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[Bruce]

I realize that Google adjusts for traffic and other issues, but it would be nice to calculate a route that doesn't take any current problems, slowdowns, etc., into determining which of several very different routings is the best.

Just for fun, I may run Grand Junction to Owenton to see how Google handles the I-70 closure.

Just change the time from "Leave now" to "Depart at X" and set it in the middle of the night.

[hbelkins]

I realize that Google adjusts for traffic and other issues, but it would be nice to calculate a route that doesn't take any current problems, slowdowns, etc., into determining which of several very different routings is the best.

Just for fun, I may run Grand Junction to Owenton to see how Google handles the I-70 closure.

Just change the time from "Leave now" to "Depart at X" and set it in the middle of the night.

Just did it, and it suggests US 50, CO 115, and US 24 through Colorado Springs to Limon.

A five-hour-longer option involves CO 69, I-25, US 87, TX 125 and OK 6 to hit I-40 near Elk City -- and then surprisingly enough, on to Nashville and then north on I-65. No I-44.

But changing the starting point from Grand Junction to Gallup uses the I-44 routing.

I scratch my head in wonderment at the logic applied.

It's like when I went to Annapolis a few years ago. I got routed over I-68, but when I started out from Weston, WV (which the route passes through) it preferred Corridor H and I-66.

[vdeane]

I realize that Google adjusts for traffic and other issues, but it would be nice to calculate a route that doesn't take any current problems, slowdowns, etc., into determining which of several very different routings is the best.

Just for fun, I may run Grand Junction to Owenton to see how Google handles the I-70 closure.

Just change the time from "Leave now" to "Depart at X" and set it in the middle of the night.

Google also still reports the "without traffic" time.  Do note, however, that Google's definition of "without traffic" isn't so much "without random slowdowns and current problems" but "how long it would take if you drove very fast, got every light green, and there were no other cars on the road" - basically unattainable in the real world.  It's also worth noting that Google factors in both live traffic and predicted traffic based on prior data.  Getting a route at a time where traffic along the trip would be substantially similar to when you'd actually leave can yield very accurate results (for how I drive, it's usually very accurate, nearly down to the minute, though I have noticed inaccuracies around the DC area for whatever reason).

Getting a time down to that level of accuracy with the "depart at" feature is harder as I'm not sure how the ranges are defined, though I'm starting to suspect that the long range might be the one where you don't exceed the speed limit.

[froggie]

A few notes:

- Your mileage with Google may vary.  My experience with Google travel times is much less dystopic than Val's.

- Despite the current drought, it is not uncommon to have decent severe weather and tornadic scenarios during afternoon/evening daylight hours across Minnesota and the Dakotas through the month of August.  Sure, it's not as frequent as Tornado Alley across the Central Plains, but it's not as rare as HighwayMan394 made it out to be, either.

- Agree with Rothman in that there are a number of decent eateries in Duluth, especially near downtown and the lakefront.  Up the hill in Hermantown gets more into "chain restaurant territory".

- Despite growing up in Minnesota, I've never been a Culver's fan.

- If you're planning on taking US 2 across northern Minnesota, beware of pavement work and a detour east of Grand Rapids, pavement replacement requiring single-lane traffic between Erskine (US 59) and MN 32, and more pavement/single-lane between Fisher and East Grand Forks.

[hbelkins]

The old static software routing programs like MS Streets & Trips and DeLorme Street Atlas would give consistent routings, and they generally had two options: "shortest" and "fastest."

Running Kayenta or Mexican Hat to Owenton would be instructive if I still had those apps, or the machines on which they ran. I don't even know if Street Atlas is still a thing, and Streets & Trips hasn't been released in something like eight years.

- If you're planning on taking US 2 across northern Minnesota, beware of pavement work and a detour east of Grand Rapids, pavement replacement requiring single-lane traffic between Erskine (US 59) and MN 32, and more pavement/single-lane between Fisher and East Grand Forks.

Well, there goes the clinch of US 2 in Minnesota.  Although technically I guess I can count it if there's a signed detour and we follow it. (Since I don't do Travel Mapping to keep track of route clinches.)

[Mapmikey]

Also be prepared for short-notice wildfire detours.

Had two of them on a trip I did to Yellowstone/Glacier a number of years back.  One was near Jackson WY and the other was US 16 between Newcastle WY and Custer SD

[hbelkins]

T-minus one day until the trip commences. This time tomorrow (as I type) I will be on the way to Lexington for a doctor's appointment, after which I head to my brother's to start the journey.

At least it looks like I-70 in Glenwood Canyon will be back open, although I'm sure the scenic nature of the area will be affected by the slide and the ongoing construction work. This probably means no new counties in Colorado (or New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, or any of the other states that would have been impacted by an alternate route) unless we hit something in the northwestern part of the state if we go to Dinosaur.

North Dakota and Montana will be new states for me. That will put me up to 46 total (lacking only Washington and Oregon in the lower 48, and obviously Alaska and Hawaii to round out the 50). I'll get new counties in Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Idaho and Utah, and possibly Colorado. The only non-state route clinch I foresee is US 2 in North Dakota (owing to the route's second foray into Wisconsin, which we'll miss, and the closure mentioned upthread in Minnesota). Possibly US 163, depending on how much of it we end up driving.

[Scott5114]

Heck, I think you can still find some Oklahoma circles that haven't been replaced by meat cleavers in some places.

Maybe if you go alignment hunting or something. I haven't seen a standalone one posted on an active highway in years. Any stragglers are things like town installs, JCT signs on non-state-highway cross roads that ODOT forgot they even put up, and odd-sized markers on LGSes that are presumably too much of a pain to patch over.

Trying to get to the Oklahoma panhandle somehow is intriguing. But on the map, US 64 to the Taos area doesn't look like an exceptionally fast route. And then once in the panhandle, there's the matter of quick access to I-44.

The Oklahoma panhandle is interesting for county-counting purposes, but that's about it. Otherwise, you're likely to find it less appealing than In-N-Out; it is by far the least interesting part of the state, and the main east-west access is a two-lane slog. I-44 access from that general area is probably best achieved by taking US-412 across the state and picking it up in Tulsa; this would let you see the Glass Mountains (the only interesting geological construct anywhere near the area) and would also net you the Cimarron Turnpike, which is the western half of the proposed Enid-to-Springdale interstate.

I'm sure it gets worse east of Boise City, but western Cimarron County actually has some fascinating terrain. I hiked Black Mesa a few months ago and very much enjoyed seeing the New Mexico-style plateau/mesa country in Oklahoma. SH 325 was a fun clinch.

Oh, yes, SH-325 is an excellent drive. But part of what makes it so excellent is that there isn't another highway like it in the whole state. That sort of terrain stops at Boise City. By the time you get to Texas County, it's mostly flat-as-a-pancake Great Plains scenery.

[TheHighwayMan394]

By the time you get to Texas County, it's mostly flat-as-a-pancake Great Plains Illinois scenery.

Sorry, had to do it...I'll show myself out.

[hbelkins]

Figured I'd put this here instead of one of the trip summary threads.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/nby9nhxjbjbot6o/2021%20Western%20vacation%20photos%20slideshow%20with%20music.mov?dl=0

This is a compilation of scenery photos. It's a slideshow and I did put a musical backdrop in it to provide entertainment while sitting through 12 minutes of photos. These are mostly not road-related, although I did put some pics of the US 95 corridor in the Salmon/Little Salmon valleys because it was a scenic area. I also put the Glenwood Canyon pictures in there as well.

That Dropbox link should be open to the general public.