so i am planning a road trip to see DMG at the gorge in george wa in my xB. i am trying to work out the timing and plan on taking KC to sioux falls, then sioux falls to rapid city sd, and on to spokane and then to seattle.

i have heard the mountains take 15 hours or some crazy number to drive over.

any suggestions, stories, or advice would be welcomed!

map of trip here

 

what mountains are you talking about??? the ones between spokane/gorge to seattle??? that stretch should only take 4-5hrs... unless theres an accident, fire or other weird thing...

as for other mountain ranges.. i dunno

so you'll be in seattle when??

 

well whatever mountains I have to drive through on the route listed on the map I provided. I don't really know. I have never been over a mountain by car, so I don't know what to expect. Is there anything I should plan for? I don't really know where the rockies begin or end no the route i have planned . . . does it really take longer to drive through the mountains? someone told me it would take as long to drive from st. louis to rapid city as from spokane to rapid city . . .

is that true?

is there a better route for what I am planning?

 

honestly i dont know... can only speak for the cascade mountains that seperate eastern (spokane/gorge etc) and western (seattle) washington.... and that should only be a 4-5hr trip

im sure some spots will only be 2 lanes and you may get stuck behind semi's... but i cant think of why it would take longer if traffic is moving. tho actually... thinking about it.. your car may struggle a bit for power... air gets thinner as you go up.... so that may be one thing to expect...

 

two good peices of advice because i drive on mountians and stuff like that alot. going up hill if u have an auto keep the OD off and if you have a manual keep it around 4 k or so dependin on the grade and on the down hills people tend to fly like hell down tem dont let them push you do what is confterable for you ____ the people behind you because if u try to go faster to keep them happy youll end up fallin off teh road and most likly off a cliff aswell. driving on mountians just requires more awareness and just be smart youll be fine

 

Good luck on your trip out this way, I lived in Kansas for 7yrs. The Rockies shouldn't be too much of a problem, like posted before, semi's may slow you down some as you don't have the power to fly by them when the opprotunity arises. Plan for a little extra time and enjoy the scenery, and hope you enjoy your trip/stay/show. When do you plan on being in the area? May be able to set up a m&g while you are in town.

 

watch out for speed traps along I-90.

 

heading out aug 30th and should be back around sep 7th or so . . . prob. in seattle on the 3rd and 4th . . .

thx for the advice, so i guess it doesn't seem to take any extra special things to drive 100 miles there than it would here, right? calculate about the same time, etc?

 

Right...I-90 isn't anything to really be worried about. Very clear and open and not much of a climb. It'd be another story if you chose to cross the Cascades along Highway 410 up Chinook Pass...that's so steep and would have killed my box.

 

AAARRRGGGG you are going to hate life. I did that drive when I moved my wife back from Springfield MO. She has an 02 Jetta that has considerable more power than the box and it took forever!! Montana is the longest drive ever. Don't get sucked in to all the Wall Drug signs, it's not worth the trip. Be prepared to hate driving for a while. Good luck.

 

be aware that there is quite a bit of road construction in South Dacota.
but do try to stop at Murdo SD. and go thru the car/antweek museum..lotta old stuff and food across the street at the t/s ain't too bad.
be real careful thru Sturges..cops there have an attitude.
if you do any night driving..Really keep an eye out for the bambie's in Wyo. and Mont... have hit 3 so far this year
also make sure that you have lodging reservations well in advance in George or Quincy.. they fill up fast..

good luck

 

thanks for the advice! i dont think we are staying in george or quincy, but driving back to seattle where our friend owes us a nights stay, lol. i thought about camping, but hell, we're camping enough as it is, lol.

we're not even getting out of the car, we're going to use the scion social space and sleep in the xB!

this is going to be el trip de cheapo!

anything else going on in that area while we are coming? labor day weekend.

 

There's always Bumbershoot if you're in the Seattle area. Its a 4-day concert and summer festival. Here's more info:

http://www.bumbershoot.org/

 

Wall drug was soooooooooooooooooo worth the trip... Where is your sense of Americanna?

 

what about the corn museum? is it worth stopping for? somewhere in eastern sd . . .

 

DMB!!!

I've had my tickets for the show since...well even before they went on sale.

I'll be out there all three days. So...you aren't staying out there for the weekend? Driving back to Seattle after the show is tough. It takes about over 3 hours (driving safely) to get from the Gorge to Seattle. The shows usually get over around 11:30 or so...depends on the encore.

I'm staying in Ellensburg, which is about 30 minutes away. Just as a side note though, there is absolutly no where to stay within 60 miles. There is a huge rodeo thing or something that weekend in the Tri-Cities (I think) and all the lodging has been booked since late April. There is camping on site though.

It's a great show! This will be my 7th time seeing DMB at the Gorge. While you are Seattle though, we might be able to set up some meets or something.

 

we are going to be pretty busy soing our vacation site seeing and all, lol. but i don't mind 3 hours of driving . . . i am putting 4500 miles on my box that week anyway, lol. anyone else seeing dave?!

 

Just had a thought..
You might want to get a small/cheap hand held CB to take with you (just need channels 17,19 & 9..[ch 9 is reserved for emergency situations by the FCC] )
just in case you need sumpin and/or info and are out of range of a cell tower..

 

Just made the round trip Seattle -> Hamilton, MT -> Seattle (Hamilton is about half way between Billings and Spokane, 40 miles south of Missoula) last month, and will be doing it again in September.

The drive time (mountains and all) between Seattle and Hamilton is around 8-9 hours, and was no problem at all for my xB automatic.

That's a long drive you have planned, but possibly a very enjoyable one if you like road travel.

Something to do: On your way west toward the Gorge at George out of Spokane, you will go through Vantage, WA. Vantage is a little nothing place, BUT just before you get there, I-90 will make a left and there will be a lookout point on your right to park and stretch your legs.

STOP THERE AND LOOK AROUND. It's almost worth the trip if you've not been here before. That's the Columbia river below you. :D

Once you continue on through Vantage, you will start up the Vantage Hill - a continuous hill for ten miles that climbs 2000 feet. That's one looooooooong hill...

Enjoy your trip!!!

Tomas

 

CB, check, lookout point - thanks for the tip! that's just what were gong to be looking out for!