I'm going to try to make this a lot more basic than last time and hopefully not burn out.
Today: EWR-YYZ, YYZ-YQT, Thunder Bay ON-Silver Bay MN
Route: James St. Bridge in Thunder Bay, 61 south
Highlights: James St. Bridge was awesome. There's a railroad down the middle and the car lanes are squeezed in on either side, signed 10 feet wide (3,0 m) but definitely not that wide. The train was coming down the track while I was there, so that'll make the photos fun.
Not much to see in Canada once you're out of Thunder Bay and the bluffs on either side. Keep an eye out between Customs for the border sign right over the river. Then make your first right over the border, grab a map, and head straight back for 1/2 a mile to the waterfall. It's like a little Niagara.
I saw a few other waterfalls on the way down 61. Cascade Falls is 300 feet off the road - a rocky trail, but 5 minutes out of your time, so go for it. Then there's this new bridge, and look to the west, and there's a waterfall going under 61. Stop right there, walk over. Finally, right here by my motel is a scenic overlook with some great views of Lake Superior, well signed along Outer Drive at the first traffic light you'll see south of Canada. You get to clamber along rocks to your heart's content!
One old KH trailblazer spotted (on the main highway, actually), and two old NB signs for an Ontario secondary, and that's it for signs today.
Today: Silver Bay MN-Cooperstown ND
Route: 61 south to 35, 535 east, 2 west, MN 38 north, CR 7 south (scenic loop), 169 north, Hill Annex Mine, 169 south, 2 west
Highlights: I was going to drive the truss bridge off 35's northernmost exit (Lake Rd.), but it kept opening. So I took a video of the truss coming down after a big ship and got whatever photos I could. Over to Superior on an arch, back on another arch, and found some non-reflective button copy on US 2 leaving Wisconsin. Very nice surprise, that, only signs of their age I've seen in WIS. Not much to report road-wise, but I'll say that the Hill Annex Mine is well worth the $10 bus tour - if you don't think so at first, give it a half hour to develop. Bemidji is also cool - statue of Paul Bunyan and Babe, the adjacent old US 2 bridge (walkable), Fireplace of the States in the visitor center and some Bunyan-sized amusing kitsch. Other than that, it was a few courthouses, lakes, and a lot of boring flat stuff on 2. Oh, there is a very nice bridge into downtown Grand Forks on Business 2 that I highly recommend.
Quote from: Steve on May 25, 2013, 11:13:50 PMsome non-reflective button copy on US 2 leaving Wisconsin. Very nice surprise, that, only signs of their age I've seen in WIS.
where is that? I don't remember it, but I have not driven the Bong Bridge westbound ever.
there's plenty of old stuff in Wisconsin, like a pre-US-route-system concrete pillar in Baraboo that has state route 12 and state route 23 shields, and some '61 spec state-named US/WISCONSIN 14 shields in Janesville.
until about 2-3 years ago, Wisconsin was one of the absolute best places to find old signs, but recently they've gone through and replaced a lot of them.
Quote from: agentsteel53 on May 25, 2013, 11:20:34 PM
Quote from: Steve on May 25, 2013, 11:13:50 PMsome non-reflective button copy on US 2 leaving Wisconsin. Very nice surprise, that, only signs of their age I've seen in WIS.
where is that? I don't remember it, but I have not driven the Bong Bridge westbound ever.
there's plenty of old stuff in Wisconsin, like a pre-US-route-system concrete pillar in Baraboo that has state route 12 and state route 23 shields, and some '61 spec state-named US/WISCONSIN 14 shields in Janesville.
until about 2-3 years ago, Wisconsin was one of the absolute best places to find old signs, but recently they've gone through and replaced a lot of them.
It's... on 2 leaving Wisconsin. No, really. Take 2 west out of Superior, it forks off onto the bridge approach.
While you were in/near Bemidji, you should've popped down to Lake Itasca and the headwaters of the Mississippi.
Quote from: froggie on May 26, 2013, 09:22:14 AM
While you were in/near Bemidji, you should've popped down to Lake Itasca and the headwaters of the Mississippi.
and checked out this sign. still there as of December; the last state-named Minn US shield as far as anyone knows.
(//www.aaroads.com/shields/img/MN/MN19680711i1.jpg)
thanks to our very own Steve R. for alerting me to its existence; I took that photo in Dec 2006.
Quote from: froggie on May 26, 2013, 09:22:14 AM
While you were in/near Bemidji, you should've popped down to Lake Itasca and the headwaters of the Mississippi.
Been, that's why.
OK... My keyboard is dying, so this will likely be the last set of updates.
day 3: Cooperstown to Washburn, ND. Route: ND 1, old US 10 to Valley City, up 5th St. to ND 26, CR 25, ND 200 west, ND 45 north, ND 32, US 2 WB. Devils Lake circle: US 281, ND 57, ND 20, ND 19, US 281. Entered Minot on old 2, doubled back on current 2, down ND 41, US 83 NB, ND 1804 SB to secret 810 around Bismarck. Onto secret I-194, west on old US 10 to Salem Sue, then north on ND 31, ND 25, ND 48, ND Alt. 200 to US 83 and meeting corco. Commentary: Valley City has a couple of cool bridges, but mostly disappointing (newer replicas). ND has a lot LOT lot of windmills. Devils Lake has advanced to take over a lot more of old US 281 - that or it's an aftereffect of spring flooding and more of the old road and intersecting streets will reopen. (I suspect the latter, though the lake will eventually advance there anyway.) It strikes me that ND uses an "Indian Head" shield and then have Indian Routes signed with arrowheads. The BGS shields for 4-digit routes looks like bunnies. Minot has an awesome error shield: "WEST BUSINESS" on top, "194" inside. It's on Bus. 94 WB on the east side of the city where it turns to head downtown. ND wide shields now have a new narrow-neck design. Older 3-digit shields match the 2-digit ones.
