MAJOR construction and some restrictions when we passed through last. Please check before going that way. I would suggest going past Detroit Lake instead.

We've always taken 26. It's very scenic and has nice places to stop. Any grades are in the 4-6% range and are short.

Thank you all for the comments. I'm most concerned about the grades. I have been traveling back and forth from SLC to Denver the past two years and have experienced some over heating problems. We have made the SLC to Oregon coast going via US84 a few years ago so I thought a more southern route would be a good change. The rest of the trip will be to get from the coast east to Reno. Any suggestions there?

having done all three i agree with donn0128 better roads more rest areas.

We used to live in Sweet Home, so when we would head to SLC or Albuquerque, we went Hwy 20. Little winding and narrow coming down the Cascades, but we managed it fine with a Class C in the Winter w/Chains decades ago.

We're thinking of Riverbend in Foster for a couple of overnites. Unless friends have a place for us to boondock. It's no longer a private RVP, but was purchased by Linn county a couple of years ago.

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if you plan on going to the northern coast of Oregon, stay on I 84 to Portland