Visit our Popular Forums

Gene · 08-03-2010, 09:24 AM

I favor I-70. I think it has less traffic and doesn't lead you directly to the Ill.-Ind.-Ohio toll roads. It also will take you right to Md.

I'd rather not take either, but sometimes you just have to eat the miles.

Gene

Wabbiteer · 08-03-2010, 10:18 AM

Nebraska may be a touch less boring but expect 20+ miles of lane closures & tomorrows' NE forecast puts you in more storm zones than the Kansas I-70 will...

A few years back I changed my mind traveling and cut across between 70/80 and really enjoyed the change...

hampstead38 · 08-04-2010, 08:14 AM

It looks like we're doing I-80 because of our destination in northern Missouri. We're in Sidney this morning. Thanks for the note on the weather.

polarlyse · 08-04-2010, 09:00 AM

We found an interesting stop in Minden, Nebraska. Right in the middle and south near the Kansas border. It's Pioneer Village Museum. A good place to take a break and spend a few hours wandering through a museum of everything. Nicely set up and a pleasant place. They have a campground there ( nothing special) but you camping fee includes a single admission to the museum. ( $11. ). They have all hookups and a restaurant all at the museum grounds. Nothing fancy but for a roadside stop, not bad. Later when you leave it's a nice ride south into Kansas and Rt. 36 is a direct east/west highway heading to Missouri. A good road and scenery is much better than either 70 or 80. Along the way make a stop at the geographic center of the continental US. Bet not many people know where that is. It's right along the way outside of Lebanon, Ks. If you're checking colleges out you're probably heading for Columbia, Mo and U of Mo. Easy to link up with RT 70 at Kansas City and avoid the toll portion of the road. Eastbound is free, westbound from that point is toll.

Whatever you do, enjoy. So much to see.

hampstead38 · 08-04-2010, 10:13 PM

Actually, it's Truman State in Kirksville, MO... my current location. It was a hard pull from Sidney, NE to here... about 650 miles. The last hour and change was an up-and-down, roller coaster two-lane through north central MO... glad I wasn't towing. I-80 featured a couple of slowdowns, but nothing like the bridge work in South Dakota. I guess the SD Congressman have more seniority and rolled in more more "stimulus" pork. I-29 wasn't bad through a sliver of Iowa and into Missouri. I'm not sure about the route from here, but given 1800+ miles in the past three days, I'm leaning towards due east... Springfield, Indianapolis, Dayton (daughter #1), and Maryland.

After CSU, the pressure is on for TSU. We'll see what the kid thinks after the nickel tour and some time around town.

hampstead38 · 08-05-2010, 07:28 PM

Some random observations from the road...

I had forgotten how infrequently one can find a really good restaurant meal. I'm not talking about Michelin star good, just well-prepared, fresh, local food. One of the best arguments for owning and using an Airstream is simply doing your own cooking.

The West is so much bigger than the east. After a long day of "doing" Truman State in Kirksville, MO, we wandered west a bit (Decater, IL). We're only about 5 hours out from Dayton (home of oldest daughter and son-in-law). After some "visitin'" on Saturday, we'll drive a few hours towards Maryland leaving us with an easy Sunday to home.

Unabridged books on tape are 1) really too long; 2) are a good way to see how mediocre some popular writing is. After listening to a recent Jack Reacher novel (Lee Childs) on my iPod, I was actually wishing for the author to kill the hero. Maybe I need to revert to the classic?

I'm twice the size of my daughter, but her suitcase is four times the size of my traveling bag.

The library is perhaps the most underrated public facility in America, but pales compared to a timely rest area with two women in the car.

If I could turn back the clock and go back to college with the maturity I now possess, I would learn twice as much but have half as much fun.

A good mattress is almost as hard to find as a good restaurant meal... and the only decent pillow is the one you bring from home.

People who say bottled water is a rip off have never had really lousy akaline water from a Great Plains well.

hampstead38 · 08-06-2010, 06:31 PM

Way-to-go... Ohio.

Saw a nice '72 Airstream sitting at an I-70 rest stop just across the Indiana/Ohio border. We have to visit daughter #1 and the son-in-law tomorrow. Then it's a long run to the house... or a short run to "z" time in western Maryland.

I can tell we're in the east... the traffic is getting "stickier" and the road construction more frequent. I think the ARRA "stimulus" money has been spent to start road projects, but not to finish them.

I'll check the odometer, but I think the trip will hit around 5300 miles total... a respectable total for two weeks. Pulling the Airstream next year... we'll put on more miles, but over a much longer period of time. Hopefully, the slower pace... and the comfort of the same bed every night, will decrease the overall sense of road weariness.

It'll be good to get back to work and to have a chance to restart the Overlander project. The couple of months running up to the trip focused on the old Dodge. Now... it's just me and a lot of unpolished aluminum.