Driving Prius from Oregon to Michigan in winter?

That drive is a piece of cake in a Prius, other then not driving into major storms it would be no big deal.

The great thing about my PIP when driving winter conditions, is I know I can always hole up in it if need be and have heat, with the engine of course cycling off and on. I pushed it a couple years ago, going over Donner Summit, and kept going until the NO CHAINS< TURN AROUND signs came out. And they are serious, you can't sneak around, it's not a suggestion! So, I took the next exit and found a out of the way place to park, set the thermostat at 65, and crawled into the fart sack. I already had the rear set up for sleeping. With 3/4 of a tank full of gas, I could have stayed there for days, but the next morning was all it took. I got woke up once by a trooper, and I told him he could arrest me but I was NOT getting back on the highway, he laughed and said have a nice night, be safe!

 

Unexpected circumstances once had me crossing there very late, in a year where they had very early heavy snow. As in the first ski hill (Boreal) had just opened a few days earlier for Halloween skiing.

The chain checkpoint officer was making nearly everyone turn around, go back. But he waved my Subaru through, not caring that it still had summer tires. Those tires were a bit squirrelly for the conditions, but with no other traffic on the road, I could pick any slow speed I wanted and made it through without any other issues.

 

1) Plan for the worst and adapt to the best. My Ideal route would be to LA, Phoenix, Albuquerque, St Louis and Chicago. and listen to weather to realize wen you can stay north of that. From MS to WA, one year we stayed south all the way to Flagstaff, before we could go north. Coming back East we were between storms and just quit driving when we caught the one in front of us.

2) I lived for 14 years in Elko NV, just before each Thanksgiving I was able to drive north to WA, but coming home to Elko, I got stopped in Walla Walla, Pendleton, Baker, and Jackpot by road closures. Even with AWD and Snow tires, the authorities held me for days.

3) Oregon is a speed trap. The state motto of Nevada is NO SERVICES. Consider staying on Interstates and do not choose State or County roads.

(I drove on this road over 120 miles and never saw a house or a store. I am told I got within 2 miles of a store at Denio.)



I often summarized Elkp as the only place to pee between Reno and Salt Lake. (500 miles)


I wish you luck!