Road Trip from Washington DC area to Portland, OR

[dawn4hr]

My parents will be traveling cross country with my son--leaving from the DC area and traveling to Portland, OR. A couple of questions:

1.) What is suggested route to travel cross country?
2.) What are some suggested sites to visit?
3.) How many miles per day would you suggest traveling with a 10 year old child?

Any other tips?

[Southwest Dave]

Hello and welcome to the RTA forums !

The route they take should be based on their personal interests, ie; sites they would like to visit and with possible attractions running into their hundreds, they really need to do a little research and get some dots on the map.

We don't recommend travelling more than 550-600 miles a day during multiple day trips, but it depends on how long they are comfortable in a car for. The above would have them on the road for 9-10 hours a day with rest breaks, lunch, filling with gas etc but with no major sight seeing.

So really there are more questions than answers, How much time do they have, what's the purpose of the trip, is it a one way journey or a return trip, what are there interests, how old is your son ??

To do this comfortably, one way, they will need a minimum of 6 days [or 5 overnight stops] and anything beyond that they can spend wandering and exploring.

Once we have some more info and direction I'm sure members will be able to fill in any blanks and make suggestions.

[AZBuck]

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

There are a number of different routes that your parents could take, all of which would require about five days of driving at our recommended pace of 550 or so miles per day. That pace allows for a few few short stops during the day to break up the driving and can be sustained for multiple days. It does not, however, include major stops at any of the many points along the way that your parents or son might be interested in seeing.

If they are pressed for time and can only devote five days to the drive, then I'd recommend the following: Take I-270/I-70/I-68 through western Maryland to Morgantown VA, then use I-79 north to reconnect with I-70 at Washington PA. Follow that westward to Indianapolis where you would change over to I-74 to Champaign-Urbana IL and I-72 Hannibal MO. From Hannibal, use US-36 across northern Missouri to St. Joseph where they'd get on I-29 north to southwestern Iowa where IA-2/NE-2 through Nebraska City would put them on I-80 westbound to the Salt Lake City area. There switch over to I-84 (co-aligned with I-15 for a bit) for the rest of the drive to Portland. If they take this route because they only have five days for the drive, then I would recommend that they book rooms ahead of time so that they can do their shopping from the comfort of your home rather than wasting time on the road looking for the best price for a good room with free breakfast and a pool. Spacing out five roughly equal day's drives, overnight stops would be around New Castle IN, St. Joseph MO, Cheyenne WY, and Twin Falls ID.

If they can add a day or two to the trip for some major sight-seeing, then I'd suggest something more like the following: Take the same route westward through Ohio, Indiana and eastern Illinois, but then stay on I-74 all the way to the Quad Cites where it joins I-80. Use I-80 and I-380 to Waterloo IA, then US-218/US-18 to Clear Lake IA (Your parents might remember this as the site of the plane crash that took Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper.) and I-35 north. In southern Minnesota, they'd switch over to I-90 west which would take them past Badlands National Park, Wind and Jewel Caves, Mount Rushmore, Devils Tower, the Little Bighorn Battlefield, Yellowstone National Park and through the Bitterroot Range of the Rocky Mountains into western Washington. At Ritzville WA they'd use US-395 to head southwest to join I-84 at Kennewick WA which they'd take east (actually south) to I-84 west for the final run through the Columbia River Gorge to Portland. If they take this route and can devote a few extra days to the drive, then they can show their grandson a lot of great sites out west. They could also be a bit more relaxed about where they spend their nights, letting it depend on how far the are comfortable traveling each day and what else they've seen and done during the day.

AZBuck