2024 Road Trips-North, South, East, aaaaand West of Cincinnati

[Skye]

I hope you read the "aaaaand" like Yosemite Sam, because that's how I meant it. 

In 2024, I got a car for the first time in five years. I hadn't been able to afford one, and this one I got from a family member who passed away. I wanted to make the most of it by taking several road trips. All but one were destination focused but with the idea of clinching roads I hadn't clinched before along the way there and/or home.

Destination: Portsmouth, OH (x2)
I went back to my old stomping grounds in Portsmouth, Ohio twice, one in the spring to go see the city and return to where I went to college. Traveling there I took OH 125 all the way clinching that completely. The Ohio River was high and flooding parts of the Earl Thomas Conley Riverside Park just west of the city. I ate dinner at Bob Evans, which was my favorite spot in college. The whole chain has gone down hill in quality over the years. I returned home via KY 8 to AA Highway.

My second trip there was in November to check out Revolutionary Championship Wrestling, which was something I enjoyed doing when I was in college. That time I traveled out US 50 to Chillicothe and then down US 23 and OH 104 to Portsmouth. I returned via OH 73 and 32 which were roads I had already clinched in those areas but I wanted to see them again.

[Skye]

Destination: Indianapolis
I traveled to Indianapolis in the spring. I parked my car on the eastside of town at a Meijer store (a Midwest competitor of Wal-Mart) and took the bus Downtown, and to a couple of other areas in the city. Getting to the Circle City I intended to travel US 52 all the way from I-74 to I-465, however road construction resulted in the road being closed between IN 244 and Rushville. Not knowing where exactly the closure was, or where I was going otherwise, I followed the recommended detour along IN 144 and IN 3 back to US 52. All told I've clinched 85% of US 52 in Indiana in my life missing the portion that was closed, the Lafayette Bypass, and the portion between US 41 and the Illinois line.

On the drive home I took US 40 to Richmond and then US 27 to south of Oxford Ohio, then other roads back home to Cincinnati. All of the Ohio roads I traveled on on that trip I had previously clinched. As I was traveling east, a thunderstorm was developing to the west. I could see it in my rearview mirror and then see it better as I traveled down US 27. I really enjoyed seeing all of the lightning. It didn't rain on me until I was close to Ohio, so the whole time I was able to have the windows open in my car.

[Skye]

Destination: Louisville (x4)
My trips to Louisville were to go to Ohio Valley Wrestling. The first trip down there I intended to travel all along the Indiana side of the Ohio River, but I was interrupted by a closure on IN 156 between Rising Sun and the Belterra Casino Resort. I ended up traveling IN 56 all the way to IN 62 and following that down to Jeffersonville, crossing the Ohio River on US 31 (because I refuse to pay tolls). Returning home I traveled US 31 up to near Seymour, IN and taking US 50 back to Cincinnati.

For the second trip down, I originally was going to take US 25 to Lexington then I-64 to Louisville, but at the last minute I swerved and took US 27 and US 68 to Lexington. While I was in Lexington I clinched the last little bit of KY 4 (the Lexington Loop Road/Expressway) and then got on I-64. With that trip I have now 100% clinched I-64 in Kentucky. Returning home I traveled US 42 to Carrollton and then went to I-71 and took it the rest of the way. That finished off US 42 in Kentucky for me.

Additional trips involved mostly clinching routes in the Louisville area, since if you don't know, Kentucky has a lot of state routes. I was able to fully clinch both I-264 and the official (as of then) portions of I-265 in Kentucky and Indiana. I did not cross the Ohio River bridge on what is considered Future I-265.

[Skye]

Destination: Columbus
My only driving-only trip of 2024 was to Columbus. I traveled first up I-71 to US 35 then took that to Xenia. I stopped for a bit in Xenia and looked around. I then took US 42 to Delaware, with a stop in London. I stopped in Delaware and looked around, went to Polaris Fashion Place Mall just because, then went out to Plain City for dinner at Der Dutchman Amish Restaurant. Coming home, I traveled down OH 104 to Chillicothe, stopped and looked around, then headed home, this time taking OH 28 instead of US 50. I was able to clinch OH 104 and OH 28.

[Skye]

Destination: Myrtle Beach
In October, my brother and I traveled to Myrtle Beach, SC. It was where our late mother had lived and we were going down to visit some of her friends. And while I have made more than a dozen trips there in the past, I was still able to see new roads. Where as our mom always insisted on taking Interstates as much as possible, we decided to travel down the AA Highway through Kentucky. We had to travel through West Virginia, Virginia, and central North Carolina since I-40 was closed. We took a side trip, at my brother's request to the New River Gorge Bridge in West Virginia, then made our way to the Carolinas taking the trip in two days on the way down, and one day on the way back.