Hello from the Southern US, soon to be PNW

Hello all,

I'm a long time lurker, but luckily haven't had much need to post since the Outlander hasn't given us much trouble. We're 22K miles in on the Outlander, it's my wife's daily driver and we plan to make a 4 day trip from Lafayette LA to Bellingham WA in December/January this year (with 3 small dogs on board), so I may have some questions from some of you who drive one of these in northern climates. We've installed roof rails and have cross bars in storage when needed, but I don't plan on storing anything on the roof for the trip. The Mitsu didn't come with a spare tire, so my current plan is to get a full size spare and mount it on the back using a swinging trailer hitch (I always keep plugs and an inflator on board as well). After the trip the spare tire and swinging mount will go into storage. I also plan on bringing a gas can, tire chains/cables, shovel, ice scraper, sleeping bags, lanterns, non-perishable foods, water, basically whatever we would need to camp in the car, even though we will book Air BNBs. I'm currently deciding on if I need all weather tires, or full winter tires for the trip, I won't need full winters in Bellingham, so I'm thinking I can get some Nokian WR G4 tires and be done with it. From what I've researched, Cabbage Hill in Oregon will be the most dangerous area on my route, so if I need winter tires there I'll run a set for the whole trip.