Prescott, AZ to Newport, OR

So with Embry Riddle closing and going to online classes our daughter and her boyfriend are having to go from Prescott to Newport. With the current situation going on in the country how easy or not easy is this going to be for them? Could use some direction from you all on the west coast.

In contrast our son and his girlfriend are going to be coming home as he goes to college at Embry too. Prescott to Pennsylvania. Scary times for us as parents.

Don't know about things out that way but talked with a friend who just drove back from Florida and he said there wasn't much available except gas and fast food drive throughs. Otherwise OK

Are you talking about the drive?

I was going to ask that also?
I know that area well and can give advice on several different routes to use from Prescott, AZ to southern OR and then onto Newport on the coast, neither route involves driving into L.A. or west of the Sierra MTNs. in northern CA
There is a lot of nothing in central and northern NV, thanks the U.S. government controlling a lot of the empty desert for aircraft testing and gunnery and bombing ranges.
There are several decent choices for them to safely travel from Prescott to Newport, depending on how much driving they want to do in empty desert or the more populated area in eastern CA east of the Sierra Mtns.

Having to drive. Would rather they stay away from CA. But worried about the nothingness of the desert too

It's always handy to have a Road Atlas, suggest they get one for the trip.
There are a few different ways to do that drive and avoid CA.
There's also some very nice scenery, so the trip doesn't have to be a grind.
Kind of depends on how much time they have, and what they're driving.
Given this Covid deal, I'd avoid big populated areas.

Get there ASAP and have a good supply of fuel stops along the way. Just want them to get there and get there safely.

Well, look at this route:
North to I-40 West, 93 N into Las Vegas, 15N through NV & UT, 84W into OR.
There are a couple alternates with fewer gas & food & lodging stops, but that sounds like what you're after.
Probably 3 days, 2 if they get after it.
One can maintain high speed on NV 95 but it's desolate.
Any 2-lane in ID (95 or 93) is pretty slow average speed.
I've driven all those roads, never a worry.

The biggest issue this time of year is snow in the mountains from Reno NV to Klamath Falls OR and then up US-97 to OR state route 58 to I-5. I have driven up there this time of year and it was not my driving that was the issue, the 18 wheelers getting stuck and jack-knifing that close the roads.
Have them watch the 'Caltrans' web pages for traffic conditions.

Looking at my AAA maps of AZ, NV and OR I would go from Prescott north west on AZ Hwy69 to #89 and then north to I40 and then west to Kingman, AZ and then take AZ Hwy 93 north into Las Vegas ,NV to Hwy 95 and take that north to Fallon, NV, I would take NV #50 west to I 80 and take it into Reno NV to Hwy395 , go north on 395 to Susanville, CA . There are two ways from there to get into Oregon, one is take CA 139 north to Klamath Falls, OR and then north on OR Hwy 97 or go west out of Susanville to CA#89 and take it north to ! 5 and take it north up to Eugene, OR and take Hwy99W to Hwy 20 and take it west to Newport.
If they are going into Klamath Falls from Susanville, CA , take OR Hwy 97out of Klamath Falls north to OR #58, take it into Eugene and then take Hwy 99W up to Hwy 20 west into Newport This is the scenic route with less traffic and stops also
IHTHs
EDITED,: Caution them on NOT USING there smart phone GPS based navigation for short cuts , especially on this trip
My grandson drove form Florida to here in Bend,OR, he called me from American falls, ID and ask me how to get from I84 to Bend, I gave him instruction exact instructions from Burns, OR when he drove West on OR Hwy 20 from Burns to the east side of Bend. He ended up using his phone directions about 8 mile east of town at night and ended up on a dirt road which did ended up getting him to a paved road in Bend. it was in the late spring and there was no wet or bad roads he had to drive on, we have had several out of state people get lost and one died form getting stuck in the mountains in a snow bank and tried to walk out, DON'T DO THAT No short cuts Stay on the pavement

Thank you.
For now we are going to have them stay in Prescott or if they have to they'll fly to Portland for his parents to pick them up.

Having traveled that route many times winter in the Nevada outback is unpredictable. I always avoid it in the winter. Ok in fair weather if you like the scenery. This time of the year it’s better to go the western route. Take the 17 north to Flagstaff then west on I-4o to Barstow where you hit the I-15. I-15 for a few miles out of Barstow then hit the CA-58 west to Bakersfield. CA-58 takes you west driving by Edwards AFB, California City. You leave the desert into the mountains driving through Tehacapi. Hit Bakersfield then take the 99 north to just outside of Manteca, CA

Just outside of Manteca, Ca take the cutoff toward San Francisco. That will take you to I-5. From there stay on I-5 NORTH through Oregon. From there you can pick the route for your final destination.

Overall, well traveled road, Freeway most of the way. Plenty of places that are safe to stop at. Yes, you go through California however if you breakdown or have other problems there’s good cell reception.

Why detour off the 99 west to the 5 when the 99 turns into the 5 in central Sacramento.
Way to many people on that route for me I've never seen snow or ice between las Vegas and Susanville, even in the middle of Feb. on the way to Tucson, AZ 5 years ago, same thing on attending the races at Las Vegas in this time of year either

4 lane vs 6 lane and the 99 into Sacramento is a cluster. When I do travel in the outback I like the 93

If it was me I'd stay on I5 rather than come across the mountains. Even I5 can be tricky this time of year. I got nailed by a monster snowstorm in Weed, CA a few years back this time of the year. Barely survived that one. Once I got past Weed the sun was out and it was 70 degrees but going up the hill into Weed there was 10 inches of snow on the freeway and people were stuck right and left. I'd never send my kids over the mountain route unless they were driving a four wheel drive and knew how to use it.