day 4: Washburn, ND to East Glacier Park, MT. Route: US 83, US 2, US 85 SB to Alexander, ND 200 WB to Sundheim Park RR bridge/tunnel. CR 16 back to US 85 N, 2 W, down MT 117 to Fort Peck Dam and back to 2 WB. Notes: Velva's street signs are MUTCD compliant - and in Clearview! No surprise given that name. Western ND is surprisingly scenic. Really. US 85 has lots of passing zones south o--f US 2/Washburn - probably because it has so many trucks. US 2 is badly rutted near MT due to trucks, at least WB - I had to use the left lane, and I was not alone. MT residents have "Support 4 for 2" signs, presumably for 4-laning US 2 across the state. It's not needed at all based on traffic. The talking penguin in Cut Bank no longer talks. All of the western MT radio is on AM, not FM - the way I figure, AM has a longer transmission length so one city can serve all of the farms around it. But it's a unique solution - nowhere else I went on this trip has that feature, not even northernmost Canada.
day 5: East Glacier Park, MT to Kennewick, WA. Route: US 2 WB, WA 285 SB, WA 28, WA 281, I-90, WA 243, WA 24, WA 240, I-182, I-82 to OR, I-84 W, US 730, US 12, I-182, WA 240 to my hotel. Notes: North Spokane Corridor is signed Future US 395. Spokane has great waterfalls and bridges - spend a half hour to an hour downtown walking around to take it all in. Wenatchee has a confusing system where the left lane is forced to turn left, but then there's a second left turn lane fed by the right lane. That violates expectation - the left lane should serve all of the left turns - and I found myself more than once getting into a conflict where I thought I could go straight into the right of the left-turn lanes. Who stays in the right lane to turn left? It's just bad engineering. WA 285 and 281 would combine for a nice I-390 - it's a very heavily used corridor.
day 6: Kennewick to Arlington, WA. Route: I-82, I-90, US 97, US 2 EB to Wenatchee and old US 2 back, US 2 W to its end, I-5, WA 526, WA 525 Spur, and WA 525; I-405 to WA 518, back east to I-5, WA 599, WA 99, old US 99. Notes: Old US 2 west of Wenatchee is a state highway; it has brand-new mileposts. Hop Museum in Toppenish is a waste of time, but the railroad museum has a wig-wag and a rotating stop signal, so you might at least want to see that. US 2 brutally needs 4 lanes east of Everett to the edge of the forest - it was slow in both directions and full of trucks with no opportunity to use the passing zones. There's an old truss to the east of WA 599 at its southern end - I need to figure out how to get there when I come back to finish old US 99.
day 7: Arlington, WA to Vancouver, BC. Route: old US 99, BC 15, BC 17, downtown bridges, BC 91A, BC 91, more local streets up to TCH 1, then Marine Drive from Exit 14 west to the ferry. Vancouver Island: a mix of current and former TCH 1 south and north. Notes: BC has the same flashing green as MA: pedestrian-actuated signal, except in BC there's no signal on the side street, just a stop sign. Victoria has a legitimate rush hour, exacerbated by a late construction pickup - took me a half hour to leave the city on 1.
day 8: Vancouver to Mackenzie, BC. Route: BC 99 and local streets south to Point Roberts, WA. BC 17A, BC 99, BC 7, BC 1, BC 3, BC 5 NB, Coldwater St., BC 97C, BC 97D, local streets in Kamloops, BC 97, BC 39 . Notes: BC 17A is signed as 17. The interchange is under construction a few km south of BC 99, and I assume BC 17A will be truncated to the stretch between 17 and 99 once that opens and 17 will go to the ferry landing. Kamloops people are rude (I got yelled at twice, the only two times this entire trip, including one guy who wanted to fight me. Most times, people wave) and the signal forced me to turn left when I wanted to go straight because the train was going by. I am never returning. Quesnel, BC has a cool old truss, the first bridge in town. I saw some bear along 99, including a sudden four-cub crossing behind a mama bear.
day 9: Mackenzie, BC to Fort Liard, NT. Route: BC 39, BC 97, BC 77, NT 7. Notes: 97 moves quickly, speeds generally 100 km/h or more. More bear sightings, off the road. 77's speed limit is 80, but do whatever feels right, there's no enforcement. Road is newly paved up to the NT border because of truck activity. NT 7 is well-packed but dusty gravel for the first 10 km, then changes to a redder color that's looser on top but with much smaller dust clouds. Traffic is sparse, maybe one car the other way every 6-8 km, no gravel kicked up yet... No bear spied in NT yet, but a herd of buffalo placed strategically just north of the border to greet visitors. Buffalo were actually introduced here because of disease spreading in a herd elsewhere, and seem to have flourished to the point that they upset locals just like deer in many US communities.
QuoteAll of the western MT radio is on AM, not FM - the way I figure, AM has a longer transmission length so one city can serve all of the farms around it. But it's a unique solution - nowhere else I went on this trip has that feature, not even northernmost Canada.
I...don't know about that. There certainly are more AM stations than in most places, but NPR is on FM and even the small town western MT town I live in has its own FM country station- there's plenty of stuff on the FM dial. It's definitely possible that there are places where you can only pick things up on the AM side, but that's not so much due to the lack of FM stations as it is the terrain.
Also:
Quotefarms
:ded:
QuoteThe BGS shields for 4-digit routes looks like bunnies. Minot has an awesome error shield: "WEST BUSINESS" on top, "194" inside. It's on Bus. 94 WB on the east side of the city where it turns to head downtown.
