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Help me plan a road trip

arse_sidewards

arse_sidewards

Red Skull Member
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May 19, 2020
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So my dad, my brother, my girlfriend and I are all going on a road trip this year just after Christmas. The timing is based on the fact that my dad's getting old, I can easily get time off around that holiday and my brother is about to go to college so this might be our last chance to do something together.

Vehicle is either going to be a '93/94 Subaru Legacy or an '02 CRV, depending on which we feel is in better shape at the time, in any case we'll have four driven wheels, V-bar chains and two and a half able bodied men so we can pick pretty much any route we want with no regard for weather. The plan so far is to take US20 in it's entirety out. What we're not sure of is the route back we're on the fence between US2 and the trans-Canada highway or taking US66 and then the interstate for the eastern part.

So IBB, which route should we take and what should we stop and see along the way? (Keep in mind that we're going to be making this trip in the middle of winter.)
 
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no input on the route, but if my choices were between a 18 and 26 yr old compact vehicle for 4 adults i would look hard at renting a tahoe or the like. both for reliability and room. its not that expensive especially split a few ways.
 
Ted_Kaczynski said:
What's the source and destination?
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We're driving the entirety of US20 an starting on the east coast.

WTF? said:
no input on the route, but if my choices were between a 18 and 26 yr old compact vehicle for 4 adults i would look hard at renting a tahoe or the like. both for reliability and room. its not that expensive especially split a few ways.
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Lol. Thanks for the suggestion but no. We've taken the CRV on road trips before. We'll be fine. We're not high class enough to miss the extra space.
 
Paragon said:
Go to hell quick draw
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southern route to return is probably going to be more interesting than just driving through snow for a couple days :rasta: more stops of stuff
 
On the US20 route, the Rock Island Arsenal Museum in Illinois is just a slight detour off 20. Galena IL has a bunch of antique and thrift shops, the Mississippi River Museum in Dubuque is a good way to kill a couple hours, Dyersville IA has the Field of Dreams movie site. I very highly recommend stopping at the Strategic Air Command Museum between Omaha and Lincoln NE. It’s pretty awesome.
 
Tin Roof said:
On the US20 route, the Rock Island Arsenal Museum in Illinois is just a slight detour off 20. Galena IL has a bunch of antique and thrift shops, the Mississippi River Museum in Dubuque is a good way to kill a couple hours, Dyersville IA has the Field of Dreams movie site. I very highly recommend stopping at the Strategic Air Command Museum between Omaha and Lincoln NE. It’s pretty awesome.
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I'll keep those in mind. Technical museums and stuff like that would be a big hit with 3/4 of us.
 
arse_sidewards said:
We're driving the entirety of US20 an starting on the east coast.



Lol. Thanks for the suggestion but no. We've taken the CRV on road trips before. We'll be fine. We're not high class enough to miss the extra space.
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One thing to consider is depending on the weather many of the highways can get closed in storm conditions, even the interstate highway. Sharon and I drove across Minnesota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana last August and even the interstates had gates across them with big signs saying they can be closed during storms and if the gate is closed you must exit.
 
Take route 66 back, it will be pretty nice weather that time of year, not too hot. As said some roads shut down due to storms in winter, I spent three days on a well site in WY due to I80 closing because of snow.
 
How do the V-bars work on the Legacy? I had a 90 which is part of that 1st gen Legacy series and Subaru says to only put them on the front wheels and stick with cables to keep the wheel radius as close as possible to the rear tires so as to prevent damage to the viscous coupling. If you're logging short miles, probably not a problem, but if I were doing a lot of miles with chains, I'd consider cables to prevent potential drivetrain issues.

Having them on the front improves braking as the weight shifts forward, steering, and allows the car to pull out as the AWD bias is towards the front axle. You might also have trouble clearing struts with chains. I've owned a bunch of Subarus and cables have always worked really well with the AWD and I've never gotten stuck. I've had to go with S-type low profile cables to clear struts on my newest 2017 Outback and 2020 Impreza.

It's a tough choice between vehicles. The Subaru would be my first choice as I had the 90 Legacy until 345,000 miles and it ran perfectly until I gave it to a buddy who ran it out of oil and burned it up. The CRVs are just as reliable but with more room. Can't really go wrong with either one.

Most states allow you to have AWD/4wd with M+S tires, but the National Parks will almost always make you chain up, even with AWD/4wd and M+S tires.


Some areas in Canuckistan require you to run Snow Tires or at least tires with the Mountain/Snowflake symbol. Quebec requires them from December to March. Other provinces may require them as well. If driving into Canada, you might want to look into the requirements before heading up in winter.

https://www.liveabout.com/what-is-a-mountain-snowflake-3234477
 
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