He who is notbob said on 7 Dec 2017 21:06:26 GMT:

BTW, the brand-new chains we bought in Reno (just in case) are still
in their original canvas bag, unused. I can't give 'em away! 8|

Everything depends but what you said makes sense.

They don't often stop EVERYONE on US 80 but when they do, that's it.
There's nothing you can do but get off the highway where they tell you to.

Most of the time they just look to see that you have 4WD and that's it.
If you have 2WD, they force you to have chains.

That's what they do "most" of the time. Not always. But most of the time.
So I carry chains.

It's no big deal. You put them on when they tell you to.
Usually it's a sloppy mess - but that's the tradeoff of not having 4Wd all
the time where it never snows outside of a ski trip.

4WD in the non-snow areas costs more in every single way possible.
* More weight
* More expense in repairs
* More friction
* More initial cost
* Lower gas mileage
* Harder to work on

There is no advantage whatsoever to 4WD outside of a ski trip to Tahoe,
here in California.