Assuming you're referring to Bismark here and not Minot.
QuoteMT residents have "Support 4 for 2" signs, presumably for 4-laning US 2 across the state. It's not needed at all based on traffic.
Might be due to truck traffic increasing in recent years due to drilling.
Oooo by the way Alps the next morning I saw an EAST BUSINESS 194 shield when I went down to the Biz, probably in the same spot as your West
Quote from: froggie on June 03, 2013, 05:25:12 AM
QuoteThe BGS shields for 4-digit routes looks like bunnies. Minot has an awesome error shield: "WEST BUSINESS" on top, "194" inside. It's on Bus. 94 WB on the east side of the city where it turns to head downtown.
Assuming you're referring to Bismark here and not Minot.
if it is Bismarck, then I totally missed that shield in 2009... or it might be brand new. got a photo?
Alps' picture is better- here's the eastbound one
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corcohighways.org%2Feastbiz194.jpg&hash=eb9f5224bf198c8729840f3dc4e7dd97fd4c5cea)
must be new... I am quite sure I would have noticed any mention of 194, especially one this erroneous. I was looking pretty hard for I-194 references.
Quote from: corco on June 03, 2013, 03:28:14 PM
Alps' picture is better- here's the eastbound one
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corcohighways.org%2Feastbiz194.jpg&hash=eb9f5224bf198c8729840f3dc4e7dd97fd4c5cea)
That's I94 not 194. Maybe mine is also an I94.
day 10: Fort Liard, NT to Grande Prairie, AB. Route: NT 7, NT 1, NT 3 to Fort Providence and back, NT 1, AB 35, AB 2 E, AB 684, AB 2W. Notes: NT 7 was only open to vehicles 4,500 kg or lighter due to a temporary bridge, and even on NT 1 I never saw a truck. Not a single rock hit my rental car, yay! Except for one really bad patch of 1 east of 7 (under construction, huge rocks, no dirt), the roads flew at well over 80 km/h (posted speed limit) - I found myself braking to conserve fuel economy. I actually went slower on the paved parts of 1! In most of our travels, sometimes you can't find a radio station with your preferred genre. In NT, you can't find one at all for hundreds of km. Just you and the scenery. There is still some NT 7 and NT 1 on my car, despite numerous showers and even outright storms over the last two days. Stop at the border on AB 35/NT 1 and get a signed certificate to commemorate your journey. AB 35 is ridiculously flat and straight, but at least there is some radio to listen to from High Level on down. AB 2 changes directions constantly - north/south to east/west near Peace River, then south/north through Grimshaw, then east/west once more to Fairview, then south/north after that. The stub of AB 43 west of 2 is signed as 43X.
day 11: grande prairie, AB to fernie, BC. Route: AB 40 SB, TCH 16 WB, AB 16A (unsigned), AB 93, BC 93, U-turn at US border, BC 3. Notes: Not much. Jasper, Banff, and Yoho Parks are all beautiful. Even south of Yoho along BC 95 and south of BC 3, 93 is beautiful. I'm glad I drove the whole thing, but I sure wish the sun was out. Rain made photography difficult and clouds hid all the tall peaks. Even so, well worth the $9.80 admission. I got to walk on a glacier! I decided not to swim in Radium Hot Springs, though. I just don't trust something named Radium. Lake Louise had prairie dogs, the first time I've seen them in the wild.
QuoteThe stub of AB 43 west of 2 is signed as 43X.
"X" is Alberta's designation for future alignments- only the stub is open right now, but Alberta planning documents show a full 43 bypass there in the future. Not sure when that will be completed or what the status is beyond that stub being open.
Also unsure as to how 22X fits into that scheme, but most nX routes (many of which exist only on paper) are future bypasses.
Quote from: corco on June 04, 2013, 07:52:00 PM
QuoteThe stub of AB 43 west of 2 is signed as 43X.
"X" is Alberta's designation for future alignments- only the stub is open right now, but Alberta planning documents show a full 43 bypass there in the future. Not sure when that will be completed or what the status is beyond that stub being open.
Also unsure as to how 22X fits into that scheme, but most nX routes (many of which exist only on paper) are future bypasses.
Yeah I was surprised it was signed, more than anything.
day 12: fernie, BC to Calgary. Route: BC/AB 3-AB 507-AB 785 to Head Smashed In-AB 2-AB 3-AB 23-AB 2A-all over Calgary. Highlights: BC/AB 3 is signed with a crow in the shield, which looks awesome but is very tough to read. (But no other routes are signed with crows, so...) AB 507, being secondary, has an unsigned multiplex with primary AB 6. The old flower Secondary shield is still out in many places, so the flowerless one must be quite new. AB routes change signed directions wherever they change cardinal directions, even if it's just for 10 km. AB 2 goes N-S/E-W/S-N/E-W/S-N, for example. AB 23 makes a hard turn from N-S to E-W. It can get quite confusing if you junction at a turn. As I've noted elsewhere, AB 2 has button copy! (ramps and a little on mainline) Exit 238 ramp is an example. The Olympic ski park looks like a giant water slide from AB 201 SB (west side). AB 201 could already use a 3rd lane along the east and north, as it's well-traveled already despite the south half not yet being open. Construction looks like it will take 1-2 more years. The left shoulder in many places appears wide enough to add that third lane without restriping. There's a 3rd lane at AB 2 that opens and closes for no discernable reason - the LEAST amount of traffic would be between the exit and entrance ramps...
