Inside Ken's Restaurant in North Bend Sunday, truckers talk strategy about ways to get around the rockslide that shut down the route they need to take.

Don was headed to Yakima. James to Moses Lake.

And Bill? Atlanta!

"Well, the route was to go through the pass," Bill says, "but now we're debating if we're going down to Portland or not."

There are three main alternate routes, and none of them are short detour: Taking US-2/Stevens Pass via US-97 Blewett Pass, US-12/White Pass, or the longest but least elevated option: heading all the way down to the Washington/Oregon border and taking I-84 through the Columbia Gorge.

Traffic on all routes were very heavy. The DOT said additional plows and sanders would be working on the alternate routes, but drivers were advised to avoid the passes if possible.

On Sunday the State Patrol reported few problems despite heavier than normal traffic through White Pass, but backups of five and six miles were reported between Blewett Pass and Leavenworth and westbound motorists faced 2½ hours of creep-and-crawl traffic from Stevens Pass to Monroe, about 55 miles.

Truck drivers aren't the only ones affected by the sudden closure. The Department of Transportation says 26,000 people cross the pass every day.

Many stuck here on the west side of I-90 were on their way home, back to their families. Now strangers are putting their heads together, studying maps, looking for a way back.

Melissa Burris lives in Moses Lake. "I don't care which route we take, I don't care how much longer it takes to get there -- I just want to get there!" she says.

Most drivers decide to head north and cross Stevens Pass. There is snow and slush to deal with, and the drive will be slow but frustrated drivers point to the fact that the slower trip is another way out before Mother Nature delivers another surprise.

James says, "We're still early in the day so we have to time to resurrect our problems," says James, "so but we just want to get on the road before they start closing other passes, too!"

For More Information:

Current Mountain Pass Info
Latest on the Rockslide -- www.wsdot.wa.gov