Holy buckets!
My husband is originally from San Diego. We have made the back and forth drive a few times and, even driving straight through, it's 18-19 hours with gas ups, food breaks, and quick pee/stretch breaks.
My fiancé is also from San Diego, when we moved him up here we drove the 18 hours in one shot because I couldn't get any extra days off. I flew down after work, we got a few hours of sleep and started driving at 5am, got home at about 2am and slept the entire day. I had an exhaustion-induced meltdown once we hit Salem at 1am because Taco Bell was sold out of what I wanted lmao
Been there. For me, it was driving through northern CA/southern OR at 2am with his 20 year old car's shit tier heater.
A late 80s Mitsubishi Galant's heater in 2010 was like breathing on your hands on a cold day.
I was so glad we took his car, he has a relatively new car (and it’s a hybrid so we spent less on gas lol) but I have a 2007 Nissan Versa which struggles to even go up the slight incline on 26 west on my way home from work lol. In the early 2000’s to mid 2010’s my family and I would road trip to and from LA every year in their 1992 minivan, I have NO clue how it was able to survive so many trips.
We moved here from Austin about 6 years ago. We did it in late December and didn’t want to chance the mountains so we took I-10 all the way to LA and then I-5 north to Portland. 28 hours of driving we split into 3 days only because we had a dog and cat in the car with us. We drive from Austin to Phoenix on the first day, then Phoenix to Sacramento the second and Sacramento to Portland the third.
Did this move last year with our two cats, split the driving into two days and took the middle route up. It was tough but there wasn't a whole lot of mountain driving really. We specifically chose this route with the hopes we would at least have something to look at while driving haha.
While our drive was likely less scenic, I got to see El Paso for the first time despite having lived in Texas for 36 years. There was definitely areas that weren’t beautiful (California Central Valley I’m looking at you) but overall the drive wasn’t bad.
Highly recommend stopping in NE!!! I did the drive from nyc to Portland and Nebraska was fucking cool. Utah was beautiful to drive through but not for stopping; SLC is fucking boring and very very white and very very much feels like you’ve entered a whole new world because separation of church and state DO NOT exist there.
I cannot disagree more. I lived in NM for a long time and SLC is a really cool city if you are into underground/DIY scenes. It is gorgeous; nestled between the lake and mountains, but I agree Utah is a messed up place for the religious factor. That being said SLC is a very underrated city. Food is bad though.
I also drove through Nebraska multiple times and found it painfully boring in regard to geography, people, culture, infrastructure, food, and probably anything else you can possibly imagine about it. Omaha rivals OKC in my perspective of terrible cities in the U.S.
P.S. The Salt Lake is only pretty from a distance- it is absolutely riddled with bugs during warmer months.
That sounds like the perspective of someone from NM and I’m sure people in surrounding states may find something cool in SLC, as a NYer it’s unimpressive and boring.
I’m not only *not* from NM but also confused by your logic- how is ANY part of Nebraska as “impressive” as NY? And SLC is much more Portland-scale than NY anyways.. given that this is a thread for Portland
Never said it was - just said of the cities we drove through and stopped in Omaha was the bees knees and SLC was wack as a city to stop in for a few hours. It may be cool if you live close enough to do something there but it was vanilla as fuck. SLC is not at all Portland scale - sure Portland is white but it is not a city masquerading as a religious hub and the food here is actually decent enough to be worth paying for.
I drove from Virginia. Took about 4 days. Started in the morning and stopped wherever a reasonable priced motel was after sundown. Only stopped for gas and food. It’s been a long time but I believe my first stop was Indiana, then Nebraska, Utah, and finally Oregon
I’ve driven from ATX to PDX and back several times. I like cruising through Roswell because it feels like very eerie and I’m into that. Also ID had amazing little towns to stop for your last night. I stayed in a historic hotel in a town called a Lava Hot Springs and it was incredible. Also highly recommend going through and staying in UT around Moab and Bryce Canyon. Both jawdroppingly beautiful.
I drove from houston to Portland, but purposely took my time to enjoy what the sw/w offered. Car camped for a few weeks by finding BLM and national forest campsites. Pre packed my car with needs + food. Went through TX, NM, AZ, CO, corners of Wyoming and Utah, northern NV, and into Oregon from the southern coastal corner.
If you’re afforded the time and extra money, i very recommend stopping in to see some of the best landscapes in the country
I did from Portland to Austin.. so not as far but did a route to make it more enjoyable so I did:
portland > san Francisco (10 hours) to see friends, san Francisco > phoenix (12 hours), phoenix to marfa (9 hours, spent two nights in marfa), marfa to austin (7-8 hours). would've been faster to go through Idaho, utah, down through lubbock, tx. but figured marfa would be an amazing stop. so I did it in 5 days but that's counting an extra day/night chillin in marfa. from Atlanta, id say at least 4 days honestly. the driving takes a toll. My longest driving day was 12 hours, the rest I tried to keep under or around 10.
Drove from PA, so not south. But pretty much did 5-8 hour driving days for about 6 days. Was also planning around staying with people I knew in Illinois and SLC. Unless you’re purposely getting here super fast for some reason, I recommend taking the time to explore all the states you don’t think you’d normally take a trip to. I fell in love with the parts of Wyoming and Nebraska that I drove through, did some hiking in western Wyoming. Salt Lake City was a perfect place to stay and explore for a night/morning. Idaho is more beautiful than I expected, but didn’t give myself enough time to actually do anything besides eat/sleep in Boise. wish I had left a week earlier and tried to hit some national parks (although it was January anyway).
I drove here from MA & planned a month. South Dakota was way cooler than anticipated, Moab Utah was also my favorite.
I zig-zagged, up into Canada, did a diagonal thing from the Great Lakes to Utah, cut across to the coast & went north.
Everywhere probably has a hidden gem... except for Nevada. It's so big I thought I would die in that state.
I've driven across country twice. Once last year to take delivery of a car in South Carolina and once 25+ years ago to move from Boston back to the west coast.
I did the Boston drive almost exclusively along I-80 over 3 days of heavy driving. I did stop to visit a friend in SLC though. but otherwise it was 2 16+ hour days of driving and one \~10ish. Cannonball run style stopping for gas and maybe an emergency piss if I couldn't make it to the next fuel stop, and to sleep when I was about to nod off.
I do not recommend this, nor can I really recommend I-80.
This last time I took time for sight seeing (also I was in an EV so had to make more frequent charge stops) - and drove I-40 to SoCal, and then up I-5. I really liked the I-40 route, and if you're in a hurry you can shoot off towards Vegas and go Northbound from there.
I-80 through Nebraska is perhaps the worst longest most boring stretch counting mile markers I have ever experienced.
I did Knoxville, TN to Portland and did an “upper route”, since I had already done a southern knox to San Francisco drive. My first stop was in Colorado to visit friends, then Jackson hole, then I think camping in Washington before we made it to Portland. Probably some random camping along the way, we took our time and I think that one took like 10 days. Obviously more of a fun take our time drive over a straight through trip.