day 13: Calgary to Moose Jaw, SK. route: AB 2A and old 2 north, all around Edmonton, AB 14-SK 40-SK/TCH 16-SK 663-SK 11-SK 2. Highlights: AB 2 signage in Edmonton disappears between the southern AB 216 interchange and downtown AB 14 - is this an official gap, or just a gap in maintenance, or shoddy signage? Edmonton has fewer people over a larger area than Calgary, with better roads, so there's no rush hour traffic to be found. Battle River Trestle is signed off AB 14 west of Wainwright. Worth the 7 km detour - it's a huge railroad viaduct. Like ND, SK has been badly flooded and is still recovering. Circle Drive in Saskatoon is under aggressive construction to convert signals to interchanges (Preston at SK 11) and complete the SW quadrant of the route, but the north side remains choked with businesses, signals, and traffic with only 2 lanes each way. It really needs to be bypassed, but at a minimum, it NEEDS another lane each way. SK 11 is mostly 4 lanes divided but drops to 2 lanes into downtown Chamberlain. No bypass construction in sight. Athabasca St. in Moose Jaw is former SK/TCH 1 and still has an EB shield leaving 2.
day 14: Moose Jaw, SK to Hadashville, MB. route: TCH 1-over to SK 730-around Regina-SK 33-MB 13-MB 2-around Winnipeg-MB 59-MB 202-MB 204-MB 44-MB/TCH 1 west. Highlights: Regina's Ring Road freeway has an at-grade railroad crossing, for that thread. In MB, there are new shields with smaller "Manitoba" on top and the little buffalo logo reduced in size and located to the right of that word instead of sitting on top of it. These are very new, because the older shields are still plentiful and relatively new-looking. MB 2 had a few shields left from the generation before that, with the word "Manitoba" in black instead of green on primary shields, and secondary shields with no buffalo and the words "secondary route" on the bottom. There are bilingual signs in various parts of Manitoba thanks to the Métis settlers, and one neighborhood on the north side of Winnipeg is actually predominantly French. (French radio was listenable practically throughout my travels.) Winnipeg city routes are signed within the Perimeter Highway, and can even be signed to overlap provincial routes like City 20 and MB 59.
day 15: Hadashville, MB to Thunder Bay, ON. route: MB/TCH 1-MB 308-MB 525-Angle Inlet and back to TCH 1-ON 17-ON 71-ON 11. Highlights: Not much. Angle Inlet is neat. I've now been on the northernmost road in the lower 48. I'll have gone through Customs 8 times after tomorrow's flights thanks to Point Roberts and Angle Inlet. (You now do have to check in with Canada when leaving Angle Inlet.) Fort Frances/International Falls is the westernmost border water crossing by road until Hyder, AK. ON 17 had the only signed time zone boundary of my entire trip.
That predominantly French neighborhood in Winnipeg is known as St. Boniface. There are also some Franco-Manitoban areas of the province outside of Winnipeg, such as St. Malo (a farming community south of Winnipeg).
Quote from: Steve on June 07, 2013, 09:46:09 PM
Athabasca St. in Moose Jaw is former SK/TCH 1 and still has an EB shield leaving 2.
There's also old signage for an Alternate TCH 1 in that part of Moose Jaw. I don't have my notes with me on which streets it followed, but I think Athabasca St. was the former alternate route, with the old mainline following the Manitoba St. Expressway east to present-day TCH 1.
Some old TCH signage remains also on SK 2 in Moose Jaw, and on the old routes through Regina and Saskatoon. However, in other places in SK where the TCH was re-routed around towns (Maidstone, North Battleford, and Yorkton on TCH 16, and Moosomin on TCH 1), the old route either has no residual TCH signs, or was renumbered as a new auxiliary TCH route (TCH 16A in Yorktown, TCH 16B in North Battleford).
Quote from: Steve on June 07, 2013, 09:46:09 PM
day 15: Hadashville, MB to Thunder Bay, ON. route: MB/TCH 1-MB 308-MB 525-Angle Inlet and back to TCH 1-ON 17-ON 71-ON 11. Highlights: Not much.
Last I was in Thunder Bay last October, work was underway on twinning and in some places realigning 11/17 northeast of the city. Is that work still ongoing?
Technically, the bridge at Beaudette, Mn is the westernmost water crossing. Did you notice the Lake Superior Route TCH marker near Ignace? (I think it was an LSR sign, but it may have in fact been for the Voyager Route). Either way it was the last one that I had ever seen.
Quote from: oscar on June 08, 2013, 08:38:11 AM
Quote from: Steve on June 07, 2013, 09:46:09 PM
Athabasca St. in Moose Jaw is former SK/TCH 1 and still has an EB shield leaving 2.
There's also old signage for an Alternate TCH 1 in that part of Moose Jaw. I don't have my notes with me on which streets it followed, but I think Athabasca St. was the former alternate route, with the old mainline following the Manitoba St. Expressway east to present-day TCH 1.
Some old TCH signage remains also on SK 2 in Moose Jaw, and on the old routes through Regina and Saskatoon. However, in other places in SK where the TCH was re-routed around towns (Maidstone, North Battleford, and Yorkton on TCH 16, and Moosomin on TCH 1), the old route either has no residual TCH signs, or was renumbered as a new auxiliary TCH route (TCH 16A in Yorktown, TCH 16B in North Battleford).
The TCH signage was so ubiquitous in downtowns that I just figured 1 will always be signed as TCH (probably accurate) regardless of there being a bypass route. (That'd really be just for Regina, though.) As for 2, didn't head southwest from downtown, so no idea if those are still there.
Quote
Quote from: Steve on June 07, 2013, 09:46:09 PM
day 15: Hadashville, MB to Thunder Bay, ON. route: MB/TCH 1-MB 308-MB 525-Angle Inlet and back to TCH 1-ON 17-ON 71-ON 11. Highlights: Not much.
Last I was in Thunder Bay last October, work was underway on twinning and in some places realigning 11/17 northeast of the city. Is that work still ongoing?
