Calgary----San Francisco

Straight across 1 then down 5. The weather should be fairly mild with the exception of snow in the mountains of Northern California crossing in from Oregon.
This time of year can be dicey through Idaho/Montana,so I would avoid that route.
That would be my summer time route,very nice scenery.

As for road conditions,keep your CB on and you'll find that when the conditions get harry that chatter picks up and drivers keep each other pretty well informed.

You will NEED chains to enter California,without them in the truck you will incur a fine. Hopefully you already have them.

As for truck stops there are enough along 5 that you won't need to worry about feuling or getting stuck in a dive truck stop.

Good luck.

 

You NEED chains on #1, and #5 as well in AB/BC. Any high mountain pass can change in a blink of an eye. Take it easy and be safe. It is all winding road through the mountains so if you want to go slow then DO IT.

 

The way I always run it is. Calgary take 2 south, 3 west, 3/95 south, then 95 south to the I-90. West on I-90 south on 395 to I-84. West on I-84 to I-5, then south to California. If you run this route you probably won't have to chain up at all. If you take the #1 to Vancouver then south on the I-5 it will take you longer and you will most likely have to chain up along the route. Like I said I run this all the time.

Check the chain-up status here. http://www.th.gov.bc.ca/roadreports/chains/chains.asp

 

Funny, I thought the route to Vancouver and south was way OOR also but not being a big left cost runner I wasn't sure what the better way was.

 

Good plan BR. To the OP, just remember that even if you don't have to chain up you still need to have chains on you. So far I've not had to chain up in BC yet. Just lucky so far.

 

Check this out to give you an idea of routing and under DRIVERS TOOLBOX gives you links for weather & road conditions and you can get a list of truckstops for each state / province

http://www.truckmiles.com/

 

What company do you drive for btw. I am going to Mountain Driving School soon in Castlegar and would love to be given routes like this one. Thanks and tc.

 

Bison until the 24th. But most companies will let you plan your own route. Years of experience will tell you how to run the rockpile, and what roads to take or not to take. Like in BC between Blue River and Valemount, you know they don't own a snow plow, and the road will always be ####ty in the winter. You get to know where the problem spots are after you do it for a few years.

If the coke is a mess, run the canyon. And so on. It's only one hour longer, but saves you time.