CHANGE OF PLANS! NOW GOING FROM SEATTLE TO DC!

I'm going to be pulling a 15k horse trailer from Seattle to the Washington DC area this summer. I'll be in a bit of a hurry, so I'd like to stick to major highways if possible, so as not to waste any time. However, I don't want to take the most boring route. I guess what I'm looking for is the most interesting/scenic route I can take without adding time to my trip. Thanks guys.

 

That's a pretty simple one actually.

I-15 to I-40 to I-81 to I-66.

Not much to it, but to do it.

Just take a quick peak at U.S. Interstate map and you'll see the way you need to go.

 

Due east, young man!

 

Will you be transporting a live load - horses either direction? If so, planning the overnight horsey motels can be the tricky part.

 

I'll be carrying two horses. My fiance is doing all the planning as far as the horses are concerned, I just have to give her a route and approximate stopping points. Worst comes to worse, we have a portable electic fence we can set up for the horses while we sleep in the trailer.

 

I did a Mapquest on it using shortest time from LAX to IAD [Dulles]. Whew...that is a pretty long one with horses at 2,675 miles! If you managed to drive 750mi/day its a 3.6 day drive and 750/day with horses is pushing it. I did a 1500 mile trip with 2 horses from Denver to Northern California and 750/day was doable if everything goes without a hitch. That's about a 14+ hour day on the road. You will want to prepare well and make sure that horse trailer and truck are in top condition. Wheel bearings/brakes inspected & greased good tires and inflated to proper pressures and checked each morning cold. Plan for a flat and how you will take care of it.

In other words, plan for the worst and hope for the best and it will be a fun trip!

 

One more idea:

What about cutting up 44 to 64 once I get to Oklahoma? I've heard that the highways in Arkansas are horrible, and my fiance wants to stop in Lexington, KY.

 

Where exactly in "DC" are you going? DC can mean a lot of different locations to different people.

Are you dropping horses off for the MPD downtown? Or do you mean somewhere in VA or MD? (very close to DC).

There are only a few ways in and out of the city, and they are clogged pretty solid during the rush hours. You will want to time your arrival around them.

 

I was planning on comming into the city via 66. We're hoping to find somewhere inexpensive to board the horses somewhere around The Plains/Manassas, and dropping off the horses on the way in. Our final destination is Springfield, VA.

I'm familiar with the DC area traffic. I'm going to start our last day early so we can finish before the traffic gets bad in the afternoon.

 

If you have AAA they have a pretty good website for planning a trip. You can plug in where you are going and it will show you the motels, campsites and ammenities.

WWW.woodalls.com has a pretty good forum on routes that RV'ers will give some good info on if you post your info on it.

 

Leave the horses home and take a plane!

 

One little problem with that...we've moving! Once we leave Seattle, we won't have a home! Until we get to VA, that is.

To clear up any confusion, I'm going from Seattle to DC via LA. Yeah, I know.

 

CHANGE OF PLANS!

We're now going to be going from Seattle to Virginia. Any suggestions for a route?

 

Go to the nearest AAA office and get a TripTik! (or do it online yourself!)

 

I've already done that, and it looks like I'll be taking 90 straight across. I was just wondering if there are any portions with lots of construction, city traffic, etc, etc, that I might want to avoid.