Central WA to Palm Springs CA

[MRoberts]

I posted awhile back about purchasing an RV and received a ton of good info, thanks for all of the input. We have not purchased an RV as some life plans changed and hence my new question.

In mid-November, we are planning on visiting family in the Palm Springs area for Thanksgiving and will be driving from Wenatchee WA to Palm Springs. I will have my wife and three dogs with me on the drive South. The dogs are one big, two little and will be riding on a custom dog bed in the rear passenger seat. We are not looking to drive straight through and will likely take three days to get there.

I'm concerned about the following:

1. Dog friendly hotels - do you know of any?

2. Best Route - I know I-5 is the most direct and fastest, but getting there fastest isn't the primary factor.

3. Weather - Hoping to avoid weather related issues. It's early in the winter, but I haven't made this drive before.

Feel free to add in anything I might be missing!

TIA - Marty

 

[Cummins12V98]

Watch the weather on 5 you may need to hit the coast from Eugene, OR.

Running solo stick to 5. Towing there is a much better route.

 

[JR]

Try this for pet friendly hotels.

https://hotels.petswelcome.com/searchbyroute

 

[Timd32]

One of my Technicians drove from Moses Lake to Phoenix, AZ three weeks ago, they went a eastern route, worked their way to Boise, not sure if they went all the way to Salt Lake, will have to check the GPS, but stayed outside of Las Vegas, and made the final.push to Phoenix, it was a 19hr drive time route they did over 3 days. If I can pull the map from the GPS will do that.

I'm not at familiar with weather that way in Nov., but I went to Quincy, WA twice this year, once in Feb from SEA/TAC and that winter pass was hit and miss going that way. The second time I flew into Spokane and drove west, what a much nicer ride and overall experience.

I have done the I5 deal from Crater Lake to Santa Clara, CA it's a nice ride.

 

[RVTRKN]

As weather is concerned, getting through the passes is probably early enough in the season, your drive down the 101 would be downright awesome. The only issue I would worry about is the dog friendly hotels. There are no big cities between Astoria Oregon and Cresent City Comifornia, and you would need to search for a pet friendly motel/hotel. In November Grants pass and the Grapevine should be passable, Grants pass would be the most threatening at that time of the year. The 101 is breathtaking at times, but take the Ca hwy 1 at Leggett Ca. that'll get you to the Golden Gate bridge as well, and stay on Hwy 1 all the way to Pismo Beach Ca. Points of interest along the way that are little known but a must see if you have time, would be San Simeon and take a tour of Hurst Casttle, and Solvang Ca. just a few minutes drive off the 101. There are too many sights to see for me to mention along Hwy 1 but you have plenty of time to research. A good plan would be to have the hotels/motels reserved, that is a busy time of year due to Thanksgiving. Hope this helps.

 

[GAmes]

I-5 is a 100 miles farther than the most direct route, but all the desert driving and lack of facilities kind of make it the most sensible. If you add another 100 miles you could take I84 to Ogden, UT and then I15 south. That would be my choice to avoid Sacramento and most of the LA area traffic. You do not want to be going south from Las Vegas on a Sunday though.

 

[RVTRKN]

You do not want to be going south from Las Vegas on a Sunday though.

Ya, its normaly 4hrs at speed limits, and can turn into 7-8 hrs.

 

[SnoKing]

Quickest route.
https://maps.roadtrippers.com/?a2=t...ium=share&utm_source=copy&z=7.149374289440355

Might have to zoom out to see map.

If you want to stay on I-5, then you can pick it up at Weed by going down through central Oregon.

South of Stockton swing over to 99, 58 out of Bakersfield, down through Palm Dale, East on 138, South on I-15, I-215, East on I-210, then I-10 to Palm Springs.

https://maps.roadtrippers.com/?a2=t...ium=share&utm_source=copy&z=4.460825392663769 SnoKing

 

[KEnglish]

RE: Dog friendly hotels. La Quinta is great. You get a regular room, not the smelly, stained "pet rooms".

