Drive to Oregon

I picked up my mom from the airport Tuesday evening. We finished cleaning the cabin and loaded the 4-wheeler into the back of the truck, then attached the trailer and loaded my Jeep onto it.

 

We were on I-70 heading west by 9.30 am, hurrying to beat a winter storm that was headed to the central Rockies that night. It was slow going (we averaged 50 mph through the central Rockies), but we made it to Salt Lake City around 8 pm. We spent the night there and woke up to to flickering lights and high winds. 

The winds were gusting up to 90 mph in SLC and had caused power outages throughout the city and had blown over several semis. The highway just south of where we stayed was closed because a semi was on its side, blocking the highway. The winds were predicted to get worse before they got better, so we ate a quick breakfast then headed north. I was pretty nervous driving the big U-haul truck, towing my jeep because the wind was mostly perpendicular to the highway. I could feel the gusts tipping the truck and blowing it left and right. After a strenuous hour, we made it out of the gusty winds. Luckily, it wasn't snowing during all this. The rest of the drive went pretty smoothly. After two-and-a-half days and 24 hours of driving, we made it to Portland (and averaged about 10 mpg).

Portland had unusually good weather and for the whole weekend. The sun was out and we got great views of Mt. Hood on our drive in.