Day 16: Thunder Bay. Route: Former ON 11/17, ON 11/17, ON 587, ON 11/17, ON 61 to airport. Highlights: 11/17 will be open by summer. Spied on construction in a few places, they're finishing paving and signs are already up.
Returning to my oft-interrupted blog.
Day 1: The journey out. A couple of buses down to EWR, flew over to DEN in overcast skies. I saw rooing in the distance as I got to my hotel in Rifle, but the real highlight of the weather was honest-to-goodness SNOW as I neared the Eisenhower Tunnels. There were brief rain showers, but mostly the light has held up for some great photos. (85% scenery min. content by weight)
Route: Peña Blvd., I-70 W, I-270 W, I-76 W, I-70 W to Rifle with a brief detour down US 24 to Red Cliff Bridge.
Notes: Tons of traffic at about 3:30 PM heading west from the airport (toward Denver). It looked worse on 70 but ended up being much worse on 270. 76 was light and 70 was heavy but flowing well once I rejoined it. (I went this way to set up clinches next weekend.) State name shields everywhere, even on mileposts. I-70 has a lot of substandard curves without having a lower posted speed limit, interesting given the truck volume (though the trucks tend to be under the limit anyway). The 75 mph sections have curves posted at 70 mph, if you're into high advisory speeds. Enforcement is very, very light - people go 80+ in 60/65 zone - but left-lane blockage is rampant. Red Cliff Bridge is very cool; the drive is pretty slow but scenic.
I was going to take US 6 west of the Ike Tunnels (originally was going to take it over the summit there as well, and realized how dumb that would be), but decided I-70 was being really scenic at me. I don't think I missed much - 6 is in the same canyon/valley, so it's just the slower route.
Day 2: Wyoming. The roo lover would have loved this trip. The sky got positively black west of Casper, and the rain barely held up for me to see Hell's Half Acre (worth the stop - mini canyon, former tourist attraction now just a dirt lot with fences, but you can get photos through the fences). As soon as I continued from there, I drove into the belly of the beast - lightning all around, as dark as night. Some cars pulled over to wait it out. I later found out from a pack of drinking teenagers at Castle Gardens (http://www.blm.gov/wy/st/en/field_offices/Lander/cultural/castlegardens.html) (very, very, very strongly recommended, by the way) that it had been hailing not too long before. Glad I missed that. Not a chance of a twister, the storm was very staid and not rotatey. I managed to see Castle Gardens during a gap between T-storms - actually sunny for a bit there - and jogged out as the cold winds picked up. Sure enough, it started raining on the long dirt-road drive back up to US 20/26, making slush out of the surfaces that had been solid on the way down (the northern 8 miles or so of the 15-mile main road, and the western 3-4 miles of the site access road).
Route: C-13 north, WY 789, I-80 east, WY 130, Business 80, I-80 east, WY 210 to Cheyenne; US 85 north, WY 219 and other old US 87 alignments up to Casper, then US 26 west to Shoshoni
Notes: Surprisingly, the WY 70 Battle Pass is still closed. Well, at first surprisingly... Once I saw the sign (closed Nov-May) still unfolded, I confirmed the closure and decided the best way to continue (original plan WY 70-230-130) would be to head up 789 to 80 and earn a clinch of 130. 789 had some scenery, I-80 perhaps less so, though an old US 30 truss was a welcome find as I neared 130. Research shows me 70 opened June 24 in 2011. If a road is open for less than 5 months out of the year, why even have it?
I was less surprised by the Battle Pass closure when I went through Snowy Range Pass on 130, thankfully recently opened. As I got toward the pass, the snow got to be 6-8 feet deep at times on either side of the road. Forget plowing, the road was literally cut through the snow, using the 15-foot tall poles as guides for where the road goes. So if it took that much for 130, and they just had several inches of snow this past week, I get why 70's closed. Just glad I at least got to see one of the scenic passes.
WY 210 is known as Happy Jack Road. All of the interesting stuff is at the west end, a bunch of weird rock formations and stubble all around the sides of the road. Most of the road to the east is just boring farmland.
I-180. Wow. What a trip. If not for the shields, I would have missed it had I not been looking for it. One more roadgeek standard clinched.
Not a whole lot else roadwise, other than the random old undriveable alignments of US 87 and the 20 miles of dirt road (each way) between US 20/26 and the petroglyphs at Castle Gardens. Sunflower Highway (a county route west of WY 96 that carries old 87) had a unique county route shield that said CONVERSE 36 SUNFLOWER HIGHWAY COUNTY, all crammed in. I didn't see a similar shield EB, but I bet there's one I just didn't see. No other county shields were named.
Day 3: Idaho, or the Case of the Disappearing Rental Car. My transmission had started hunting in Wyoming. Initially I thought it had to do with using 85 octane gas and the engine knocking, so I gave it some premium and the problem seemed to go away. Then it resurfaced on Sunday. Just cruising at speed, the RPMs would randomly jump from 2000 to 2700 and back down again. I knew this was not good. But if that's the worst that happened, so what, it's just a rental car. Well, the closer I got to Boise, the worse things got. At one of the truss bridges, I tried backing out and the car didn't move. Hm, I must have missed something. Shift into N, R again, it's fine now. Whoops, okay. Then it did it again at the next bridge and I knew it was the transmission. I got the car to the restaurant. Backing out of the spot went like this: Turn on engine. Wait 6 seconds. Reverse. Ease into gas. Nope, not yet. Shift into N, R again, okay it's moving now. Shift into D. Not moving. Okay, it's moving now. I nursed it to the airport and managed to get a swapped rental (see Day 4 for the continuation of this saga).
