First Mountain Drive - Advice??

TO be honest, I've always had a problem with that rule of thumb - even in its more modern iteration of "TWO gears lower than you climbed". It makes the assumption that the downgrade will be the same as the upgrade on the other side of the hill.

I'm sure just about any of us who have driving experience in mountains know how inaccurate that is. right off the top of my head, Cabbage comes to mind.

Most inclines these days have speed limits posted in yellow - so, for my money, it's best to simply gear down to at least one gear below what your truck thinks is right for that speed (there are grades that have a range, depending on your GVW - speeds spread from as low as 18 to as high as 50, as I recall)

a little slow inconvenience to others is a whole darn lot better than a closed highway is. Not to mention what it might do to your personally owned body