Littlefoot wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I will be taking a road trip on December 21st from Seattle to San
> Francisco with my 2 friends. I've never driven in the snow before and I'm
> very very nervous. I've already bought chains and I've practiced putting them
> on in my driveway many times.
Wow, you're more prepared than most people that drive in the snow for
the first time, and don't even open the box of chains until they see the
"Chains Required" sign.
In the Grants Pass area you may encounter the need for chains if there
is a storm. Driving in snow is not bad, because of the chains, everyone
is going slow, including the 4WD SUVs which are stuck behind cars with
chains.
I remember being on a group ski trip once and one lady was not the
nicest person, and was offended at offers to assist her with her chains.
So I watched her get the chains completely on the tires, nice and tight,
before I commented, "wow, I didn't know that Toyota made rear wheel
drive Camrys."
> Has anyone made this drive in December? What
> should I expect? I'll be driving a Toyota Corolla (Manual Transmission). How
> long should this drive take in the snow?
I've done it in the winter several times. The answer is that you don't
know what to expect until five or six days before the trip. I've had to
put chains on a 4WD SUV in Oregon, going up to Mount Hood, and I seem to
remember chains being required for non-4WD vehicles on I5 on one trip,
around Grants Pass. For those people that are unfamiliar with chains, it
doesn't really matter if they are physically required or not, it's
whether or not the highway patrol decides to require chains. Often the
reason they require chains is just to slow people down, even when the
snow is not very heavy.
> I've made the trip before but it was
> in July. I'm planning on staying the night somewhere in OR.
Try the La Quinta in Grants Pass. |