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Hi, I'm going to Las Vegas with some friends in a few days. We'll be driving down Saturday & Sunday (through CA, stopping in Bakersfield), we have hotel reservations in Las Vegas for Sunday & Monday nights, and were planning to drive back over Tuesday & Wednesday. Unfortunately we found out we need to be back in Portland, OR by 10am on Wednesday. Sooooooo.... If we leave Tuesday morning - what's the fastest way to get from Las Vegas to Portland OR.
All the routes I checked are about 19 hours driving time. You could go over to I-5 and north, or take US95 north through Nevada to Klamath Falls and then connect with I-5 for the rest, or even I-15 north through Salt Lake City and then Boise and along the Columbia River -- all are about the same time-wise. Bob
Thanks Bob!
Every time I look on Mapquest (or similar) it just tells me to go back through Bakersfield, north on 99 to the I5. I've gone back and forth to southern CA several times, so I'm really familiar with this route. I just heard from someone that it was faster to go through Nevada - he just didn't give me any specifics. I guess I should probably just go the way we are most familiar with and pray we make good time!!!
Here's the most direct route -- although I'm not certain it is faster unless you are not concerned about speed limits...
Take US95 and Alt US95 north to Sparks, NV, I-80 west to US395, US395 north to Johnstonville, then west (not sure from my map whether this is SR36 or SR44) a short distance to Susanville, and pick up California SR139 becoming Oregon SR39 into Klamath Falls. From Klamath Falls, US97 north to SR58 north of Chemult, SR58 to Eugene and I-5 from there into Portland. This would be my choice of routes simply because the scenery is wilder and the areas traveled through more remote. That may not hold the same attraction for you...
I think the driving time on this route could be as little as 14.7 hours (roughly) -- this does not include any necessary stops. Using my normal rule of thumb for road trips, the whole trip comes out to 18.7 hours on the road at 52 mph. That would include reasonable stops for food and gas but not overnights. If you have multiple drivers so you can keep rolling, you can get somewhat closer to the 15 hour time.
Well, there will be 4 of us who can share the driving, so if we have two people sleeping in the back with two people awake in the front seats (driver & navigator) we should be able to keep on rollin. I'm a little concerned about how 'desolate' it might be. Nice sceenery is a plus, but not being able to get gas at 3 am - is a major negative. Have you actually done this route?
It's been too long since I've been on the worrisome parts to remember where the stations are.
You'll do all right in Nevada, and along I-5. The only stretch I'm not sure about is between Reno and Eugene -- there are a couple of good sized towns along that route (Susanville, at least) so you'll probably be OK -- but what is the size of your gas tank and what kind of vehicle is it? What is the normal highway gas mileage?
First thing I'd do is see if you can make it between Reno and Susanville, and Susanville to Klamath Falls, and from there to Eugene on one tank each without cutting it too close -- then I'd look for links to the Chambers of Commerce in those towns and inquire as to whether they have an all-night gas station. Then you can make an "informed" choice!
Susanville does have an all-night service station (according to Patty at the Chamber of Commerce), so I think you'll do OK on this entire route 24 hours a day (that was the biggest hole).
CA139 is an all-weather road (meaning it doesn't get permanently closed for winter), so you should be fine on it and it is a real pretty drive, runs down a valley between the high country hills (not that it matters since you'll probably be there at night, eh?).
That's extremely helpful!!!
I have a neon, and theoretically I can get 30mpg or roughly 300 miles/tank freeway. In the city I get a lot closer to 24mpg. So I feel comfortable driving around 200 miles, but closer to 300 would make me nervous. I'll check it out on a map.
It's only 166 miles from Susanville to Klamath Falls, so you'll be fine.
I know i'm a bit late to be any help but if anyone else is reading this that will be going though susanville the all night gas station has about a 6ft beef jerky stick i bought one and it fed myself and 4 guys almost all the way to vegas.
Must've been a TALL cow! :)
I got the following trip report from "Rebel" and am copying it with permission for all who are interested!
"We, of course, had a complete blast!!! We took the I5
down from Portland to somewhere around Sacramento then
the 99 to Bakersfield. We started at 6am, and got to
Bakersfield by 11pm. We stopped A LOT! So the
trip was significantly slower than we had planned.
But... we stopped and had actual meals, met up with
some of my friend's childhood friends in Stockton etc
etc. We took whatever it is that gets you from
Bakersfield over to Las Vegas, and again stopped in
the middle for lunch & lollygagging. Oh, and had to
stop and celebrate my car turning 100,000 miles just
as we got into Nevada. So... slower than expected.
On the way back, we *tried* to have faster
pit-stops... but NASCAR we are not! We left the Strip
at around 10:45am, and took the 95 up through Nevada
then took something over to Reno. At that point we
made the decision to consult the map and find a
"shortcut" over to California so we could take the I5
for the last part of our trip (when we would be tired,
and not quite as good at following directions). So we
saw there was a highway going from Reno to
Redding - and figured that would save us about 200
miles. Not sure exactly how we figured that out.
Anyway it turned out to be a road through a National
Park (Lassen?)... a national park on a mountain!! So
we climbed up to about 6,000 feet elevation, and had
to drive through what we like to tell people was a
"blizzard" - you know, for dramatic effect. In fact
it was snowing and windy but the roads were pretty
clear. There was traffic coming from the other
direction every few minutes, so it seemed safe enough.
It was *COLD* though... and we had to really crank up
the heater. We may have saved 200 miles, but we ended
up driving 40 mph.... so I doubt if that actually
saved us any time. It was beautiful though... highly
recommend it to anyone confident enough to drive in
snow... or going in the summer time.
By the time we got to Redding it was late (10/11pm)...
and we were seriously cheering at the sight of a "big
city" after all that snow & wilderness. And the I5
was a sight for sore eyes! We stopped for perhaps the
worst fast food dinner of my life at a gas
station/burger king, then headed for the home stretch.
This is when I started to sleep - but I did notice
there was a lot of snow in the pass, but again, the
roads were clear (Thanks CalTrans & ODOT!!). We made
it back to Portland in time to run into the morning
rush hour (not fun!!) and got home by like 7am. The
return trip took about 20 hours.
I'm sure a person could do it faster if they tried.
Through most of Nevada I could have seriously sped if
my car had enough ooomph. But there was some increase
in elevation, and it was all I could do to drive 75mph
(the speed limit I think). Also 2 of the 3 women I
was traveling with are notoriously slow at everything,
so rest-stops were not quite 'efficient'. And again -
the "shortcut" wasn't. ;)
If I had it to do over again, I would absolutely take
two days to drive down, and two days to drive back.
And... I'd take at least 3 or 4 days to spend in
Vegas. But we did manage to pack in a lot of fun in
our whirlwind trip! We did okay on mileage -
typically getting gas when we were at a 1/4 tank.
Thanks again for your help!"