kicking around the idea of a spring break road trip march 11-20. have a couple concerns:
1.talkin about adding 5 thousand miles to my 06 mcs currently at 53k miles.

2. the weather, the shortest route would be Houston, Amarillo, Denver, salt lake city, Boise, then finally Seattle.
was hoping some people in these areas would give some advise about driving these areas mid march, i hear there is a good chance of allot of snow/ closed mountain passes.

3. second route choice would be about a thousand miles longer, including more of I-10 than i ever wanted to see, all the way to LA then head north. much longer but allot less chance of icy snow covered roads.

4. this trip could be made in my lady's brand new automatic transmission fit, which would = better gas millage, but good god it would be more fun in the mini.

also if we take the mini i will be stealing the spare doughnut out of the fit 4x100 ftw!

any opinions/advise would be greatly appreciated!

 

Hey Cole9953, i'm writing you from Seattle area and you know I know we still have snow in the passes and all season tires are advised and sometimes even chains. During the March time hopefully we will have more rain in the pass and the snow should be melting down. If you like pm me and I can always give you the 411 on the weather report especially in the pass and also one more thing Spokane area gets alot of snow and that town in WA is near Idaho border. So if you like hit me up.

 

Wouldn't be as much fun but less chance of snow: from Amarillo, go west on 40 to Albuquerque, then north on 25 all the way to Montana. Then 90 west straight in to Seattle. Raton Pass at the NM/CO border will be your first possibility of snow but 25 is kept pretty clear. Good luck and happy Motoring!

 

OK, you asked for opinions, here's mine.
Head northeast somewhere towards New York, then south to about Georgia. Hang a right, then cruise along the gulf coast, back through Texas (stop at home to feed the armadillo?), then angle up to Oregon. Stay away from California (should fall into ocean soon, why take chances).
Alot less snow will be around by the time you get to the mountains, so you should be alright.
Yes, you will add a few hundred miles, but thats the whole idea.
Enjoy yourselves, have fun, and best of luck!

 

That's a brilliant idea. Go you will remember the trip and have some stories to tell. Locals will advise you on best possible routes I recommend listen to them. What car to take? My thought is if you have your MINI since new and know how she behaves and what she likes/doesn't like, then take the MINI. If you bought it used and do not own long enough to learn "weaknesses", take your lady's brand new fit. Exercise extreme caution driving those snowy passes and enjoy the ride. Post your experience and pictures here you have co-pilot right?

 

Best advice: Take Maugre's scenario if you are driving the MINI. If not, then drive to the airport in the fit and fly to Seattle. It will give you more time to try all the latte shops.

 

The drive from Denver to Seattle can be very nice. Not a ton of stuff to see, but still beautiful country. If you do go that way, make sure to stop at Little America WY.

That said, I think there are about 10 mountain passes to cross. The biggies are coming out of Evanston WY into Utah, southern ID, the Blue Mountain pass in OR, and finally Snoqualmie Pass coming into Seattle. Any of those could be closed, blocked, near white-out, or sunny and pleseant in the month of March. At the very least they do oftern recommend "traction tires."

On top of that, CO, WY, and UT salt their passes, and OR and WA use sand (I think), which can also make things messy.

I wouldn't recommend that CA route since you will be going waaay out of your way to avoid bad weather, only to still get stuck in it coming through northern CA, and southern OR. Either trudge through, or like some others have said, fly. Granted flying into Sea-Tac can almost be as bad as driving.

Good luck with your trip.

 

i have had the mini for about a year now, but haven't found a weakness yet, drove her up to Oklahoma city once with no issues that was a 10 hour drive. my only concern with the mini would be a catastrophic failure out of nowhere, be it the supercharger or transmission though its showing no signs of weakness now(the long trip is just putting fears in the back of my mind)

my girl will be the co-driver, but ill have to teach her to drive stick if she is gonna do any driving(i have been trying for 3 years, she is just opposed to knowing how, idk)
and we will be using state parks for sleep along the way.

my girls dad just moved up there to be with his new fiance in woodenville to be exact, and we plan onn staying with them while we are up there.

My dad made the drive last march( the LA and North route) for work with a AWD GMC pulling a 30 foot airstream, he said it got pretty hairy the farther north he got.

 

I am really appreciating yalls advise i have never undertook a long road trip and have never been in that part of the country.

 

There will be some beautiful scenery as you go through the mountain passes but I would definitely recommend you be prepared for snow that time of year.