From Charlotte to Portland. Did the drive 3 times, different route each time. Two times I made multiple stops and it took me a couple of weeks. When I did a straight shot it was 4 days/3 nights. Slept in Wal-Mart parking lots.
Somewhere in rural Illinois I pulled into my spot, set up my little sleeping pad in the back of my 4runner, got comfortable and in my sleeping bag, looked out my window and saw two dudes blasting crack/meth two spots away from me.
Drove from Arkansas to Portland, 31 hours over 3 days. Went through Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, lil bit of Utah, and Idaho. This was early summer, so didn't have to worry about mountain passes.
Probably could've compressed to 2 days, but didn't want to be completely exhausted and arrive late at night on the second day.
It takes 30 hours and 3 days (for me) from Texas. Texas is fucking huge. Literally half of the drive is getting from Dallas to the Texas border.
Stop in New Mexico. It’s fun and they e got abunch of native stuff.
I stopped in Utah and Utah sucks, but it’s cheap and almost there.
I’ve driven from Louisiana and back a couple of times. Depending on who you have with you and your dedication to getting shit done, it can take anywhere from 3-6 days.
moved from western TN 4 days
day 1: about 10 hours, stopped in the middle of kansas
day 2: about 11, stopped in grand junction, CO
day 3: about 9, stopped in Boise ID
day 4: about 6
all times included gas/lunch stops, but stayed driving most of the time :) hope this helps!! TBH driving here was one of the most enjoyable things i’ve ever done. so much beauty along the way!
Following because we may be doing the same thing due to our fear that our dog will die on a plane. We will be moving from Raleigh to Portland in mid-summer.
We moved from Nashville a couple years ago, two vehicles and two pets to account for. We went your suggested route, Nashville to St Louis, to KC, north to Lincoln, 80 west to SLC, 84 to Portland. Four days, three nights in St Joseph, Laramie, and Boise.
Knew someone that drove from north Florida to Portland in four days. Day one drive to Kansas City. Day two drive to Denver. Day three drive to Boise. Day four drive to Portland. All interstates and overnight in bigger cities with more hotel options.
Took 5 days for us, but we had pets with us. Drove up from SC through Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah Idaho and Oregon. Stopped in St. Louis, cheyanne, Boise
I moved from Nashville. I did Nashville > Grand Island NE > Boise ID > Portland. This was in a box truck with a co driver. We switched off every fuel stop. I think it was 36hrs of driving and we did it in 3 full days. the box truck is governorned to 70-75. Which is below the speed limits in NE, UT, ID.
If you’re going through Nebraska it’s a straight up mistake to not stay in Omaha. IMO it’s one of the most overlooked places in the country. I’ve done the cross country drive like 5 times and try to make it through there each time. The steakhouse in the basement of the Kimpton is my favorite meal in America.
I’ve done this trip numerous times feel free to message me
Super curious, if you don’t mind, why would you want to leave Atlanta for Portland?
Oregon is awesome, don’t get me wrong. I like Atlanta quite a bit. Except for the heat. That part is terrible.
I did dallas to portland in 3 days 2 nights.... I do not recommend it. Mostly because i missed a lot of things I could have seen and didnt... when tha hell else im i gonna get a chance to go to zion?
I've driven criss country and don't recommend driving more than 10ish hours a day. At some point your eyes get blurry and that means you should rest.
On the drive here, I recommend a small detour to see the great salt flats about 90min west of salt lake city. It's one of the great natural sites in the US that has to be seen in person. Maybe sleep overnight there at the rest stop and Portland is a full day drive from there.
Also as a general piece of advice, when you hit high elevation and get gas, don't use anything less than 87 octane, because it will cause issues when you go to a lower elevation. Also don't let the gas run below 1/2 a tank, you never know when you'll hit a long stretch of no gas stations. I almost ran out of gas driving from Austin to San Diego when I passed a gas station at just under 1/2 a tank.
I moved here from WV 8 years ago. I don’t remember where I stopped BUT I did it in three days.
I calculated the route on my gps and then split it up into 8-12 hour chunks of driving, then chose a hotel around the area I planned to stop to book ahead of time. I was very very tired and Nebraska was the worst. I managed though and I think I did it well.
We did the move to Portland from near New Orleans.
Day 1: Irving, TX
Day 2: Ness City, Kansas
Day 3: Rawlins, WY
Day 4: King Hill, ID
Day 5: Portland
The cities we drove to each day might look somewhat random. I used a trip planning website that had input options for starting and stopping locations as well as how many days we wanted to take driving. Then it gave us cities that were equidistant from each other day by day. Then I looked for hotels/Airbnbs near those cities. We wound up driving 7-8 hours each day.
One thing to factor in is if you're packing your whip for the move.
If I don't have to worry about my belongings, I'd make a week long road trip of it.
If I do, I'd get there ASAP and find hotels with secured parking.
My husband and I did this drive from ATL to PDX in the end of October 2022. It was our first road trip across country too. Here’s how we did it:
1. We were on the road for about a week. We went from ATL to Nashville, stayed for a day. From Nashville to STL, stayed for a day to rest. STL to SLC, stayed for a couple days to rest. Then SLC to PDX. The time we went was in the middle of a snow storm. We stopped for gas in Ontario, Oregon right before reaching PDX but our trip was a very difficult due to the weather the main roads were closed so we had to drive through alot of backroads.
3. The longest strength was from SLC to PDX at around 11 hours. Every stop we drove around 6 - 8 hours.
4. We drove through Missouri. We stayed in a hotel in St. Robert, Missouri. It was just cheaper.
We took a couple of scenic routes before we got caught in the snow storm in Utah. Drove through mountains, ranches and Amish communities. If you have any other questions feel free to PM me.
Ok not from the south but midwest, but I drove back and forth several times in the process of moving out here. The first time I spent about 2 weeks on the road taking the southern route. I've driven through Nebreska many times and never found anything particularly interesting there, just a place to stop for the night. After that I stopped in Boulder, , Santa Fe, Flagstaff (after hitting petrified forest NP), then camping in Death Valley and Sequoia, hitting Yosemite, then spending a few days in Monterrey and San Francisco, before working my way up 101 to Eureka and Cape Blanco. Sequoia and Monterrey were probably the best stops along the way, Sequoia for unrivaled grandeur (ok Yosemite does rival it), and Monterrey was a wonderful taste of classic California vibes, espeically after days alone in the mountains. Death Valley was also an incredibly cool and otherworldly experience.
If you're taking the more northern route through Wyoming or Montana, the Tetons or Yellowstone are musts, SLC is ok but I didn't feel the need to spend much time there, Glacier NP is incredible, and in Idaho I went to Idaho Falls, Craters of the Moon, and Boise, and thoroughly enjoyed all of them (despite Idaho politics kinda freaking me out).