 

[brucejohnson]

This is a route we used to take often on our trips. Although we found using the Manteca crossover going from I-5 to Hwy 99 often has a significantly better traffic flow. You miss a lot of the LA I-5 "parking lot" and save a few miles, too. Highway 395 thru Oregon is a nice scenic route, although it is a bit isolated in northern California, southern part is nice, but may include some weather related issues in late November.

 

[RVTRKN]

My vote is interstate 101, due to scenic and better weather, dog friendly hotel/motel might be a challenge, through some parts. We went through there in 03 after visiting Mt. Saint Hellen, then strait to the coast and on down to SoCal on the 101, after visiting Boise ID.

 

[MRoberts]

This is awesome all! Thank you for sharing!

 

[Timd32]

I visited Alaska a while back my cousin was stationed in Fairbanks so we flew in there, took a road trip south to Anchorage, took the western route down rt 3 pretty straight shot. Then on the way back we went east of Anchorage maybe rt 1, to rt 4, then possible rt2, was a pretty big circle if you look it over but we were able to see many different sites.

So maybe you take one way down and one way back home? Depends on your trip timing to and from.

There are alot of places to see on the I5, 101 route, at the same time I have never been to Salt Lake so I would take the few hour detour to see what that's all about.

Found the GPS record from a few weeks ago stopped it at Vegas, they took the "east" inner route

 

[MRoberts]

Quickest route.
https://maps.roadtrippers.com/?a2=t...ium=share&utm_source=copy&z=7.149374289440355

Might have to zoom out to see map.

If you want to stay on I-5, then you can pick it up at Weed by going down through central Oregon.

South of Stockton swing over to 99, 58 out of Bakersfield, down through Palm Dale, East on 138, South on I-15, I-215, East on I-210, then I-10 to Palm Springs.

https://maps.roadtrippers.com/?a2=t...ium=share&utm_source=copy&z=4.460825392663769 SnoKing

This is the route I've selected. We will be heading South from Wenatchee to Klamath Falls on day 1. Day 2 will end in Fresno and Day 3 we will arrive in Palm Springs.

Depending on how the dogs cope, we may bypass staying in Fresno and hammer through!

Thanks again for all of the input, I appreciate your time!

 

[brucejohnson]

This is the route I've selected. We will be heading South from Wenatchee to Klamath Falls on day 1. Day 2 will end in Fresno and Day 3 we will arrive in Palm Springs.

Depending on how the dogs cope, we may bypass staying in Fresno and hammer through!

Thanks again for all of the input, I appreciate your time!

Great choice for a semi-direct, scenic and more comfortable route. Lots to see if you have time, or just travel with lots of potential stopping/resting places for the dogs vs. shoulder of I-5.

 

[MRoberts]

Hi All! I wanted to post up and let you know we made the trip without issue!

We decided on the "central" route, mostly 97 from home to Weed CA, I-5 to Red Bluff where we jumped on 99 until we got to Bakersfield. To avoid the LA mess we went from 99, to 58, to 14, to 138, to 15, to 10. We had fun and took our time, especially since we were traveling with our three pups! We stopped in Klamath Falls the first night, Fresno the second and made to our destination the third day.

ON our return, we decided to try and speed it up a bit, as the weather was becoming an issue in OR and WA.

We went I-10 out of the Desert to I-210 and then I-5, much faster!!! We then jumped on 99 and returned the same route. This is the route we will use from now on, it didn't make a whole lot of difference in overall mileage, but it sure seemed a lot faster.

I really appreciate all of the suggestions, thanks for taking the time.

Merry Christmas!

Marty

 

[RVTRKN]

You certainly avoided LA, and then some, but it is a better scenic route, rather than cement for a couple of hours. So the big question is, did you miss the snow over the Grape Vine? I know I was delayed by a couple of hours in Victorville during the Thanksgiving weekend. What a mess the road was, that would have been even worse through the Grape Vine on your return, and Tehachapi and Cajon Pass if it was on your way to your destination.

 

[MRoberts]

We didn’t have any snow issues at all on the return. A lot of rain from Klamath Falls all the way home though. We headed North on Dec 5.

 

[MRoberts]

No snow issues at all on either leg of the trip. We started our return on 12/5 and had a lot of rain from Klamath Falls all day he way home.

 

[MRoberts]

LOL! I didn’t think the first reply went through!