Resources on which highways, roads to travel to avoid steep mountains?

[SLB_SA]

I've driven on city streets in San Francisco that you might want to avoid. And on unnamed dirt roads in northern California with a cliff on the left and a LONG drop on the right. My current car is a stick; I had to wait for two weeks for them to find the stick version of the model I wanted. With a stick, you are in charge. With an automatic transmission, you are making suggestions on which the vehicle might or might not act.