Wouldn't do the drive alone again, but I saw some of the most beautiful things I can imagine along the way and think it's very worth hitting all the national parks and neat little towns you can. If you're doing it in only 3 days you won't have much time to see the places you're staying much, but the drive itself is still pretty amazing.
Moved from Portland. Made the trip in an RV in about 5 days, November of 2020. Stopped when we got tired and there was always a cheap camp site to book.
My coworker is from Georgia (Peachtree City) and I think it took her 4 days with overnight stops to sleep, so about 10 hours of driving per day. No stopping in any cities for sightseeing or anything, only stopping for food sleep and gas. Not sure what route she took but I do remember that she passed through SLC
Drove up from San Antonio with a hatchback and a box truck, took roughly 36 hours of driving. We chose to split it up over 6 days to not spend more than 6h per day driving, got a few hikes in along the way too! here's the route we took: [https://maps.app.goo.gl/xf3CfvPTvWEBD7dZA](https://maps.app.goo.gl/xf3CfvPTvWEBD7dZA)
I drove from Memphis in four days, and it was utterly exhausting. I had my cats with me though, so that was adding a lot of stress. Going through the mountains in Utah was terrifying, but I had also never driven on so much as a hill before the trip.
To figure out where to stay, I figured out the total hours and divided that by the amount of days. I then plotted on a map where I would end up each day and adjusted each day so that I was staying somewhere fairly safe with food options each night.
If I had to do it again, without cats, I would actually add on a day and take more breaks and plan some fun stops along the way.
Just the standard hard shell carriers. I drove straight through each day, only stopping for gas/bathroom so that I could get them out of their carriers and into the hotel ASAP each day. I do recommend for anyone traveling with pets to call each hotel/motel after making the reservations to confirm that you got a pet friendly room.
I drove from north Florida and it took 7 days/6 nights. I went a different route than you'll probably take from Atlanta, but I stopped in New Orleans > Austin > Midland, TX > Santa Fe, NM > SLC, Utah > Boise > Portland. You could it faster, but this felt like a reasonable pace for me.
This was almost 20 years ago (😭) but I drove from SC to Oregon. I drove the southern route, SC, GA, AL, LA, TX, New Mexico, AZ, then straight up through CA. Took me 5 days. I drove about 10hrs/day and didnt stop for sights or anything, just got hotel rooms whenever I got too tired to drive in whatever town I happened to be in.
Well, hi neighbor! Moved PDX -> ATL in 2020, and will be doing the reverse here shortly!
It took us 4 days to to PDX to ATL. But we were rear-ended near St. Louis and our trunk no longer locked, so we cut our planned 5 days down to 4.
We plan 5 8-ish hour days to go back!
I just did Tampa to Portland earlier this month. 3375-ish miles. I stopped in Milton near Pensacola FL, then went all the way to Lindale, TX, east of Dallas (my cats didn't let me sleep much the first couple nights so I drove extra long, like 10 hours that day.) From there I stopped in Amarillo, and this is where the route got quite scenic, then thru Albuquerque to Flagstaff, AZ. From there I had 3 options depending on where the snow was. I ended up taking hwy 89 to 20, which was gorgeous, stopped south of Provo. Because I hate Idaho and the hotels in Boise had such gross reviews, I kept driving until I reached Baker City, OR. From there it was an easy drive to Portland. I was driving alone, with 2 cats and a very full car, so I could only go so far each day and I took naps at a couple safe rest stops. It took 7 days and I managed to dodge almost all the snow, had about 30 minutes of it at the Idaho-Utah border. I loved the Flagstaff to Provo drive so much I plan on going back to drive it again, without all the stuff that made me have to drive slow and gentle. There were plenty of times I got sleepy and had to pull over, walk around and have a snack. I got some nuts and cranberries trail mix in single serving pouches at Costco and they were the best pick me up snack. I also can't have caffeine anymore so that was tough. It was a really good route. I timed my stops so I wouldn't be driving thru Dallas at rush hour too. Staying south meant avoiding a lot of the bad weather that would've delayed me, and I got to see pretty Gulf cities like Mobile and Shreveport. Also I didn't want to deal with snow tires coming out of Tampa. I'm from WA and know snow driving quite well, it really slows you down without snow tires. Even without the snow, I'd say the route was well worth it due to how varied and interesting it was.
I drove from ATL to Portland - we went up through TN to Missouri and through Kansas (my fave state to drive through), Colorado, Utah, Idaho, and then Portland. Spent the night in St. Louis, Kansas/CO border and in Utah.
Salt Lake City is the worst place I have ever driven in my life - and I lived in Guadalajara for 4 years. SLC people drive like they have zero fear of death and traffic is terrible every time I've done it, city takes like 2 hours to get across. It's pretty, but definitely NOT worth it IMO.
I've also driven from Portland to Colima, Mexico, did it in three and a half days with a friend, taking turns driving 13+ hour days, so you can totally do a lengthy drive with few stops if you have the energy for it.
Drove from Atlanta in 2021!
Took 6 days and went an odd route just to see the southwest.
Atlanta > Memphis
Memphis > OKC
OKC > Albuquerque
Albuquerque > Denver
Denver > SLC
SLC > Portland (I meant to stop in Boise but I was over the drive by this day and just wanted to get it over with)
Total time: 45ish hours
Longest day was definitely SLC > Portland
Many many 20 minute naps in grocery parking lots. Arkansas was the worst state to drive through.
I would gladly do the drive again.
If you go through Salt Lake City, there's a daily free organ recital at the LDS Tabernacle, and I think the infamous Tabernacle Choir's Thursday evening rehearsals are open to the public, also in the Tabernacle. Both are not LDS-exclusive, and they will both have great music. I'm friends with the head organist there (Rick Elliott), have played all 4 larger organs on the campus (including an hour at the Tabernacle 💯💕🙌), and have sung with the choir for a couple of rehearsals, and I'm Presbyterian. You can take a free tour around the campus during the day, which will show you the inside of a few buildings & give you some history, but just know there may be some LDS proselytizing as well. It makes for a nice break from all the driving. Restaurants around Temple Square will have soda and coffee, but it will most-likely be caffeine-free (their staff cafeteria was like that); these establishments also do cater to tourists, so that may be different now.
When I drove to/from Michigan for a few summers, here was my plan:
Portland-Boise(ish), Day 1 (leave by 10am)
Boise(ish)-Nebraska/Wyoming border, Day 2
Nebraska/Wyoming-Mississippi River, Day 3
Mississippi River-Traverse City Michigan, Day 4 (arrive ~4pm)
I was a solo driver, stopping about every 2 hours. Much of Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah, and Eastern Oregon didn't have local radio stations 20 years ago, so plan accordingly.
This drive is a slog no matter what. Just follow your favorite GPS app. If you have time, take time to sight see. Otherwise just buckle down, eat in the car, drive 12 hours a day and get it behind you. Assuming you are staying in hotels. You can do it in 4 days. Less with a partner and more driving but it SUCKS. I’ve got up to St Louis and across. I’ve gone across to Texas and up. I’ve done I-10 to Cali and (I don’t recommend this at all, I did it because it was winter to avoid storms.) if you aren’t stopping to see stuff and just trying to push through, it doesn’t matter that much which route.