Route: US 26 west, with WY 134 and 133, to WY-ID 22, ID 31, US 26 to US 91 south, through Pocatello to I-15 north, I-86, I-84, US 30 to Twin Falls for some sightseeing, continuing west on 30 (with Balanced Rock side trip) into I-84 to Boise (I-184 and around town)
Notes: Most of the day was about the sights, so very few roads notes. The north end of WY 133 is unsigned; it's insinuated that 133 curves hard right, but that's definitely the end of state maintenance. ID 22 is very scenic, but probably best driven southbound. Tons of old trusses just off the route throughout the day. Button copy still exists on I-84 WB approaching the US 20/26 exit in Boise, but it's short-lived because it's in a construction zone. The signs heading north on Federal Way (or is it Capitol Blvd.) are the last remaining set of buttons in town. I noticed a couple of overhead bridge signs on I-84 east of Boise that are button copy, but couldn't get any photos.
Day 4: Pacific Time. Even though I started and ended the day in Mountain Time, most of the driving was to the west. Continuing my rental woes, the car told me the oil level was low as I headed toward Pendleton on I-84. Hm, that's not right. I got two quarts in and the level was much better, but then I noticed a slick spot on the ground. So yeah, they swapped out a car with a broken transmission for a car with an oil leak. A few hours later in Walla Walla, the oil was still okay, so maybe I can live with this. Well, I passed right by a Jiffy Lube in Clarkston, WA (the chain recommended by the rental company), so I stopped in anyway so they could look. Turns out it was a bad oil filter from the last change, so they gave me a new one and I'm finally in a working vehicle. (It has leather, a sunroof, and XM Radio. I think I'll be driving for the Front Range meet.)
Route: I-84 west with a few side trips, east to OR 207 at I-82, US 730, US 12 with a few side trips all the way out to Missoula
Notes: I-84 is very scenic, especially as it gets into the Oregonian forests but also up and down grades through mesas and canyons. The WB side does a double-180 (first left, then right) on its longest steep descent in Oregon, so it briefly faces due east. I made an unplanned stop when a highway sign pointed me to a historic arch bridge (Upper Perry) - unfortunately it's a restored one, so not half as interesting as an original. But whatever I-84 had in forest scenery pales to US 12 from Lewiston to Missoula. You get nearly 200 miles of trees, hills, and river. It goes 64 miles between services. It was raining, and someone who was going about my speed spun off the road and into a ditch. I drove on for over 20 miles before finding a forest ranger (or any other connection to the outside world, since there's no cell service). It's pretty darn remote! Make sure you have gas. Missoula has a trio of state-named I-90 shields on old US 10 at the Business 90/US 93 junction. The only standalone I-90 shield is about 15 miles west of there just off Exit 89. Corco pointed out that there are US 10 shields at the airport exit. Needlessly, I might add, because you can see the highway from the signs. No one who sees those signs can possibly be helped by them, but there they are. The road is still named HWY 10, for what it's worth.
Day 5: Montana. This is, thankfully, the first day without some unusual intrigue to it.
Route: Old US 10 east from Missoula (including MT 210), I-90, Business 90 Deer Lodge, the Safeway known amongst certain circles for having hired Religious Grocery Store Girl, I-90/old US 10, MT 48, MT 1, I-90, I-115 into Butte, I-15 to Helena, MT 229 and old US 91, I-15 to Great Falls, MT 200, MT 541, MT 239, US 191, I-90 and old US 10 to Billings
Notes: I messed something up coming back from MT 1 and never found Old US 12 crossing, so I missed out on an old alignment with cracked pavement. Another day with a lot of trusses on and off the road - one stretch of old US 91 I took had three separate truss crossings I wasn't anticipating (it's the "canyon" alignment paralleling I-15). Also some disappointment with various old alignments being blocked at inconvenient points. Missed out on a couple of narrow-width (older) MT 200 shields in Great Falls, and didn't see any the rest of the way, so those two old ones are probably gone soon. US 191 construction did set me back 15 minutes, as I was warned (a 2-mile section is being reconstructed and has been since last year), but I also lost time due to MT 200/US 87/89 construction a little east of Great Falls. There's a lot of work underway to extend the five-lane section east, even though I can't fathom why there's a five-lane section out there to begin with. (It's currently isolated from Great Falls by a length of 2-lane road, so it really looks silly. But even if it connected, there is nothing out there to warrant a wider road, especially with a center turn lane. If traffic volumes warrant 4 lanes, of which I'm not convinced, then it should be a straight 4-lane or dual carriageway.) Billings has some oddly laid-out green signs, with wide varieties of font sizes between signs or even on the same sign.
Can't help but think of this (http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/thousands-brits-stranded-french-alps-5251607) when I hear the term "Alps on The Road" ...
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi3.mirror.co.uk%2Fincoming%2Farticle5248462.ece%2FALTERNATES%2Fs615%2FLandslide.jpg&hash=590285c483a433f1b121c7818d91d8f731663d78)
:bigass:
But seriously, interesting read.
Day 6: I hate South Dakota. I hate missing turns in the morning that cost me 20 minutes to undo - in this case, thinking I had already borne right when I hadn't, thus missing a turn and ending up first heading north (on the east side of Billings) and then heading east on a dirt dead-end with no highway access. Fortunately, the state highway map inset was just detailed enough for me to see my error and double back, and I still made Gillette with time to spare. I was going to take the rim road along the Badlands but it was gated at the fee limit. I came around to the top and decided I didn't want to spend $15 for something I already saw half of from the west, so I went back up to Wall and I-90. I then stopped for gas in Kadoka, having waited since Rapid City for prices to drop (they didn't), and ate dinner to wait out an ominous hailstorm over the freeway. It worked, because I left at 7:30 and threaded neatly between the hailstorm to the north and another T-storm moving in from the south. (It's overhead in Murdo as I type this.)
