Travelling from Baltimore to Medford, Oregon in December, 2012

[Mykel]

I will be driving a 17' Uhaul truck and towing my VW Jetta as well. I will be leaving the Baltimore area sometime around the first week in December. I need travel tips/suggestions as well as the best route(s) to cross the Rocky mountains.

[AZBuck]

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

Most computer-based mapping routines are, I think, going to suggest that you pretty much take I-80. That would entail using I-70/I-76 into Ohio to pick up the turnpikes. After staying on I-80 all the way to Winnemucca NV, you'd then leave it to use US-95/NV-140/OR-140 to Klamath Falls and then finishing on OR-66 to Medford.

But then, the computer that suggests such a route doesn't have to drive it or pay for it. I-80 should certainly be your basic route, but I'd do something fairly different both at the start and end of your trip, especially if I were driving a truck with a toad. At the start I'd pick up I-68 in Hancock MD and take that to I-79 north to get to I-70 west (again) at Washington PA. At Indianapolis use I-74 to make the connection with I-80 at the Quad Cities. That route has a couple of advantages. First, it's 'free' and will save you considerably on tolls for your rig over the Pennsylvania and Ohio Turnpikes and the Indiana and Tri-State Toll roads. Second, the Pennsylvania turnpike through the Alleghenies is a bit of an older road with somewhat narrow lanes and, occasionally, no shoulders. The alternate route I suggested is newer, wider and flatter.

Then at the end of the trip, depending on how comfortable you are driving your somewhat ungainly rig through a few mountain ranges on two lane roads, you might rather take a somewhat longer, but all-Interstate route. In that case you'd stay on I-80 at Winnemucca all the way to Sacramento and then take I-5 up to Medford. That adds about 125 miles to the route, but that's really not much on a 3000 mile drive.

AZBuck

[Mykel]

AZBuck

Thanks very much for your suggestions, very Helpful!!