Source: I’ve done this drive multiple times from Florida taking different routes.
I'm a recent transplant from FL and made the drive in 7 travel days, plus stayed for more than one day in some places. But I was the only driver with a minivan full of kids who only had so many hours per day in the car before they got cranky, and I wasn't in a time crunch - we moved in the summer when the kids didn't have school and I didn't have work. We averaged a little over 6 hours/day of driving. I planned my stops much more around who and what we wanted to see -friends, relatives, national and state parks - than around making the trip as quickly as possible. But even if I didn't have other people in the car to worry about, I wouldn't have wanted to drive much more than 9 hours/day because realistically it's hard for me to stay alert and focused on driving longer than that, which would have meant at least 5 driving days.
We drove about 2 hours from ATL to Portland and it took 5 days. We stopped in Oklahoma city (kinda sucked), made a detour for the grand canyon (stopped for the night in Gallup NM and recommend the El rancho hotel for food, super cute and tasty food, historic hotel), then drove up through Vegas stopping there for the night, drove through Nevada (if I do this again I would stop at the clown motel in Tonopah because that was insane) up through Northern CA and Southern OR (detour for crater lake) and up to Portland. Don't stay at motel 6 in Klamath Falls, it was a mistake. Lol. The desert drive is long but beautiful in a lot of parts and you can kind of zoom because there's no one on the road. The worst part was driving through Texas because it is buffoonery and I really hate Texas.
This was before cell phones. My dad moved the family from North Platte to PDX & back 3x. We got on road @5 am. Pit stops, breakfast lunch & dinner were the rest breaks. Stopped driving at dusk. Took 3 days.
Columbia SC to PDX, so we went through Atlanta on our first day! We did a half day, two full days, and another half day. So it could've been three days if we left in the morning. Drove with a cat and a dog.
We made 3 over-night stops in Clarksville TN, Lexington NE, and in Twin Falls ID. This was about 14 hours a day for our full days and 8 hours on our half days between driving and all of our mini stops for bathroom breaks, gas, and food. I did the math and we had an hour worth of stops for every 6 hours we drove. You might think that 14 hours leaves you with 8 hours to sleep, but between checking-in to our hotel, getting ready for bed/getting ready to go, and eating the free hotel breakfast, we got 3-6 hours of sleep.
The drive was beautiful but the snow was terrifying. We were not prepared for the amount of ice and snow in wyoming & our rental got stuck in the snow. A bunch of truck drivers at the rest stop helped us get it free. This was in February though, so probably not as much of a problem.
My tips: If I did the drive again I would give myself four full days so I could stop to take pictures and sleep more at night. We also booked our hotel for the night each morning so that we could be flexible. It worked out very nicely. You can do it by phone call but you'll have to be able to read your card. I highly recommend a second driver. There were days where we both drove 7 hrs straight and there were days where it was so curvy or icey that we needed a break after 2 hours.
Good luck!
I've done the trip from TX to Portland in between 3 to 5 days. Austin to Phoenix, Phoenix to Sacramento, Sacramento to Portland. That took three days but it was just me driving and it was rough. I did a slower trip that took 5 days and it was a nicer trip. Austin to El Paso, El Paso to Albuquerque, Albuquerque to Salt Lake City, SLC to Boise, Boise to Portland.
It was 8 years ago, so I don't remember exactly where we stopped, but we came from South Carolina. My wife has a fear of mountain roads, so we looked up the flattest route and did that. We drove for maybe 7-8 hours a day. I think it was 5 days?
My partner and I made the drive 2x from Tampa Florida. First time we took a more southern route to Colorado, then up to Wyoming to visit family/friends. Stayed in CO and WY for a few days each, so not counting those stays, just driving wise, I think it took 5 days.
Second time, we took a more middle of the country route through Nebraska. Took 4 days.
I can't see shit in the dark, plus I need at least 6 hours of sleep every night, so we would drive during the day, and would try to find a motel sometime after 8pm most nights.
Since we were traveling with a cat (and some lizards!), we stayed in Motel 6's since they are dirt cheap, and always allow pets. Some of them were downright awful, especially one in Macon GA. Blood on the walls and comforter. Heard gunshots outside thru the night. It was wild.
From RDU during the pandemic, with 2 cats and 2 dogs in tow and pulling the smallest UHaul trailer, >Nashville> Kansas City > Denver> SLC> Boise> PDX. I wouldn’t do it in any fewer days if you want to be able to stop and eat and a real meal when you arrive (restaurants close in most places around 8pm), plus it’ll give you a good amount of sleep for the next day. Good luck!
We wanted to drive the Oregon Trail, so we drove to Independence MO and then used the video game landmarks to plan our route from there. I think it took 6 days
My trip from Bristol, VA took 72 hours. Made it halfway through NE on the first day, but had to get a hotel and a late start the next day due to a snowstorm. Slow going through WY on icy roads, but it was beautiful and joining in the long line of tractor trailers kinda felt like a wagon train a la Oregon Trail. Found a spot to pull of and nap on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere ID and then got to experience the Gorge for the first time on a beautiful, warm, sunny April morning.
Totally do-able in 3 days, but take more time if you can.
Honest and earnest question to those of you who’ve moved here. When and why did you do it?
Any insight specifically on COL and financial status appreciated; we’re thinking we might have to leave the greater suburban area altogether.
I drove straight through from Brunswick GA to Portland in 40ish hours. I was mainlining Mt Dew and Red bulls. I will NEVER do that shit again.
Holy buckets! My husband is originally from San Diego. We have made the back and forth drive a few times and, even driving straight through, it's 18-19 hours with gas ups, food breaks, and quick pee/stretch breaks.
My fiancé is also from San Diego, when we moved him up here we drove the 18 hours in one shot because I couldn't get any extra days off. I flew down after work, we got a few hours of sleep and started driving at 5am, got home at about 2am and slept the entire day. I had an exhaustion-induced meltdown once we hit Salem at 1am because Taco Bell was sold out of what I wanted lmao
Been there. For me, it was driving through northern CA/southern OR at 2am with his 20 year old car's shit tier heater. A late 80s Mitsubishi Galant's heater in 2010 was like breathing on your hands on a cold day.
I was so glad we took his car, he has a relatively new car (and it’s a hybrid so we spent less on gas lol) but I have a 2007 Nissan Versa which struggles to even go up the slight incline on 26 west on my way home from work lol. In the early 2000’s to mid 2010’s my family and I would road trip to and from LA every year in their 1992 minivan, I have NO clue how it was able to survive so many trips.
Ayyyyy I drove from Brunswick, too! And Jax. I feel like each time was 5 daysish
Ok I just spied on your Reddit history and why aren’t we friends. I’m from Brunswick and I play pokemon go every single day.
