I-5 south of Sacramento, Ca.

This road has fallen apart. Avoid it and save your RV.

Try going over Donner Pass on I-80 and down the other side (towards Reno). You'll think that I-5 is quite smooth  ;D

I drove I-40 across the Mojave Desert a few months ago and I thought I was off road the entire time.

Yup.  Neighbor blew two tires on I5 couple months back due to its quality ride.

Tom said:

Try going over Donner Pass on I-80 and down the other side (towards Reno). You'll think that I-5 is quite smooth  ;D

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The wife and I drove the mh to Truckee a couple of weekends ago and to her, worse than the terrible condition of the highway, was the narrowness of the lanes where the road construction is ongoing on I-80.....She doesn't like being that close to those k-rails... ???

Water Dog said:

The wife and I drove the mh to Truckee a couple of weekends ago and to her, worse than the terrible condition of the highway, was the narrowness of the lanes where the road construction is ongoing on I-80.....She doesn't like being that close to those k-rails... ???

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We drove that route in mh last week and I am still leaning over  to one side.  EEEEEWWWWWw it was narrow and scary.

Betty

Aye Dennis, the construction in that area seems to have been going for a long time.

We drove from Buttonwillow up I5 to Sacramento in March. It is quite bad when going through Stocton. They are doing a lot of work in that area and one only hopes they pave it when they are through. As to I-80, I will find out later in the year what that's like. I suspect it's not much better. I haven't driven to Reno in years, (in a car) let alone an RV.
Jack

zzyzx said:

I drove I-40 across the Mojave Desert a few months ago and I thought I was off road the entire time.

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Seem to be more and more roads like that Tom. I'm thinking maybe I'd be better off to put the pull the mh with the Wrangler instead of the other way around... ;D 8)

Another reason for me to take Hwy 49 next month on our way to Burney Falls. Well, I was planning to take the 49 anyway just to avoid the traffic and enjoy the scenery more.

mojavesky13 said:

Another reason for me to take Hwy 49 next month on our way to Burney Falls. Well, I was planning to take the 49 anyway just to avoid the traffic and enjoy the scenery more.

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The I-5 north of Sacramento is a nice highway Josh. They've been repaving it the last couple of years and a lot of it is fairly new.

[quote author=mojavesky13].... take Hwy 49 next month on our way to Burney Falls.[/quote]

Josh, if you're still planning to go to Coloma on your way back, just be aware that Hwy 49 from Auburn to Coloma is not for the faint of heart. The part closest to Auburn is twisty and steep as you drop into the canyon. We found out going in the opposite direction in our 38 foot coach towing a Suburban. It's quite doable, but I wouldn't want you to be surprised, as we were (more correctly, as my driver was).

When we left Bakersfield for this trip, we took #99 because we were going east up near Sonora,CA.  They have repaved #99 and it was not bad at all.  In Sacramento we got onto #5 and it was not too bad.

Josh, I second Tom's statement.  #49 is very windy and steep in several locations.

Marsha~

I just talked to our daughter who lives in Nevada City (north of Auburn and Grass Valley), and she confirmed my suspicion that, coming from the north, your options for getting to Coloma are limited; Hwy 49 is it, because any alternatives (without going a long way around) aren't pretty either.

Hwy 80 from Reno west is bad, but a lot better than it was two years ago - at least parts have had the repaving finished. Still glad I had new tires on the front of the motorhome coming down I80 with all the bumps and turns. But then parts of 101 north from 20 weren't all that great either. CA roads appear to be suffering from the budget problems.

ken

[quote author=Ken & Sheila]Hwy 80 from Reno west is bad, but a lot better than it was two years ago ...[/quote]

Ken, the problem is (or was) going east on I-80 towards Reno. Like a washboard.

Tom said:

Ken, the problem is (or was) going east on I-80 towards Reno. Like a washboard.

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When we took delivery of the Camelot from DeMartini in Grass valley we got to drive I 80 both ways in one day. That was a real "treat".

ken

LOL Ken, we made that same trip, except our dealer was south of San Jose.

Tom said:

The part closest to Auburn is twisty and steep as you drop into the canyon.

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Memories there for me, Tom. That drive "should" have been across a beautiful thin shell arched dam -  or nearby bridge such as the one downstream from Hoover.

My last training assignment in Denver prior to my transfer to Sacramento w/the BuRec in the early 60's was the develpment of SW to reduce data from triaxial testing of the rock core samples under the abutments of the Auburn Dam. I recall later in the 60's my visit to the Auburn Dam construction site - and saw first hand were the samples were taken - and where the Dam would be constructed. After that we drove down the stretch you mention. At the top of the descent was a wide line across the road that represented where the high water line from the lake wold be. On both sides of the canyon folks were buying lake front property like crazy at that elevation.

Work stopped due to an earthquake around Oroville - and that big dam on the Feather - plus the ever present resistance of environmentalists. The core samples I worked with and the studies later done of those indicted the probability of an earthquake in Auburn were 1 in 100 million years. A redesign of the dam would have made it OK even then. Hey, there is a fault running right under the Golden Gate bridge.

It's still being discussed -- mostly the environmentalists and democrates say to keep repairing the levees and raising the height of Folsom dam (which is what they are doing), whereas most Republicans want to build the dam even though it would cost over 10 billion (compared to less than 1 billion if Reclamation had finished in the 70's). Or, keep the flood plain at 1 in 100 years or build the dam and make it 1 in 500 years. The Big Easy was 1 in 250.

It would have been nice to drive 49 South out of Auburn over, not down into, that canyon. 

Thanks Bob. I was captivated by your "CA water" stories the evening you were in our coach, and have repeated parts I could remember to numerous folks. Your latest message adds to what I heard that evening.

Meanwhile, looking up at the highway bridge from the bottom of the canyon is quite a sight.