Yesterday we headed from Vancouver BC toward our destination at Lake Havasu AZ. We were held at US border while they searched our vehicle. Nothing was found and we wasted an entire hour while they took everything out of the truck. I made the mistake of having a small sign on my tool box that said "We don't call 911" and a picture of a hand gun. Shite, never thought anyone would take it serious but I now know it's there job to check everything. DW was pissed and declared jihad on me.After a horrendous day of torrential rains and gusting winds up to 60 mph on hwy I-5, we stopped in Roseburg OR. As usual, Seattle and Portland were hell to travel through especially in that weather. I vow never to go that way again. It is always a pain. While we stayed over night at Roseburg OR. I checked the highway and 10 day weather reports and decided to head over to Hwy 395 via 89 just south of Weed at Mt. Shasta. We've done this route before and love the scenery and lack of traffic. We got lucky and had temps as high as 60 degrees and even had sunshine part of the way. Definitely the way to go if you also HATE I-5 and check road conditions carefully. It's high elevation and gets lots of snow.

I also hate I-5 and go out of my way to avoid it when at all possible.

Well, you forget all the ISIS stuff and our boys use something like that to give you a short arm inspection at the border.I get the same thing coming back into my country and for that reason, I don't go to Canada and I live 10 miles from the border!Can't control the weather and 400 miles in the **** we had yesterday should have been a lot of fun.

went to Canada and they took my firewood.coming back into states, they took all my steaks I had just purchasedgot me both ways.

you just happened to travel thru the Seattle - Portland corridor during one heck of a on-shore storm. A real biggie to kick off the "storm" season that hits in November. Usually November is rougher weather than December. 100 mph wind gusts in the ridges of the Cascades... tons of rain. Lots of downed trees and power outages. You got lucky. Several people were killed by trees falling on them on the wast side of the Cascades. Stevens Pass was closed for a bit... had to take some tree off someone's car and deal with a body.On the east side... hwy 20 was closed for the season since going over Washington Pass was not possible. Mazama/Winthrop/Twist were without power from downed trees due to wind and snow. They got over 2 feet of snow in less than 24 hours.Spokane was nailed, too. 70 mph winds. Downed trees. Power out.Hwy 90 was closed between George and Vantage due to high winds.I had to be in Portland for a medical appt yesterday and watched the trees going back and forth from inside the building. Dreaded the drive home. Roads were solid in every direction by 3pm on I-205.I'm not sure which route you were going to take in that weather that would have been better. It was not a good idea to be on any road in the NW yesterday.Governor declares state of emergency http://mynorthwest.com/174/2851067/Governor-declares-state-of-emergency-after-Northwest-storm

I find the 1,400 miles of I5 to be about average for interstates. Urban and snow areas are the usual exceptions.

I HATE I-5 Trip Report | Good Sam Community

30 Replies

Tom_Barb
Explorer
Nov 20, 2015
Lenny K wrote:
It is slower going but you don't have the long lineups at the border and then the big chance of going through an inspection like the OP did. In the last 8 yrs of going through Port Angeles we only had to go through Agriculture once which took all of 5 min.

The dat they transited Wa. all the ferries were shut down by high winds and heavy seas. I simply would have parked it at the rest area just south of Bellingham. and waited 1 day for the winds to subside.
Lenny_K
Explorer
Nov 19, 2015
It is slower going but you don't have the long lineups at the border and then the big chance of going through an inspection like the OP did. In the last 8 yrs of going through Port Angeles we only had to go through Agriculture once which took all of 5 min.
2oldman
Explorer II
Nov 19, 2015
Lenny K wrote:
Port Angeles. That way you do not have to drive through Seattle or Olympia.
Yes, but depending on your choice of routes, that be very slow going.
n7bsn
Explorer
Nov 19, 2015
bbaker2001 wrote:
went to Canada and they took my firewood.
coming back into states, they took all my steaks I had just purchased
got me both ways.

They would have taken your firewood south bound also, and also at the Cal-Trans checkpoint into California.

Transporting "fire wood" across state lines is not allowed for a bunch of states.
BarbaraOK
Explorer
Nov 19, 2015
I hate to say this, but a lot of you have very limited driving if you think the I-5 from north of Seattle to south of Portland is a horrible drive. There are a LOT of worse ones in the US. We spend the summer in the Seattle area, and while it may take some time if you don't know where to exit the I-405 and onto the back way through Puyallup coming around the bottom of Lake Washington, we never really have a problem. And Portland really isn't bad as long as you don't do it at morning or afternoon rush hour. In fact, we have often just taken I-5 straight through rather than the I-205 around.

Again, we make sure we aren't traveling through during rush hour. And we don't travel in the middle of a wild storm, but rather wait a day or two for the storm to pass and then move on.

Have to agree, why would anyone on Vancouver Island not take the ferry across to Port Angeles and come south on 101? That will get you below the mess at JBLM (Joint Base Lewis McCord) just north of Olympia.

Barb
Lenny_K
Explorer
Nov 19, 2015
homefor2 wrote:
Yesterday we headed from Vancouver BC toward our destination at Lake Havasu AZ.

Curious why you would leave Vancouver Island and go to Vancouver rather than taking the ferry out of Victoria to Port Angeles. That way you do not have to drive through Seattle or Olympia.
Naio
Explorer II
Nov 19, 2015
OTOH, I-5 from Salem to Redding is beautiful (farms, trees, then mountains), and on down to Sacramento is not bad (long, straight, flat farm country, fast road).

I took it south from Sacto to Socal for the first time, this year. You can sure see the drought. Rolling hills, probably pretty when green, but dry dry, dry now.

Freeways through cities are never fun, IME.
romore
Explorer II
Nov 19, 2015
Unfortunately, the OP's only route south is I-5 unless he wants to go highway 3, the storm has made this a hairy trip, to 97 then south. With US 2 closed due to a bridge washout options are limited.
We live just off 97 after many years in the Vancouver area. Travel south is much easier now, I hate the I-5, Seattle and Portland.
Earl_E
Explorer
Nov 19, 2015
When we lived in Klamath FAlls, OR on US 97 we would go all the way up 97 then cut west once we got past Seattle. Weather or no weather Seattle and Portland can be horrible to drive through.
Tom_Barb
Explorer
Nov 19, 2015
You couldn't have picked a worst day to travel in western Wa. There isn't much we can do about the weather other than watch the weather report and plan ahead,,http://www.weather.com

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