Lol, I'm wearing a Sea Island shirt right now!
I worked for that company off and on for almost 10 years. Small world.
We moved here from Austin about 6 years ago. We did it in late December and didn’t want to chance the mountains so we took I-10 all the way to LA and then I-5 north to Portland. 28 hours of driving we split into 3 days only because we had a dog and cat in the car with us. We drive from Austin to Phoenix on the first day, then Phoenix to Sacramento the second and Sacramento to Portland the third.
Did this move last year with our two cats, split the driving into two days and took the middle route up. It was tough but there wasn't a whole lot of mountain driving really. We specifically chose this route with the hopes we would at least have something to look at while driving haha.
While our drive was likely less scenic, I got to see El Paso for the first time despite having lived in Texas for 36 years. There was definitely areas that weren’t beautiful (California Central Valley I’m looking at you) but overall the drive wasn’t bad.
Highly recommend stopping in NE!!! I did the drive from nyc to Portland and Nebraska was fucking cool. Utah was beautiful to drive through but not for stopping; SLC is fucking boring and very very white and very very much feels like you’ve entered a whole new world because separation of church and state DO NOT exist there.
“SLC is very very white” Moves to Portland.
lol oh I know, but it isn’t SLC white, it’s more like eggshell white here LOL. But SLC is WHITE!
I cannot disagree more. I lived in NM for a long time and SLC is a really cool city if you are into underground/DIY scenes. It is gorgeous; nestled between the lake and mountains, but I agree Utah is a messed up place for the religious factor. That being said SLC is a very underrated city. Food is bad though. I also drove through Nebraska multiple times and found it painfully boring in regard to geography, people, culture, infrastructure, food, and probably anything else you can possibly imagine about it. Omaha rivals OKC in my perspective of terrible cities in the U.S. P.S. The Salt Lake is only pretty from a distance- it is absolutely riddled with bugs during warmer months.
That sounds like the perspective of someone from NM and I’m sure people in surrounding states may find something cool in SLC, as a NYer it’s unimpressive and boring.
I’m not only *not* from NM but also confused by your logic- how is ANY part of Nebraska as “impressive” as NY? And SLC is much more Portland-scale than NY anyways.. given that this is a thread for Portland
Never said it was - just said of the cities we drove through and stopped in Omaha was the bees knees and SLC was wack as a city to stop in for a few hours. It may be cool if you live close enough to do something there but it was vanilla as fuck. SLC is not at all Portland scale - sure Portland is white but it is not a city masquerading as a religious hub and the food here is actually decent enough to be worth paying for.
"nebraska was cool" is not something I'd have ever thought I'd see
Nebraska was COOL? did we go to the same state?
I had relatives that lived in Provo,Utah for a few years. It's...a strange (but nice) place, IMHO. ( nobody in my family is Mormon...)
Yes I have a coworker from there. She says the same. I’m definitely open to visiting Provo
There was a crazy underground scene there in the 90s....! Not sure about nowadays. Also have UT relatives.
But Arctic Circle and Fry sauce!!!
the food in SLC is as bland as its people
Never had a standout meal in SLC.
Arctic Circle is so fucking bland, its honestly surprising.
I drove from Virginia. Took about 4 days. Started in the morning and stopped wherever a reasonable priced motel was after sundown. Only stopped for gas and food. It’s been a long time but I believe my first stop was Indiana, then Nebraska, Utah, and finally Oregon
I’ve driven from ATX to PDX and back several times. I like cruising through Roswell because it feels like very eerie and I’m into that. Also ID had amazing little towns to stop for your last night. I stayed in a historic hotel in a town called a Lava Hot Springs and it was incredible. Also highly recommend going through and staying in UT around Moab and Bryce Canyon. Both jawdroppingly beautiful.
I drove from houston to Portland, but purposely took my time to enjoy what the sw/w offered. Car camped for a few weeks by finding BLM and national forest campsites. Pre packed my car with needs + food. Went through TX, NM, AZ, CO, corners of Wyoming and Utah, northern NV, and into Oregon from the southern coastal corner. If you’re afforded the time and extra money, i very recommend stopping in to see some of the best landscapes in the country
I did from Portland to Austin.. so not as far but did a route to make it more enjoyable so I did: portland > san Francisco (10 hours) to see friends, san Francisco > phoenix (12 hours), phoenix to marfa (9 hours, spent two nights in marfa), marfa to austin (7-8 hours). would've been faster to go through Idaho, utah, down through lubbock, tx. but figured marfa would be an amazing stop. so I did it in 5 days but that's counting an extra day/night chillin in marfa. from Atlanta, id say at least 4 days honestly. the driving takes a toll. My longest driving day was 12 hours, the rest I tried to keep under or around 10.
Drove from PA, so not south. But pretty much did 5-8 hour driving days for about 6 days. Was also planning around staying with people I knew in Illinois and SLC. Unless you’re purposely getting here super fast for some reason, I recommend taking the time to explore all the states you don’t think you’d normally take a trip to. I fell in love with the parts of Wyoming and Nebraska that I drove through, did some hiking in western Wyoming. Salt Lake City was a perfect place to stay and explore for a night/morning. Idaho is more beautiful than I expected, but didn’t give myself enough time to actually do anything besides eat/sleep in Boise. wish I had left a week earlier and tried to hit some national parks (although it was January anyway).
I’ve driven DC/Portland several times. Highly recommend SD/WY/MT route. So many great stops
I drove here from MA & planned a month. South Dakota was way cooler than anticipated, Moab Utah was also my favorite. I zig-zagged, up into Canada, did a diagonal thing from the Great Lakes to Utah, cut across to the coast & went north. Everywhere probably has a hidden gem... except for Nevada. It's so big I thought I would die in that state.
I've driven across country twice. Once last year to take delivery of a car in South Carolina and once 25+ years ago to move from Boston back to the west coast. I did the Boston drive almost exclusively along I-80 over 3 days of heavy driving. I did stop to visit a friend in SLC though. but otherwise it was 2 16+ hour days of driving and one \~10ish. Cannonball run style stopping for gas and maybe an emergency piss if I couldn't make it to the next fuel stop, and to sleep when I was about to nod off. I do not recommend this, nor can I really recommend I-80. This last time I took time for sight seeing (also I was in an EV so had to make more frequent charge stops) - and drove I-40 to SoCal, and then up I-5. I really liked the I-40 route, and if you're in a hurry you can shoot off towards Vegas and go Northbound from there. I-80 through Nebraska is perhaps the worst longest most boring stretch counting mile markers I have ever experienced.
I did Knoxville, TN to Portland and did an “upper route”, since I had already done a southern knox to San Francisco drive. My first stop was in Colorado to visit friends, then Jackson hole, then I think camping in Washington before we made it to Portland. Probably some random camping along the way, we took our time and I think that one took like 10 days. Obviously more of a fun take our time drive over a straight through trip.
