Towing thru the night Pros/Cons

[Northern Jay]

I have travelled at night a lot with our Northern Lite Camper. A second set of eyes watching for wildlife is helpful, but does not always help. Hit Bambino just after dusk at 90kph. Had nowhere to go after he jumped up on road in front of us. Got foot on brake just before impact (maybe 1.5 seconds after DW said DEER, DEER!) Result was death of bambino and $6500 damage to TV. Oh well... stuff happens.
Happy Camping

[DanNJanice]

Originally Posted by cariboocreek

In this part of the continent, driving at night is just another name for deer hunting....with a truck. We schedule all of our trips to be on the highway in the daylight. Watched a cow moose meander across my pasture yesterday. Would hate to meet her in the dark at 70 mph hauling the fifth wheel.

Agreed! I find driving at night with a trailer highly stressful, just because of the situation you describe. I would rather have traffic and daylight.

[cariboocreek]

Have nailed deer twice and a bear once. The last deer totalled my Ram 1500. Funny that when I was younger I never gave it a second thought, now with not much hair and with what little I got is grey, I avoid night driving at all costs. Hunting is way down and a couple of easy winters has resulted in an exploding deer and moose population.

I would rather creep along at 10 mph in traffic drinking a coffee than make good time in the dark white knuckled on the steering wheel. Each to their own.

[Jagiven]

I would say it's personal. Have you driven through the night before? It is a bit different. It's cooler, scenery isn't the same. I find sunrise the hardest time slot, that's when I get tired, doesn't matter if I have been driving for an hour or 10 hours.

I can tell you once driving back from Montana across hwy 2, we thought we would make good time and it would be cooler. We could not go more that 15 to 20 mph, do to all the wildlife on the road. Never had seen so much in my life, even had a big owl swoop the windshield.

Lately, I leave ether before or after rushhour, and drive until 11ish, then pull over for the night, and then start up again early.

[John1928]

Given the option I'm perfectly happy to drive at night. Our first vacation day is a full day drive from here to almost anywhere of interest other than North Woods/Lakes (mountains, deserts, coasts are all 20+ hours away). This covers north of 25K+ worth of nighttime miles on long road trips, with a much lower potential incident count than regular driving during the day (two-legged wildlife has been a much higher risk to me than the four legged kind, though I haven't had an accident at any time of day since I was 16)

It's a personal call and I wouldn't fault anyone who didn't want to do so because of concerns about their vehicles headlights, their night vision, local wildlife density, slow response times, etc.

[Rustysocket]

Originally Posted by Rustic Eagle

I've found an early morning departure (4am - 5am) minimizes many of the issues associated with an "all-nighter" tow.

Many parks will allow an early check-in (without penalty) if the park has open sites.

Bob

The problem is that he isn't departing from Seattle. He is trying to figure out how to get through from several hours North. Time it wrong and you might as well park for a few hours... or and another day to the trip.