From Las Vegas to Oregon I wouldn't go east to 93 before going north, why not go north on 95 from Las Vegas to Oregon

lLiving on the east side of the Cascade Mtns. and having to deal with snow and ice almost every winter I do forget not every ones daily driver is not a Ram 3500 4X4
I got caught in the middle of a snow storm like you did last winter or maybe the winter before going to Davis, CA to deliver a motor to a customer after 5:00 PM when he got off work in the middle of the week. I had the studded snow tires on so going down was no big deal, there was a lot of slow drivers going down, coming back at 9:30 PM was another deal altogether.
The CA CHP had all traffic stop about 15 miles north of Lake Shasta making people put on chains or turn around, I heard one of the Commercial CHP cuss a trucker out for not having chains, that really shock me
It took at least 45 minutes to go three miles to the stop, once I got through it and took the 97 north out of Weed is was clear sailing, 65 + MPH with almost no traffic
Lots of snow in the passes but not so much east of the Cascades, the further south and east you go of the Cascades the less snow and ice

I was driving a Lexus SC300 with low profile street tires. I had a hard time keeping it on the road in that spring snow storm. 99% of the trip was clear and dry but that one one mountain pass just about cashed in my chips.

I have a friend who was a owner operator for a 18 wheeler that was only hauling here in Oregon for the last 5 yrs before he retired, he told that a lot of the truckers hauling north into OR and or WA will get off I5 at Weed and take 97 north to the 58 and take that into Eugene area to miss going over the pass on I5 into Ashland and Medford Maybe a good option in the future going south also

Agree, far better road wise. Weed to Medford can be nasty in the winter. On another note the reason I like 93 is I traveled from Yakima. Easy for me to hit I-84 from I-82 then south to PostFalls then south on the 93. 93 for the most part is nice road, not traveled as much by the big trucks. From Vegas it’s easy to run up the 93 to I-84 then on to Portland. Of course, again, not the best route in the winter. Really have to watch the weather. Those Sierra Nevada storms move real fast. Same holds true for the storms off the Rockies.

Thanks all!
They left 9:30am and are on their way. Have a hotel outside Reno tonight then finish off the rest tomorrow.

Wow, two long days on the road. Good luck

I usually take 1 3/4 days leaving at 7:00 AM from Bend to get to Las Vegas, there driving another 300 to 400 more miles so if they get it done in 2 days there doing good IMO
On the way back from the races in Las Vegas I usually get started around 9:00 AM to miss the local morning traffic and stay in either Hawthorne, NV, Reno NV or Susanville, CA depending on how fast I can get to there in
AKA aside I keep it below 80 MPH now towing the trailer due to those dang trailer tires not living long at high speeds above 80 MPH

I had some work done on my current car trailer at the Pace Factory in Hurricane,UT, several years back after the MATS races in Las Vgeas. I left there and drove north on the 15 to Cedar City then took a Utah highway west to the NV #93, and then north to Ely, NV to go west to Fallon, NV and then home to OR I was looking for strange creatures and weird flying objects all the way to Ely on the 93
For those that don't know eastern NV,Groom Lake, area 51 is a little west of the 93 between the 15 and Ely, NV. A lot of that area is restricted to nonmilitary aircraft from flying through that area also

Drove it one time at night. After riding up that long grade outside of Ely you could see the lights from aircraft flying in and out of Groom Lake. Some of the lights didn’t look quite right moving quickly across the sky.

It should be a peaceful and scenic ride, especially going down Hwy 395. Tell them to watch for herds of elk, especially at night! Safe travels!

Ely....Hotel Nevada...and that's all I'm going to say about that area lol.

Oh yeah

They did make it w/o issue EXCEPT near Newport when a guy doing 20 under the limit decided to "race" my daughter when she went to overtake him. Hung her out in the other lane with traffic coming. Fortunately she squeezed in front of him w/o hitting. Her BF called her and said "what's up with that move" as he was behind her. She let him know the dude sped up as she was passing and wasn't allowing her back in!

Me thinks the "secret" would be flown at night with no lights like the Air Force did around AFB plant #42 and Edwards AFB
I've heard more than one person talk about being outside at night in Boron, North Edwards,Mojave and other places close the Edwards AFB base hearing low flying things at night with no lights

Do you want to share the route they took with us, that might help someone up here in OR. or WA.. going to Prescott or central AZ sometime in the future

Most likely on moonless nights

Several years ago a member on the race forum who worked at Edwards gave my wife and I a tour of the Edwards flightline. Saw all kinds of cool stuff, UAVs, F35s, B2. Actually went over to their aircraft boneyard adjacent to where the B2 hanger is located. Lots of cameras. It was actually funny that he was driving my 07 2500. I’ll bet the guys monitoring the cameras were wondering what this civilian truck with Arizona plates was doing. I’m sure he made prior arrangements. What impressed me the most was looking at the history of the place. Chuck Yeager, Space Shuttle etc. very impressive place. Thanks again Mike for the cool tour.

They took the right at Susanville direction.

Another nice thing is here BF wouldn't allow her to touch the gas handles and opened doors so she didn't have to.

I'm glad the trip went well
The road form Susanville to Klamath Falls is really pretty and scenic but not well travel in the fall, winter and early spring, which is good IMO
Their are reasons for one of Oregon motto which is Keep Oregon, especially Portland, weird
There are some weirdo whacko on the streets here in Oregon instead of being taken care in special institution to protect them and us