Scubadude62-WO
Senior Member
Traveled this route on a Friday morning. A decent day of driving with tail and quarter winds, for the most part.
In Montana, around MP 25, watch for 45mph curves coming off a downhill. I had to brake fairly hard to slow the coach to what I felt was a comfortable speed for the curves. That was the only tricky part in Montana. The roadway was good, but not great. I've driven on better, but a lot worse, as well. MP6 in Montana saw the right lane closed a crossover and 1 lane traffic to MP3
In Idaho, there were two steep, but not super high passes to cross, along with a fair amount of construction.
The first pass is Lookout Pass, right on the Montana/Idaho border. It's a fairly short, but steep climb. Was able to maintain about 40mph in my 340HP DP towing a pickup truck. On the way down, I let me excellent engine brake do it's job, and I was able to coast down in 3rd gear at about 45mph, and only had to touch the service brake once.
4th of July pass was odd. while the westbound traffic had two lanes, the eastbound traffic had only one. It looked like westbound traffic was, or soon will be, crossing over, as there was a concrete barrier on the left side of the eastbound lane. I just though it odd. Other than that, 4th of July Pass was similar to Lookout, but not as high, and a bit steeper on the downside. I had to use my service brake several times to keep my speed around 45. Neither pass should cause any stress at all to a careful driver who knows the limits of his/her rig.
There were 3 construction areas of note in Idaho. In Wallace, westbound traffic crosses over from MP 63 to 60 for bridge work.
At MP 41, eastbound traffic crosses over for 2 miles for bridge work.
Finally, the left lane is closed by Lake Coeur d'Alene for about a mile for some bridge work. It appeared to be temporary and not long-term.
Once into Washington, we exited I-90 and followed US-2 from Spokane to Cashmere, WA. US-2 is a 2-lane highway with light traffic that transits a large number of wheat fields. There is some spectacular scenery as you near Wenatchee. That descent is also the only really tricky part of the route - it's a long, twisty road that descends from over 2,800 feet to under 700 feet a number of the curves had 35mph warning signs. Again, my engine brake was a big help in keeping my speed in the 35-40mph range.
In Montana, around MP 25, watch for 45mph curves coming off a downhill. I had to brake fairly hard to slow the coach to what I felt was a comfortable speed for the curves. That was the only tricky part in Montana. The roadway was good, but not great. I've driven on better, but a lot worse, as well. MP6 in Montana saw the right lane closed a crossover and 1 lane traffic to MP3
In Idaho, there were two steep, but not super high passes to cross, along with a fair amount of construction.
The first pass is Lookout Pass, right on the Montana/Idaho border. It's a fairly short, but steep climb. Was able to maintain about 40mph in my 340HP DP towing a pickup truck. On the way down, I let me excellent engine brake do it's job, and I was able to coast down in 3rd gear at about 45mph, and only had to touch the service brake once.
4th of July pass was odd. while the westbound traffic had two lanes, the eastbound traffic had only one. It looked like westbound traffic was, or soon will be, crossing over, as there was a concrete barrier on the left side of the eastbound lane. I just though it odd. Other than that, 4th of July Pass was similar to Lookout, but not as high, and a bit steeper on the downside. I had to use my service brake several times to keep my speed around 45. Neither pass should cause any stress at all to a careful driver who knows the limits of his/her rig.
There were 3 construction areas of note in Idaho. In Wallace, westbound traffic crosses over from MP 63 to 60 for bridge work.
At MP 41, eastbound traffic crosses over for 2 miles for bridge work.
Finally, the left lane is closed by Lake Coeur d'Alene for about a mile for some bridge work. It appeared to be temporary and not long-term.
Once into Washington, we exited I-90 and followed US-2 from Spokane to Cashmere, WA. US-2 is a 2-lane highway with light traffic that transits a large number of wheat fields. There is some spectacular scenery as you near Wenatchee. That descent is also the only really tricky part of the route - it's a long, twisty road that descends from over 2,800 feet to under 700 feet a number of the curves had 35mph warning signs. Again, my engine brake was a big help in keeping my speed in the 35-40mph range.
