Eastern NC to Seattle

[noFanofCB]

I've posted my Christmas trip report here- http://www.roadtripamerica.com/forum...260#post173260

[VJUSMC]

Great informative write up! We are getting excited, and pushing positive thoughts for nice weather during our journey.

[noFanofCB]

Be sure to read last year's report to see why I invented the radiator shutter and why winterizing is so very, very important-

http://www.roadtripamerica.com/forum...ack&highlight=

[jm98]

Advice on tires. We have decided to take the Tiguan for this trip after a lot of research and advice on this forum. With that being said the tires are the original tires with about 30k miles are them. I could prob get another 10K but after inspecting the thread depth I AM NOT going to run them for this journey. I have been researching studless snow tires, and have it narrowed down to a couple different sets. As stated we are moving to Seattle, and would most likely switch these tires out to some all-seasons come summer time. But I am starting to wonder if I am wasting money with snow tires, and should simply put on a good set of all seasons. I do like the idea of having snow tires if we were to get caught in a storm and had to truck through to get to a safe stopping point. Thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions?

I done trip from TX/WA/TX Dec/January 2015. If you have budget for tires than I would strongly advise on replacing with new tires. You will drive over icy roads one way or other. Many over passes and high elevations roads are likely to be icy this time of year (I70/I40/I15/I84/I82/I90 and US Highways in-between).

[glc]

jm98:

Please take a look at post # 25:

The tires for the Tiguan will be in today. We went with Conti ExtremeContact DWS 06. Also ordered some chains(just in case)

[noFanofCB]

I've processed and posted dashcam vids from the 2014 trip and attached them to the trip report mentioned above. The trip to Seattle of that one has some good footage of reaching and crossing the Columbia River gorge westbound.

[VJUSMC]

Great footage! Can't wait to experience it for myself. What camera did you use GoPro mounted to dashboard?

[noFanofCB]

Great footage! Can't wait to experience it for myself. What camera did you use GoPro mounted to dashboard?

Cheap $50 dashcam. G1W from SpyTec. There are several "manufacturers" of this device but it's the same camera though with varying firmware (I bought a G1WC from BlackBox and it has different, and somewhat lame, firmware). It's a dedicated dashcam which means it will overwrite files when it's full unless you take the steps needed to save the clips (push the button once or twice depending).

It would be tough to record your whole trip. Each minute of video is 100Mb of storage. It uses micro-SD cards up to 32Gb in size.

[VJUSMC]

I have been checking forecasts, and it appears that most of this trip is going to be in extreme temps. What outside of the normal precautions should I be preparing for? So far I have the below covered:
Tires, Chains, warm gear, food, de icer, scraper, car serviced, fuel additive for cold temps...

We depart in one week so I have time to continue prepping. Right now our route has us doing anywhere from 550-650 miles per day. We have up to 10 days for this trip, but could stretch it to 11 if need be.

Let me know what I'm missing. I realize there is a lot of unpredictability, but any insight or recommendations are greatly accepted.

[Lifemagician]

Not sure if it would be prudent to plan on any 650 mile days at this time of year. You will be driving for some hours in the dark. Never a good idea, but especially not in winter. If you don't book your hotels, you can just choose along the way, when the sun goes down.

Lifey