Moving west

Mortimer Brewster wrote:
Have you considered avoiding some toll roads? The tolls on the Indiana Toll Road have gone way up this year. If you take 90 you will get hammered by tolls in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois though you can avoid them in Illinois with some extra distance.
When I see Upstate New York, I always think Fingerlakes Region since my family used to go to Cayuga Lake every year in my youth. So planning from that area I can see a couple of alternate routes other than taking 90 across Ohio and Indiana.
Option 1: Do you have passports? You could go across Ontario to Michigan and then head to the Upper Peninsula. Taking this route you would most likely take 94 across North Dakota. Alternatively you could pick up 94 by Detroit and head towards Chicago. Ontario is pretty flat which would help gas mileage.
Option 2: You could head towards Columbus, Ohio to Indianapolis and then take 80 across Iowa. I would then take 29 north to 90. With this route you could avoid Chicago as well as a lot of tolls.
Both options would add about 2 hours to your cross-country trip. I prefer South Dakota to North Dakota since there are a lot more options for food and fuel in SD. Services are pretty scant in southern Minnesota as well.
FWIW, my first choice would be option 2.
Safe journeys!

I sincerely hope when you leave Columbus and go toward Indianapolis you are traveling on I-70. If not I've been lost for a long time.

I've traveled all of those east-west routes over the years and would not be concerned by using any of them at that time of year. Any weather issues would be very short duration and could be easily endured by waiting a day or two.

Go west young man and enjoy.

Bunch of baloney on more stops elsewhere. You can buy fuel on I94 at less than 100 miles apart over all 390 miles of ND. I have run that route every week for 4 years.
truckerguide.com/assets/northdakotai-94.pdf

Bill.Satellite wrote:
There is nothing challenging about driving up a hill at 30-35 MPH and there's no reason to disconnect anything. Just get in the truck lane, make the drive up the hill at the right speed to maintain the right torque and engine temp and you will get to the top just the same. Getting to the top of the hill at 35 or 55 is only a difference of a few extra minutes. Cars flying by me happens every day on every road I travel so cars flying by on a hill would not be any different.

+1 and you will get over the hill faster than stopping twice.

I would just stay North unless there was some unusual monster storm to avoid. s/b no issues on the interstate.

Washington state doesn't require chains til Nov 1, Oregon says you must have them if chain law is in effect or you cannot go until they allow you. Id, Mt and Wy are as required by signage. Read this in your spare time.
tirechainsrequired.com/pages/tire-chain-laws

Get in it and go. Colorado has the worst passes for snow, I learned to drive truck in Co, NM and Ut. You can go around the snow by going to ND and across. If it's snowing somewhere, look at weather for other states and reroute yourself. Back when I learned to drive we didn't carry tire chains, guess we didn't know better.
Don't you need a passport to leave NY in any direction. LOL

Have you considered avoiding some toll roads? The tolls on the Indiana Toll Road have gone way up this year. If you take 90 you will get hammered by tolls in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois though you can avoid them in Illinois with some extra distance.
When I see Upstate New York, I always think Fingerlakes Region since my family used to go to Cayuga Lake every year in my youth. So planning from that area I can see a couple of alternate routes other than taking 90 across Ohio and Indiana.
Option 1: Do you have passports? You could go across Ontario to Michigan and then head to the Upper Peninsula. Taking this route you would most likely take 94 across North Dakota. Alternatively you could pick up 94 by Detroit and head towards Chicago. Ontario is pretty flat which would help gas mileage.
Option 2: You could head towards Columbus, Ohio to Indianapolis and then take 80 across Iowa. I would then take 29 north to 90. With this route you could avoid Chicago as well as a lot of tolls.
Both options would add about 2 hours to your cross-country trip. I prefer South Dakota to North Dakota since there are a lot more options for food and fuel in SD. Services are pretty scant in southern Minnesota as well.
FWIW, my first choice would be option 2.
Safe journeys!

One way or another you are going to cross mountains. I would take it to Chicago but stay with 80 where they split with 90 going through Chicago on the skyway. 80 continues to 39 where you go north to rejoin 90 at Rockford. Depending on Chicago traffic it can be quicker but most certainly less hectic. In midwest you will have Rv parks open until Oct 15. From the Dakotas onward watch the weather however prior to Oct 15 it should not be real bad.

Have you seen recent house price quotes for "in Seattle"? A recent report said that the median house price within the city limits was $750,000. Prices in the suburban communities are quite a bit less.

When I worked for Boeing, which has four major facilities within 40 miles of the city center, we chose to live where my commute time would be roughly the same no matter which facility I was assigned to. In 28 years with the company, I worked at all four. We chose the Bothell/Kirkland area as the place to live and it worked out well. The commute time nowadays are longer than in my Boeing career (retired in 1998), but transit services are much better.

Good luck with your move. Washington is a great place to live. We've been here since 1968, except for a 3-year stint in Tidewater VA. The central plain west of the Cascades has fairly placid weather - not too hot in summer or too cold in winter and low humidity in spring/summer. It can be dull, grey and depressing in Dec./Jan., but the rest of the year is usually pleasant. There's a joke about the weather forecasts in winter that says the recorded forecast of "1000 scattered, 1800 overcast, rain and fog" never gets changed from mid November to early March.

I-90 should be an excellent drive during that time frame. I don't see anything that should stop you from going that way. If you want to stay a bit farther South you can go 80 all the way to SLC, UT and up 84/82 to 90 and into Seattle. It only adds about 120 miles to the drive and your own piece of mind could make the extra expense well worthwhile.

dww8 wrote:
Ok you guys have convinced me that the northern route might not be the best.So what other routes would make sense around the 20th of October?

What are you calling the northern route?

I would stay with US 30. We will be coming west a little earlier on US 30. I would not be afraid of any of the routes.