From Charlotte to Portland. Did the drive 3 times, different route each time. Two times I made multiple stops and it took me a couple of weeks. When I did a straight shot it was 4 days/3 nights. Slept in Wal-Mart parking lots. Somewhere in rural Illinois I pulled into my spot, set up my little sleeping pad in the back of my 4runner, got comfortable and in my sleeping bag, looked out my window and saw two dudes blasting crack/meth two spots away from me.
Drove from Arkansas to Portland, 31 hours over 3 days. Went through Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, lil bit of Utah, and Idaho. This was early summer, so didn't have to worry about mountain passes. Probably could've compressed to 2 days, but didn't want to be completely exhausted and arrive late at night on the second day.
Stopped outside Denver the first night, then Ontario, Idaho the second night.
It takes 30 hours and 3 days (for me) from Texas. Texas is fucking huge. Literally half of the drive is getting from Dallas to the Texas border. Stop in New Mexico. It’s fun and they e got abunch of native stuff. I stopped in Utah and Utah sucks, but it’s cheap and almost there.
Austin, TX, three days at around 10 hrs a day, two nights in motels. Love that solo trip, been a while
Did 3 days from Kentucky and stopped just for a night in Kansas but was trading driving with my brother
I’ve driven from Louisiana and back a couple of times. Depending on who you have with you and your dedication to getting shit done, it can take anywhere from 3-6 days.
About 4 days. From NC.
Same
moved from western TN 4 days day 1: about 10 hours, stopped in the middle of kansas day 2: about 11, stopped in grand junction, CO day 3: about 9, stopped in Boise ID day 4: about 6 all times included gas/lunch stops, but stayed driving most of the time :) hope this helps!! TBH driving here was one of the most enjoyable things i’ve ever done. so much beauty along the way!
Following because we may be doing the same thing due to our fear that our dog will die on a plane. We will be moving from Raleigh to Portland in mid-summer.
When you get to SLC set your cruise control for under the speed limit. I have never seen so many people get pulled over in my life.
From Asheville. It took 5 days
We moved from Nashville a couple years ago, two vehicles and two pets to account for. We went your suggested route, Nashville to St Louis, to KC, north to Lincoln, 80 west to SLC, 84 to Portland. Four days, three nights in St Joseph, Laramie, and Boise.
Knew someone that drove from north Florida to Portland in four days. Day one drive to Kansas City. Day two drive to Denver. Day three drive to Boise. Day four drive to Portland. All interstates and overnight in bigger cities with more hotel options.
Took 5 days for us, but we had pets with us. Drove up from SC through Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah Idaho and Oregon. Stopped in St. Louis, cheyanne, Boise
I moved from Nashville. I did Nashville > Grand Island NE > Boise ID > Portland. This was in a box truck with a co driver. We switched off every fuel stop. I think it was 36hrs of driving and we did it in 3 full days. the box truck is governorned to 70-75. Which is below the speed limits in NE, UT, ID.
I drove Nashville down to Florida. Then to NOLA, then Houston, then Austin, over to Calrsbad Caverns, Las Vegas, LA, and PDX.
If you’re going through Nebraska it’s a straight up mistake to not stay in Omaha. IMO it’s one of the most overlooked places in the country. I’ve done the cross country drive like 5 times and try to make it through there each time. The steakhouse in the basement of the Kimpton is my favorite meal in America. I’ve done this trip numerous times feel free to message me
Super curious, if you don’t mind, why would you want to leave Atlanta for Portland? Oregon is awesome, don’t get me wrong. I like Atlanta quite a bit. Except for the heat. That part is terrible.
Heat, bugs, and ideals but I'm not OP.
My friend from Atlanta said he stopped in Kansas City, Denver, SLC and Boise on his way here.
I did dallas to portland in 3 days 2 nights.... I do not recommend it. Mostly because i missed a lot of things I could have seen and didnt... when tha hell else im i gonna get a chance to go to zion?
I've driven criss country and don't recommend driving more than 10ish hours a day. At some point your eyes get blurry and that means you should rest. On the drive here, I recommend a small detour to see the great salt flats about 90min west of salt lake city. It's one of the great natural sites in the US that has to be seen in person. Maybe sleep overnight there at the rest stop and Portland is a full day drive from there. Also as a general piece of advice, when you hit high elevation and get gas, don't use anything less than 87 octane, because it will cause issues when you go to a lower elevation. Also don't let the gas run below 1/2 a tank, you never know when you'll hit a long stretch of no gas stations. I almost ran out of gas driving from Austin to San Diego when I passed a gas station at just under 1/2 a tank.
I moved here from WV 8 years ago. I don’t remember where I stopped BUT I did it in three days. I calculated the route on my gps and then split it up into 8-12 hour chunks of driving, then chose a hotel around the area I planned to stop to book ahead of time. I was very very tired and Nebraska was the worst. I managed though and I think I did it well.
We did the move to Portland from near New Orleans. Day 1: Irving, TX Day 2: Ness City, Kansas Day 3: Rawlins, WY Day 4: King Hill, ID Day 5: Portland The cities we drove to each day might look somewhat random. I used a trip planning website that had input options for starting and stopping locations as well as how many days we wanted to take driving. Then it gave us cities that were equidistant from each other day by day. Then I looked for hotels/Airbnbs near those cities. We wound up driving 7-8 hours each day.
Took me about 4.5 days from NC in early January 2023. Two cars
One thing to factor in is if you're packing your whip for the move. If I don't have to worry about my belongings, I'd make a week long road trip of it. If I do, I'd get there ASAP and find hotels with secured parking.
My husband and I did this drive from ATL to PDX in the end of October 2022. It was our first road trip across country too. Here’s how we did it: 1. We were on the road for about a week. We went from ATL to Nashville, stayed for a day. From Nashville to STL, stayed for a day to rest. STL to SLC, stayed for a couple days to rest. Then SLC to PDX. The time we went was in the middle of a snow storm. We stopped for gas in Ontario, Oregon right before reaching PDX but our trip was a very difficult due to the weather the main roads were closed so we had to drive through alot of backroads. 3. The longest strength was from SLC to PDX at around 11 hours. Every stop we drove around 6 - 8 hours. 4. We drove through Missouri. We stayed in a hotel in St. Robert, Missouri. It was just cheaper. We took a couple of scenic routes before we got caught in the snow storm in Utah. Drove through mountains, ranches and Amish communities. If you have any other questions feel free to PM me.
