Advice needed

[jennydp]

I have to be in Portand, Oregon by March 22nd. I will be towing my airstream from Atlanta, GA to Portand. How many days should I allow to make the trip and what would be the best route in consideration of weather? Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I have never made a cross country trip before.
Thank you!

[glc]

Welcome to RTA!

The weather can't be predicted this far in advance, so I'd plan on the shortest all-Interstate route. You will need a minimum of 5 days, I'd allow a week to allow for possible weather delays.

I-75/I-24/I-57/I-64/I-70/I-29/IA-2/NE-2/I-80/I-84

[AZBuck]

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

Some aspects of your trip can be known beforehand and those are relatively straightforward, such as the 'best' route. Inasmuch as your primary concern is the time necessary to make the trip and that you'll be pulling a trailer, you're going to want to stick to the most direct, all-Interstate route possible. That is simply I-75 to Chattanooga, I-24 into southern Illinois, I-57 to Mount Vernon IL, I-64 to St. Louis, I-70 to Kansas City, I-29 to Nebraska City, IA-2/NE-2 (non-Interstate but flat and a worthwhile shortcut) to Lincoln, I-80 to the Salt Lake City area and I-84 the rest of the way to Portland. You will also want to look at how exactly you will want to navigate the larger cities, whether it's better in each case to use a beltway or just drive through the city center.

Interstates are by far your best choice of routes for several reasons. They are built to design specifications that limit how sharp any curve can be and how steep any slope can be. They will let you and your rig continue at a reasonable speed without having to make (m)any traffic stops. But make no mistake, this is going to be work, not a pleasure trip.

As to the time necessary, this would be four-and-a-half days at best. With your rig, the slower speeds you will be able to maintain with it, the additional fuel stops, etc., you're looking at five days minimum. If you are planning on using your Airstream for lodging, that will require extra time each morning and evening to get off the road and to the nearest RV park, set-up/take-down, time needed to refill water tanks and empty waste tanks... add another day.

That brings us to the biggest unknown of your trip, the weather. There's simply no way that you can know what weather conditions you will encounter this far in advance. Even as you hit the road at the start of your trip, you will have no accurate forecast for the later parts of it - when you will be at your farthest north points and mostly in the mountains. The best you can do is to hold yet another day in reserve should you need to sit out any weather you are uncomfortable driving in.

So altogether, you will need a minimum of six days in hand to make this trip, seven if you plan to 'camp' along the way.

AZBuck