Vancouver, canada to Toronto via US

[AZBuck]

I very much agree with Donna, under the best case scenario, you're going to need every minute of every day that you've so far budgeted. You simply can't count on everything going to plan, and I also urge you to add a day or two to what you have available. If you get out into the plains and the weather ahead looks good, then and only then can you start making the choice as to whether to continue to Toronto in five days or to spend some of your 'extra' time seeing some sights along the way. The important thing is to have that choice to make, safely.

You've already discussed one of another set of choices you should keep in your back pocket, the choice of routes. The choice between using I-94 through North Dakota or I-90 through South Dakota is one that would cost you essentially nothing in extra miles or major cities to get through. This is where you might be deciding you have a day's worth of time to make stops along the way. So yes, have a route in mind but recognize that things may change between now and then. There's no guarantee that North Dakota will be less likely to see snow or that going through South Dakota would help you avoid it. Early winter storms are just too capricious to predict.

You have another such choice for the route between the Mississippi River and Toronto. The route most mapping routines will give you is the one down through Chicago and then re-enter Canada at Detroit/Windsor. There are, to my way of thinking at least, better routes that are not significantly longer. If you come through North Dakota, from Fargo take USA-10, MN-34, MN-200 and US-2 to I-75 south and I-69 north/east to Sarnia ON. If you come through South Dakota then just stay on I-90 to Tomah WI and then strike out 'cross-country' for about 120 miles to Appleton WI, then I-41 and US-41 north to US-2 and then as previously described.

So, that's the general idea. Have multiple choices in your back pocket to be able to deal with whatever the road and the weather might do to interrupt you plans. But almost the only way to have any choices is to first choose to set aside an extra day for this trip.

AZBuck