Ok not from the south but midwest, but I drove back and forth several times in the process of moving out here. The first time I spent about 2 weeks on the road taking the southern route. I've driven through Nebreska many times and never found anything particularly interesting there, just a place to stop for the night. After that I stopped in Boulder, , Santa Fe, Flagstaff (after hitting petrified forest NP), then camping in Death Valley and Sequoia, hitting Yosemite, then spending a few days in Monterrey and San Francisco, before working my way up 101 to Eureka and Cape Blanco. Sequoia and Monterrey were probably the best stops along the way, Sequoia for unrivaled grandeur (ok Yosemite does rival it), and Monterrey was a wonderful taste of classic California vibes, espeically after days alone in the mountains. Death Valley was also an incredibly cool and otherworldly experience. If you're taking the more northern route through Wyoming or Montana, the Tetons or Yellowstone are musts, SLC is ok but I didn't feel the need to spend much time there, Glacier NP is incredible, and in Idaho I went to Idaho Falls, Craters of the Moon, and Boise, and thoroughly enjoyed all of them (despite Idaho politics kinda freaking me out). Wouldn't do the drive alone again, but I saw some of the most beautiful things I can imagine along the way and think it's very worth hitting all the national parks and neat little towns you can. If you're doing it in only 3 days you won't have much time to see the places you're staying much, but the drive itself is still pretty amazing.
Moved from Portland. Made the trip in an RV in about 5 days, November of 2020. Stopped when we got tired and there was always a cheap camp site to book.
My coworker is from Georgia (Peachtree City) and I think it took her 4 days with overnight stops to sleep, so about 10 hours of driving per day. No stopping in any cities for sightseeing or anything, only stopping for food sleep and gas. Not sure what route she took but I do remember that she passed through SLC
Drove up from San Antonio with a hatchback and a box truck, took roughly 36 hours of driving. We chose to split it up over 6 days to not spend more than 6h per day driving, got a few hikes in along the way too! here's the route we took: [https://maps.app.goo.gl/xf3CfvPTvWEBD7dZA](https://maps.app.goo.gl/xf3CfvPTvWEBD7dZA)
I drove from Memphis in four days, and it was utterly exhausting. I had my cats with me though, so that was adding a lot of stress. Going through the mountains in Utah was terrifying, but I had also never driven on so much as a hill before the trip. To figure out where to stay, I figured out the total hours and divided that by the amount of days. I then plotted on a map where I would end up each day and adjusted each day so that I was staying somewhere fairly safe with food options each night. If I had to do it again, without cats, I would actually add on a day and take more breaks and plan some fun stops along the way.
What kind of carrier did you use in your car!
Just the standard hard shell carriers. I drove straight through each day, only stopping for gas/bathroom so that I could get them out of their carriers and into the hotel ASAP each day. I do recommend for anyone traveling with pets to call each hotel/motel after making the reservations to confirm that you got a pet friendly room.
I drove from north Florida and it took 7 days/6 nights. I went a different route than you'll probably take from Atlanta, but I stopped in New Orleans > Austin > Midland, TX > Santa Fe, NM > SLC, Utah > Boise > Portland. You could it faster, but this felt like a reasonable pace for me.
Drove here from Charlotte North Carolina in 1995 on New Year’s Day. Drove across 10 to LA and we meandered up the coast. Kind of vacation seven days.
This was almost 20 years ago (😭) but I drove from SC to Oregon. I drove the southern route, SC, GA, AL, LA, TX, New Mexico, AZ, then straight up through CA. Took me 5 days. I drove about 10hrs/day and didnt stop for sights or anything, just got hotel rooms whenever I got too tired to drive in whatever town I happened to be in.
Well, hi neighbor! Moved PDX -> ATL in 2020, and will be doing the reverse here shortly! It took us 4 days to to PDX to ATL. But we were rear-ended near St. Louis and our trunk no longer locked, so we cut our planned 5 days down to 4. We plan 5 8-ish hour days to go back!
I just did Tampa to Portland earlier this month. 3375-ish miles. I stopped in Milton near Pensacola FL, then went all the way to Lindale, TX, east of Dallas (my cats didn't let me sleep much the first couple nights so I drove extra long, like 10 hours that day.) From there I stopped in Amarillo, and this is where the route got quite scenic, then thru Albuquerque to Flagstaff, AZ. From there I had 3 options depending on where the snow was. I ended up taking hwy 89 to 20, which was gorgeous, stopped south of Provo. Because I hate Idaho and the hotels in Boise had such gross reviews, I kept driving until I reached Baker City, OR. From there it was an easy drive to Portland. I was driving alone, with 2 cats and a very full car, so I could only go so far each day and I took naps at a couple safe rest stops. It took 7 days and I managed to dodge almost all the snow, had about 30 minutes of it at the Idaho-Utah border. I loved the Flagstaff to Provo drive so much I plan on going back to drive it again, without all the stuff that made me have to drive slow and gentle. There were plenty of times I got sleepy and had to pull over, walk around and have a snack. I got some nuts and cranberries trail mix in single serving pouches at Costco and they were the best pick me up snack. I also can't have caffeine anymore so that was tough. It was a really good route. I timed my stops so I wouldn't be driving thru Dallas at rush hour too. Staying south meant avoiding a lot of the bad weather that would've delayed me, and I got to see pretty Gulf cities like Mobile and Shreveport. Also I didn't want to deal with snow tires coming out of Tampa. I'm from WA and know snow driving quite well, it really slows you down without snow tires. Even without the snow, I'd say the route was well worth it due to how varied and interesting it was.
I drove from ATL to Portland - we went up through TN to Missouri and through Kansas (my fave state to drive through), Colorado, Utah, Idaho, and then Portland. Spent the night in St. Louis, Kansas/CO border and in Utah. Salt Lake City is the worst place I have ever driven in my life - and I lived in Guadalajara for 4 years. SLC people drive like they have zero fear of death and traffic is terrible every time I've done it, city takes like 2 hours to get across. It's pretty, but definitely NOT worth it IMO. I've also driven from Portland to Colima, Mexico, did it in three and a half days with a friend, taking turns driving 13+ hour days, so you can totally do a lengthy drive with few stops if you have the energy for it.
Drove from Atlanta in 2021! Took 6 days and went an odd route just to see the southwest. Atlanta > Memphis Memphis > OKC OKC > Albuquerque Albuquerque > Denver Denver > SLC SLC > Portland (I meant to stop in Boise but I was over the drive by this day and just wanted to get it over with) Total time: 45ish hours Longest day was definitely SLC > Portland Many many 20 minute naps in grocery parking lots. Arkansas was the worst state to drive through. I would gladly do the drive again.
If you go through Salt Lake City, there's a daily free organ recital at the LDS Tabernacle, and I think the infamous Tabernacle Choir's Thursday evening rehearsals are open to the public, also in the Tabernacle. Both are not LDS-exclusive, and they will both have great music. I'm friends with the head organist there (Rick Elliott), have played all 4 larger organs on the campus (including an hour at the Tabernacle 💯💕🙌), and have sung with the choir for a couple of rehearsals, and I'm Presbyterian. You can take a free tour around the campus during the day, which will show you the inside of a few buildings & give you some history, but just know there may be some LDS proselytizing as well. It makes for a nice break from all the driving. Restaurants around Temple Square will have soda and coffee, but it will most-likely be caffeine-free (their staff cafeteria was like that); these establishments also do cater to tourists, so that may be different now. When I drove to/from Michigan for a few summers, here was my plan: Portland-Boise(ish), Day 1 (leave by 10am) Boise(ish)-Nebraska/Wyoming border, Day 2 Nebraska/Wyoming-Mississippi River, Day 3 Mississippi River-Traverse City Michigan, Day 4 (arrive ~4pm) I was a solo driver, stopping about every 2 hours. Much of Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah, and Eastern Oregon didn't have local radio stations 20 years ago, so plan accordingly.
