Driving Portland, OR to Lansing, MI early November

[Mander]

Driving with pets so I need to book lodging soon. I realize it’s hard to predict weather so far in advance but generally speaking, is I80 pretty clear in early November? Most trip planner apps are taking me straight across I80. Plan to drive daylight only, 6 hours per day. Thanks for your advice!

[AZBuck]

Unfortunately, the only other practical alternatives to the I-80 route stay farther north using 1-90 and/or 1-94. While it isn't guaranteed that the weather will be better in the 'south' (Nebraska) than in the 'north' (the Dakotas), the odds are in the south's favor.

If your "6 hours per day" means six hour actually behind the wheel, then you should be able to make good around 400 miles per day as long as you stick to a major cross-country Interstate such as those mentioned above. So you can use that to judge where to make lodging reservations or to just wing it. Even in the most remote sections of I-80 you should be able to find some place catering to those using the Interstate, but if you want to plan ahead, 400 miles per day would have you looking around Boise ID, Evanston WY, Kimball NE, Omaha NE, and Morris IL. That would leave you with a final day's drive of about 4 hours to get to Lansing. You can, of course adjust this to your own liking, but it should serve as one example of what's possible.

AZBuck

[Mander]

Thank you! Using Furkot, the route had my stops as: Payette, ID -> Park City, UT -> Cheyenne, WY -> Kearney, NE -> Moline, IL -> Lansing. I was really only concerned about snow around Park City and Cheyenne but I guess it could happen anywhere. Looks like that’s more typical later in November. I guess my only other concern is steep mountain passes. Oregon into Idaho and then Wyoming are the only ones, right? Trying to avoid as much anxiety as possible, can you tell?��

[AZBuck]

Interstate Highways, such as I-84/I-80 over the Cascades and Rockies, are limited to a grade of no more than 6%. That means the road cannot gain or lose more than 316 feet over a mile of driving. That's not much, especially considering that even on level ground, slopes as high as 4% are allowable, Radius of Curvature (how tight a curve can be) is also severely limited. These highways were designed to not only allow efficient travel, but to allow heavy duty military trucks and equipment to travel at relatively high speeds in case of a national emergency. They were, in fact authorized by the 1956 National Interstate and Defense Highways Act. These are the safest roads there are.

AZBuck

[AZBuck]

Your mapping software and mine disagree on the overnight stops, but that's to be expected. I tried to suggest stops that kept you at a relatively constant 6 hour/400 mi per day schedule. the stops you listed do not hold to that. Cheyenne to Kearney is only 317 miles or about four and a half hours. That's a nice short day, but you'll have to make up that roughly 100 miles and an hour and a half somewhere. Kearney to Moline is the leg where they have you making it up: 485 miles and just over seven hours in the saddle. I also didn't think you'd want a 'full' day's drive that included getting through the Chicago/Gary area, so I purposely made that last day relatively short. It also allows you to get into Lansing in the early afternoon.

AZBuck

[Mander]

AZBuck - I love your insights. Thank you! Hoping to get my route confirmed by end of week so I can start booking lodging. Ideally I want to find rentals with yards that allow my dog to get some exercise between long stretches in the car. I might be leaning toward Day 1 being a shorter drive and stopping in Bend. Then I can drive Day 2 Bend to Boise using Rt 20. I still need to fill in the rest. Your suggestions above might work! I’m moving to Lansing so the plan is for me to arrive on 11/14 or 11/15.