minneapolis to san francisco?

[sosiskin]

relocating to san fran, leaving dec 1, with 5-6 days to get there. any suggestions for the best route? bad weather in the rockies to be aware of? tentatively thinking: Rapid City, SD -> Denver -> Vail -> Salt Lake City -> Reno -> SanFran. is salt lake worth the extra miles? any advise or tips will be appreciated.

[AZBuck]

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America forum.

I looked at three possible routes. The shortest and simplest is just I-35 to I-80 and straight on to San Francisco. This is about 2050 miles and would take on the order of 32 hours of actual driving. Another possibility was I-35, I-90, I-15, I-80, 2400 miles and 38 hours. But I ended up finding your proposed route to be the best. It's a bit more complicated, I-35, I-90, US-16, US-385, SD-89, US-18, I-25, I-70, US-6, I-80, for 2280 mi, and 38 hours. But it covers some of the best of the west and is not that much longer than the shortest possible route. Five to six days is about right. I'd aim for doing it in five and hold the extra day in reserve in case of bad weather. In all three of the routes I looked at, you end up going through SLC, so there are no 'extra miles', and certainly, as long as you're there be sure to see the lake. Aim for about 8 hours per day of actual driving and a few hours out of the car seeing stuff and getting some exercise, and you should be in pretty good shape. And keep an eye on the Weather Channel each night.

AZBuck

[sosiskin]

hey, thanks, i appreciate the advise.