Route: Business I-90, Old Hardin Road (error), Hardin Road/old US 87 intermingled with I-90 (includes MT 451, WY 345), US 16/old 16 (includes WY 51), US 16A back to 16 and I-190, east to SD 44, Sage Creek Road (couldn't get in Badlands from that side), SD 240, I-90, SD 248
Notes: Found another (standalone) state-name I-90 shield on 1st Ave. EB at MT 3 in Billings, and an old MT 3 shield on Business 90. I've noticed that both MT and WY often don't sign minor highways from the freeway; MT 451 (secondary) was not but WY 345 was (many other 3xx's were not). The east-west part of US 16A is a fine drive, it's the north-south part that's clogged with tourists. Not to mention that it's being repaved so the whole thing is grooved and it has a 15-minute wait in the middle for the pilot car to circle back. (And most tourists were heading northbound in the afternoon.) Fortunately, the grooved pavement was striped with dashed lines instead of the typical double yellow, so I passed everyone liberally whenever I had sight distance.
I do not recommend doing that yourself. But I really had to. It would have easily cost me 30 minutes otherwise.
Anyway, you don't need to take SD 244 to see Mount Rushmore. There are a few good viewing spots from 16A, including exiting the first tunnel heading EB (cut through the trees dead ahead) and from Norbeck Summit. It's two lanes from the 244 junction EB pretty much the whole way thanks to a climbing lane heading up toward US 16. 16A crosses itself three times on bridges that look like they're made of concrete designed to look like wood. I didn't get a closer look. The 16-16A WB ramp is the top level of a 3-Y on a beautiful brown arch that also looks like fake wood. These can't be wood, right? Right? 16A also has three rock-cut tunnels and a lot of hairpins. North of all that, it has two divided sections with one lane each way snaking slightly differently through the trees. Truly an unusual and remarkable road, but I recommend using it only very early in the morning.
As noted, I did not clinch SD 240 through the Badlands. There really should be a notice at Wall, just south of I-90 or at least just south of Sage Creek Rd., that 240 requires a fee to travel the park. It feels like the US government is trying to lure us in with gimmicks and then sock us with $15 charges. (Oh, it's good for a week? Covers a vehicle full of people? Why isn't there a cheaper option for a car with one person who's only passing through for an hour? I can't imagine that this is a sucker deal at all.)
Day 7: I no longer hate Nebraska. Or South Dakota. There are parts that are really annoying. SD needs to be less touristy overall and to stop underposting everything by 15 mph. Today was my most packed schedule - I gained an hour by flying on the dirt back roads, but otherwise only scratched out another half hour from all of the other legs combined. Having a 15-minute wait for a pilot car along US 20 in central NE didn't help. This was about as uneventful as Day 5 otherwise; fortunately, the one hotel at I-76 Exit 180 (Julesburg) had a reasonably priced room and they were willing to make me a burger at 8:30, because there's nothing else open even at that not-too-late hour. I thought this was going to be more of a highway stop than it is. Good thing I got here when I did then! Another 5 minutes...
Route: SD 248-US 83 to Pierre-SD 1806-SD 273-SD 248/old US 16 to Mitchell (Corn Palace)-SD 37 south-SD 44 west-SD 49-US 183-NE 12 west and a lot of back dirt roads to see trusses-US 20-NE 87 (Carhenge)-NE 2-US 385 with a loop to Scottsbluff-US 30-NE 19/CO 113-US 138 to I-76 east-loop back to US 138 west
Notes: Nothing really to speak of that isn't covered above. The entire length of SD 273 is perfectly straight. There are many other routes that can claim that, but few that are that long. Perhaps you know of one?
I love this.
What's a pilot car?
Quote from: Pete from Boston on May 29, 2015, 12:11:30 AM
What's a pilot car?
Cars that travel along with/beside oversize loads (they usually have a large yellow "OVERSIZE LOAD" banner on their roof).
Unless Steve means something else?
Quote from: Alps on May 26, 2015, 12:00:33 AM
Day 3: Idaho
WY-ID 22, ... ID 22 is very scenic, but probably best driven southbound.
Is that not ID 33 anymore?
When my family used to vacation in the area, we liked to stop for ice cream at the Swan Valley Commissary at US 26 & ID 31. I know it's not called that anymore, but I don't suppose you stopped there for a cone?
You missed the giant spud on ID 33 and the beautiful Palisades Reservoir on US 26...
Quote from: Pete from Boston on May 29, 2015, 12:11:30 AM
I love this.
What's a pilot car?
It leads vehicles through long one-lane stretches of work zones, U-turns, and does the same for the other direction.
Quote from: Alps on May 29, 2015, 06:51:55 AM
Quote from: Pete from Boston on May 29, 2015, 12:11:30 AM
I love this.
What's a pilot car?
It leads vehicles through long one-lane stretches of work zones, U-turns, and does the same for the other direction.
I knew I'd get that wrong.
Jake: what you were thinking of is called an "escort car".
Quote from: froggie on May 29, 2015, 12:16:04 PM
Jake: what you were thinking of is called an "escort car".
I've always called them pilot cars, since they help pilot the truck (so to speak) and keep them from getting into bad situations. I've honestly never heard the term "escort car".
Search "Pilot Car" in Google -- check out the results (http://lmgtfy.com/?q=pilot+car).
I've heard both terms. But east of the Rockies, oversized loads often have escorts both in front and behind the truck. Can't call the car following behind a "pilot car" for obvious reasons.
