Road Trip from Vancouver WA to Las Vegas

[Vacation....Destination]

Hello, new to the forum and looking to take a road trip in the coming months from Vancouver WA to Las Vegas and then from Vegas to Phoenix. I would like to break up the driving from Vancouver to Vegas and sleep overnight somewhere along the way, I would like most of my driving to be done on the first day, we will be staying one night in Vegas and then off to Phoenix. I am wondering what the best route is and what would be the best place to stay for one night. I am thinking if I can put 10 hours maybe 12 hours of driving in (the driving will be shared with another person) before resting for the night. The plan is to get an early start on our first day. I see there are maybe three routes to take one goes straight down, one through Cali and one then one cutting over to Idaho, the straight down option seems to be the shortest but I am just not sure about places to stay along the way. A little concerned about cell service and distance between the towns and getting gas, all that extra stuff, I have probably watched too many movies. Hoping for a little guidance, this will be one of our longest road trips so it is a bit scary going so far and the unknown. Thanks in advance!

[Midwest Michael]

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

I think you'll find the easiest option would be to take I-5 down through California to Bakersfield and then over on CA-58/I-40. There are shorter routes, going through Idaho and Nevada, but you are right the services would be far more limited, and since you wouldn't be on freeways, you likely wouldn't save much time.

If you went this route, Sacramento would be a little more than halfway and at about 600 miles, will take about 10 hours and have plenty of lodging options along the highway.

[Rick Quinn]

I think you'll find the easiest option would be to take I-5 down through California to Bakersfield and then over on CA-58/I-40.

Howdy!

Lest there be any confusion, on that last leg, what Michael meant to say was CA-58/I-15; I-40 and I-15 intersect at Barstow, but it's I-15 that will take you most directly to Las Vegas.

Rick

[Southwest Dave]

Personally speaking I would take I-84 to Twin Falls which is a lovely town to spend an evening in and maybe stroll to Perrine bridge along Snake river. It's then a pleasant drive down US93/NV318/US93 into Vegas and as long as you are cautious there won't be any problems finding services along the way.

[glc]

Services are few and far between on US-93/NV-318 between Twin Falls and Las Vegas. Twin Falls would be a good overnight, fill your gas tank. There's services in Wells and Ely, fill your tank in Ely because there are no services whatsoever between Ely and Ash Springs.

[DonnaR57]

Since you put this into the Summer Months forum, I'm assuming that you're thinking weather won't be an issue. That's good.

The mileages of the 3 routes that Google Maps automatically offers are very similar. Two clock in at within a mile of each other, the third at almost 150 miles further. However, the one with the most mileage is the one that is almost all interstate. If you're worrying about time, it's about an hour more to take the all-interstate route. BUT, there are far more services along that route than the others, as has been stated above.

From experience, you should be driving no more than 550 miles on the first day. Look at the two-day drive as a marathon: you want to eek out your energy in small spurts, not do a hustle on the first day and then poop out (or worse yet, crash) on your second day because you tried to do too much on the first day. If my husband and I would plan this trip, we'd pick a spot about half way - if you went the I-84 to I-15 "all interstate route", that would be 550 miles...roughly, Twin Falls, ID. (That's got a lot of choices for lodging and food, for every budget.)

BTW, if you take I-15, be prepared for SLC to seemingly go on for miles. Looking on the bright side, there's lots of services including gas and food. Lots of choices! Once you are south of SLC metropolitan area, though, things are more spaced apart. Also, "rest areas" in UT may be commercial places, such as a Flying J Travel Plaza instead of your usual variety.

Unless things change drastically in the next few months, do be sure to bring along hand sanitizer, and your own masks.


Donna