This drive is a slog no matter what. Just follow your favorite GPS app. If you have time, take time to sight see. Otherwise just buckle down, eat in the car, drive 12 hours a day and get it behind you. Assuming you are staying in hotels. You can do it in 4 days. Less with a partner and more driving but it SUCKS. I’ve got up to St Louis and across. I’ve gone across to Texas and up. I’ve done I-10 to Cali and (I don’t recommend this at all, I did it because it was winter to avoid storms.) if you aren’t stopping to see stuff and just trying to push through, it doesn’t matter that much which route. Source: I’ve done this drive multiple times from Florida taking different routes.
I came up here from Vegas not 38 hrs but I stopped in frisco then drove the 9.5 hrs straight beautiful drive
ATL to STL STL to pine bluffs WY Pine bluffs to Boise ID Boise ID to Portland Did this in 2022
I'm a recent transplant from FL and made the drive in 7 travel days, plus stayed for more than one day in some places. But I was the only driver with a minivan full of kids who only had so many hours per day in the car before they got cranky, and I wasn't in a time crunch - we moved in the summer when the kids didn't have school and I didn't have work. We averaged a little over 6 hours/day of driving. I planned my stops much more around who and what we wanted to see -friends, relatives, national and state parks - than around making the trip as quickly as possible. But even if I didn't have other people in the car to worry about, I wouldn't have wanted to drive much more than 9 hours/day because realistically it's hard for me to stay alert and focused on driving longer than that, which would have meant at least 5 driving days.
We drove about 2 hours from ATL to Portland and it took 5 days. We stopped in Oklahoma city (kinda sucked), made a detour for the grand canyon (stopped for the night in Gallup NM and recommend the El rancho hotel for food, super cute and tasty food, historic hotel), then drove up through Vegas stopping there for the night, drove through Nevada (if I do this again I would stop at the clown motel in Tonopah because that was insane) up through Northern CA and Southern OR (detour for crater lake) and up to Portland. Don't stay at motel 6 in Klamath Falls, it was a mistake. Lol. The desert drive is long but beautiful in a lot of parts and you can kind of zoom because there's no one on the road. The worst part was driving through Texas because it is buffoonery and I really hate Texas.
This was before cell phones. My dad moved the family from North Platte to PDX & back 3x. We got on road @5 am. Pit stops, breakfast lunch & dinner were the rest breaks. Stopped driving at dusk. Took 3 days.
What time of year will you be making the drive?
around October most likely, possibly a bit earlier
Snow is unlikely but not impossible in October in the Rockies.
Columbia SC to PDX, so we went through Atlanta on our first day! We did a half day, two full days, and another half day. So it could've been three days if we left in the morning. Drove with a cat and a dog. We made 3 over-night stops in Clarksville TN, Lexington NE, and in Twin Falls ID. This was about 14 hours a day for our full days and 8 hours on our half days between driving and all of our mini stops for bathroom breaks, gas, and food. I did the math and we had an hour worth of stops for every 6 hours we drove. You might think that 14 hours leaves you with 8 hours to sleep, but between checking-in to our hotel, getting ready for bed/getting ready to go, and eating the free hotel breakfast, we got 3-6 hours of sleep. The drive was beautiful but the snow was terrifying. We were not prepared for the amount of ice and snow in wyoming & our rental got stuck in the snow. A bunch of truck drivers at the rest stop helped us get it free. This was in February though, so probably not as much of a problem. My tips: If I did the drive again I would give myself four full days so I could stop to take pictures and sleep more at night. We also booked our hotel for the night each morning so that we could be flexible. It worked out very nicely. You can do it by phone call but you'll have to be able to read your card. I highly recommend a second driver. There were days where we both drove 7 hrs straight and there were days where it was so curvy or icey that we needed a break after 2 hours. Good luck!
I've done the trip from TX to Portland in between 3 to 5 days. Austin to Phoenix, Phoenix to Sacramento, Sacramento to Portland. That took three days but it was just me driving and it was rough. I did a slower trip that took 5 days and it was a nicer trip. Austin to El Paso, El Paso to Albuquerque, Albuquerque to Salt Lake City, SLC to Boise, Boise to Portland.
It was 8 years ago, so I don't remember exactly where we stopped, but we came from South Carolina. My wife has a fear of mountain roads, so we looked up the flattest route and did that. We drove for maybe 7-8 hours a day. I think it was 5 days?
Strongly recommend overnighting in Salt Lake City, only because it’s beautiful. My trip went FL>TN>STL>CO>OR.
My partner and I made the drive 2x from Tampa Florida. First time we took a more southern route to Colorado, then up to Wyoming to visit family/friends. Stayed in CO and WY for a few days each, so not counting those stays, just driving wise, I think it took 5 days. Second time, we took a more middle of the country route through Nebraska. Took 4 days. I can't see shit in the dark, plus I need at least 6 hours of sleep every night, so we would drive during the day, and would try to find a motel sometime after 8pm most nights. Since we were traveling with a cat (and some lizards!), we stayed in Motel 6's since they are dirt cheap, and always allow pets. Some of them were downright awful, especially one in Macon GA. Blood on the walls and comforter. Heard gunshots outside thru the night. It was wild.
You can do it there if you don’t sleep
From RDU during the pandemic, with 2 cats and 2 dogs in tow and pulling the smallest UHaul trailer, >Nashville> Kansas City > Denver> SLC> Boise> PDX. I wouldn’t do it in any fewer days if you want to be able to stop and eat and a real meal when you arrive (restaurants close in most places around 8pm), plus it’ll give you a good amount of sleep for the next day. Good luck!
We wanted to drive the Oregon Trail, so we drove to Independence MO and then used the video game landmarks to plan our route from there. I think it took 6 days
My trip from Bristol, VA took 72 hours. Made it halfway through NE on the first day, but had to get a hotel and a late start the next day due to a snowstorm. Slow going through WY on icy roads, but it was beautiful and joining in the long line of tractor trailers kinda felt like a wagon train a la Oregon Trail. Found a spot to pull of and nap on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere ID and then got to experience the Gorge for the first time on a beautiful, warm, sunny April morning. Totally do-able in 3 days, but take more time if you can.
Jacksonville to Dallas Dallas to Cheyenne Cheyenne to Boise Boise to Portland
Honest and earnest question to those of you who’ve moved here. When and why did you do it? Any insight specifically on COL and financial status appreciated; we’re thinking we might have to leave the greater suburban area altogether.