Long and steep - but reasonably straight is WAY better than short and steep - AND sharp curves w/narrow lanes and not much shoulders around blind turns.

I've gone over Monarch several times in SUVs (not towing, and once each way driving a 30' RV) and didn't think it was really bad at all. But, Red Mountain Pass South of Ouray on the way to Silverton, is pretty scary in a passenger vehicle. It's called the "Million Dollar Highway" (google for pics) 2" beyond the painted line is a several hundred foot drop (no guardrails since it makes snow removal too difficult, and accidents are "self-clearing" this way )

The North side of Monteagle on I-24 in TN (both directions) is pretty windy and steep whereas Monarch is sort of wide with reasonable speed limits and no real hairpins (that I recall).

DISCLAIMER: Always in day light, NO snow, ice, rain.

 

For fun, try towing over Berthoud Pass. To the OP, nothing challenging on 80/84 really, pretty easy tow except for possible wind in WY. Prettier than most of 90 and not quite as boring.

 

80 and 84 are as boring as ******! Nebraska, Iowa, Wyoming, etc. And of course much more traffic. Sure, eastern Montana and South Dakota are boring, but there is at least Mt. Rushmore and Wall Drug. Lol.

 

I have driven I90 from Seattle to Ohio. I didn't think it was too bad for towing. Traffic was never an issue except for Chicago, and you don't have to worry about that.


I haven't been on I80 that far west.

 

I think we have decided on I-90 due to traffic and heat conditions that may be present in the I-80/84 area. Thanks for the advice from everyone who has towed through, over and around these roads.

 

The Walmart in Bozeman Montana makes really good fried chicken and noodle salad!


Report back and let us know how the trip goes.

 

Well, the truck performed flawlessly for the entire 7,000 miles it drove in the past 40 days. 6,000 miles of that was with a 10K travel trailer behind us just following us around the entire time.

We ended up taking I-90 west from western Iowa area and then I-80 east from Utah.

Learned a lot about the truck and how it performs with a heavy load behind it for long distances. I put my theories about engine braking into practice and did not have even 1 white knuckle situation. As a matter of fact, I would say the toughest part of the entire trip was the mountains in TN because they were so busy and the construction was bad.

 

sounds like the best of the best.


construction seems to always slow things down significantly.

 

Fixed your typo for you! More truth in that than not!

 

So true, I had not thought of it that way, but good catch. My wife and I were trying to be sneaky by hitting north ATL going south on 75 south to 285 east then up 85 north at 9 PM on Sunday night to avoid traffic. Well, the DOT decided that this is the best time to take a 5 lane road and slim it down to a 1 lane road for destruction purposes. We were caught in our sneaky ideas and stopped cold just shy of 100 miles from home after driving several thousand.

 

Yep! I love the road-side signs warning of construction next week. But for those folks that don't drive by EVERY DAY they only find out WHEN they show up for the first time.

Thanks for the trip report.