Quote from: froggie on May 29, 2015, 12:51:02 PM
I've heard both terms. But east of the Rockies, oversized loads often have escorts both in front and behind the truck. Can't call the car following behind a "pilot car" for obvious reasons.
but you can call the car an asshole :P
Days 8-10: Colorado, again, finally. I saw so many red rocks. I need a long break from hairpins and driving with steep dropoffs.
Route: I-76, I-270, US 36, C-119, C-46, US 6 east to C-470 and Red Rocks Amphitheatre, over to C-83, C-21 (and Powers Blvd. extension construction), C-16, exploration of Colorado Springs, Rampart Range Road, over to C-67 north to US 85, I-25. Saturday was just the meet. Sunday was just some local exploration (C-224, C-265, downtown, finishing C-83 and I-225) and back to the airport.
Notes: The old shields (a cutout and a 2-digit US 385) remain in Julesburg for now. I didn't risk the fence at Boulder Falls (too obvious I was parked there). Red Rocks Amphitheatre was open and crawling with people, mostly getting morning exercises in by running, jumping, and stretching their ways up and down the stands and stairs, but with a few other tourists soaking it all in. Red Rock Canyon (Colorado Springs) was much less busy, it being closed to the public. (Well, the parking lot was. I assume that if certain trails were not closed, they remain open, as long as I park elsewhere. I was not the only person with that assumption, but I was alone for my entire hike/jog, so that was really nice.) Then more red rocks at Garden of the Gods just to the north.
Oh, roads. US 36 (Denver-Boulder Tpk.) is testing their new HOT Lane system, so anyone can ride the far left lane for free. I didn't want to risk incurring hundreds of dollars in fees for a $0 toll by doing it with a rental car. It's not a separate roadway anyway. I overheard at the meet that tolls should be coming in early July. I can see the lane getting use, it's a very busy highway. C-470 is less busy, and then the high-price E-470 is relatively emptier but still gets use (based on crossing its path numerous times). C-21 extension to the north is not active, but the ROW is clear through the development up to North Gate Blvd. and there are signs saying "Future Powers Blvd." to prove it. On the other hand, the C-21 mainline is down to just one interchange to be constructed (Old Ranch Road), and that's well underway with much of the overpasses already constructed. Old Ranch is cut off across C-21 to expedite the work. After driving 21 end to end, I can't imagine anyone doing that on purpose. It's just clogged with local traffic and signal after signal without great coordination (probably timed for the best 2-way operation possible). There were a couple of absurdly high exit numbers toward the bottom of 21, even though the "exits" were intersections. Whence the numbering?
More roads! My notes join after Garden of the Gods, as I turned at the unmarked dirt entrance to Rampart Range Road. A couple of SUVs sped past me as I took my time with a rental car on a windy dirt road, and that was it for same-direction traffic. The road itself is over 60 miles long, maybe even over 80, but I only took the bottom 20 miles because the most scenic part is the southern 12 miles. That's where the road winds 3,500 feet up from its already high base (6,000') through trees and burned forest. After about 6 miles of hairpins without guiderail and with steep dropoffs, I was clinging to the wrong side of the road and wondering how much higher it could possibly go. I was above almost all the other mountains in sight. I was above the treeline at one point. And still it kept climbing. I do not recommend descending this road in anything higher than 1st gear. I do not recommend this road to acrophobes or those who do not wish to become acrophobes. But the scenery is terrific if you can get over that. Allow a full hour for the southern 20 miles. (The posted speed is 20. Do what you will once you get out of the hairpins.)
C-67 is mistakenly represented as a through road in online mapping. It ends at a Y junction in Deckers. Signage tries to get traffic to bear left, but head right and you'll see a CR 67 shield that tells you it's where to go. Several miles later, the road splits again. Again US 287 is signed to the left, and again CR 67 goes right. And becomes dirt. With hairpins. I really had enough dirt and hairpins on Rampart Range Rd. Interestingly, the state highway picks up again at the northern end of: Rampart Range Rd. Could have just stayed on it the whole time if I knew what I was in for on 67. (And I didn't even clinch 67 because it heads southwest via US 24.) US 85 had terrible traffic for northbound Friday rush hour. After getting past the long lines turning left onto C-470 WB, there were more long lines at several traffic lights before it started getting better north of Littleton, but I was already well fried by then. I don't care what Littleton thinks, add a lane each way on 85 and give much more green time to the main road. Reduce or eliminate left-turn phases wherever possible.
Quote from: Alps on May 31, 2015, 12:03:41 PM
C-21 extension to the north is not active, but the ROW is clear through the development up to North Gate Blvd. and there are signs saying "Future Powers Blvd." to prove it. On the other hand, the C-21 mainline is down to just one interchange to be constructed (Old Ranch Road), and that's well underway with much of the overpasses already constructed. Old Ranch is cut off across C-21 to expedite the work. After driving 21 end to end, I can't imagine anyone doing that on purpose. It's just clogged with local traffic and signal after signal without great coordination (probably timed for the best 2-way operation possible). There were a couple of absurdly high exit numbers toward the bottom of 21, even though the "exits" were intersections. Whence the numbering?
Freeway stubs were the first thing that got me interested in roads, so Powers Blvd was always pretty cool to me. I have family in Colorado Springs, and I remember returning from Castle Rock on a number of occasions via Highway 83 towards Powers Blvd, and seeing the Powers Blvd stubs thinking "oh wow, another abandoned road project ... these things are everywhere!" Of course, as I would later discover, the road wasn't that old (I was 8 or 9 when they were built, which seems like ages ago to me, but I know it's not), but the road
felt old for some reason, like as though the state had huge plans for it at one point that fell through.
Quote from: Pete from Boston on May 29, 2015, 12:11:30 AM
I love this.
What's a pilot car?
A pilot car, in this situation, is a car that leads one through a construction zone. I've seen a few here in Illinois.