Roadgeeking/travel goals and accomplishments

[hbelkins]

There's much talk of route clinching and county collecting here. What other road-related goals or accomplishments do people pursue, seek, or keep count of?

Route clinches within a state and system clinches within a state are two I can think of.

For instance, I have the US and interstate systems clinched in Kentucky and West Virginia, and interstates clinched in a few other states. I also have West Virginia's state primary system clinched.

Since clinching Kentucky's state route system is virtually impossible due to the sheer number of routes, I've set a goal of clinching routes between 1-100. I only need a short segment of KY 61 in Louisville and much of KY 8 along the Ohio River to accomplish this.

I also have a goal to cross all Ohio River crossings. I have every bi-state crossing, but need most of the intrastate bridges in Pennsylvania to accomplish this goal. I'm looking to do that later this summer.

What other goals or targets are out there?

[vdeane]

I'm currently working on clinching the NY touring routes.  I have that further subdivided based on Region/County (Regions 1, 2, 4, 7, and 9 are done, as are Oswego, Yates, Chemung, Columbia, Ulster, Orange, Rockland, New York, and Richmond Counties).  I'm also looking to get the signed reference routes (done), the MTA crossings (mostly done, still missing Cross Bay and Marine Parkway), the state Parkways (see my TravelMapping once I get it updated tonight), and the truck routes (mainly because TravelMapping is indecisive about whether they should be in or not).  I was also tracking the PANYNJ and Bridge Authority crossings before I finished them.

I have the complete interstate system for NY, VT, NJ, MD, DC, and DE.  I hope to work on CT, MA, and RI soon; NH and NE will likely get done as part of a trip to see the Maritimes.  I hope to work more on PA, VA, WV, and FL when my roadtrips next bring me through those areas.  Also hope to get the Quebec Autoroutes and Ontario 400-series (well, minus 407, 412, and 418, because I don't do toll by plate) some day too.

I also hope to someday clinch US 7, US 5, I-90, I-95 (recently accomplished the southern part, so now all I need is in New England), I-8, western I-84, and parts of I-10.  Already have I-81.  Would like the Trans-Canada mainline and PEI loop too.  Maybe someday even the Trans-Labrador, QC 138, the Alaska interstates, and the Dalton.

[Max Rockatansky]

I'd like to get all the California and Arizona State Highways all on photo albums.  I don't necessarily need a clinch of each one, just find something of interest.  I tend to enjoy tracking down old alignments whenever possible.  US Route are of interest to me but clinching them is obviously far more difficult, so I tend to select sections that I might enjoy.  Freeways generally don't do much for me unless they are in my direct path or have some sort of interesting tinge to them all CA 99 does with old right-on/right-off ramps and weird center medians. 

Aside from road stuff I have several other hobbies I frequent in which tend to intersect with roadgeek related stuff.  I have a couple hundred ghost town albums, I've been to 46 of the National Parks and in general I'm a fan of interesting engineering.  All of those carry some weight in terms of finding interesting roads to cover.  My goal ultimately is to get to all 59 National Parks but I have to consider how to tackle Alaska primarily not to mention some extremely remote island locales.  Basically no matter what I try to get out to do something every other week at minimum. 

One small goal that I finished last year that I thought was cool was completing every traverable mountain pass by car in the Sierras.  That's actually a pretty difficult accomplishment considering that some skill is needed for Sonora, Ebbetts, and Sherman Passes. 

[Eth]

I also keep track of system clinches within a state. I don't have very many of those; just the Interstates in GA and DC, US routes in DC, and technically my clinch of DC 295 also counts as a system in and of itself. I'm still annoyed with myself for failing to pick up the segment of I-70 between I-68 and the PA border when I still lived in Maryland, as that's the only piece of Interstate I'm missing in that state.

I've also been keeping track of Georgia state highway system clinches by county. Right now I have Spalding, Butts, Jasper, Newton, Henry, Rockdale, Clayton, Fayette, DeKalb, Walton, and Gwinnett.

[jon daly]

My main interest is maps; especially ones that have highways that were never completed. I picked up three recently from a local antique shop; a Bicentennial map of Massachusetts, a Gulf roadmap of greater Boston  from 1972 or 1973, and an 1979 Exxon map of New Jersey. I'm not finished.

A garage near where I work has some old Texaco maps stashed somewhere along with a ton of other petroliana. I asked them to dig them out for me and may buy some.I also found some other petroliana buffs online. One is into gas pumps, but he stumbled across a bunch of 70s era maps from Gulf and Texaco. They were a byproduct of his collecting, so he sold them to me for a reasonable price. They're en route now and look like they're in way better condition than the ones I found locally.

[Beltway]

A new initiative of mine is to explore more of the secondary road system in my region.  Secondary roads get very short shrift on roads forums, of course they are so many that it takes a lot of work just to seriously explore the system in your own region of say 50 miles radius or so, and given that readers are all over the country, very few readers will have any experience on your secondary road system in your region, so posting about them is not very feasible. 

I recently explored the 7 Appomattox River secondary road bridges east of the headwaters near Farmville.  I needed the VDOT county maps to find several that were not on the statewide map.  Very interesting, 2 had been replaced in recent years, several are in the 1958 to 1970 age and need some rehab work, and one is a 1930s-ish truss bridge with a 5 ton weight limit and needs replacement but it is on a gravel road that carries about 50 AADT.   Nothing flashy about secondary roads, but they are 80% or more of the public road mileage and are very important to those who live there and have farms there.

[MikeTheActuary]

When I started my cross-border commute, it occurred to me:  I think I would like to visit all of the official border-crossings between Canada and the Lower 48.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Interstate systems clinched: MN (2015), WI (2017). I'm not particularly interested in going out of my way to clinch other states' systems. Iowa will probably happen eventually since I'm over halfway done with it.

I would like to do the entire MN system (a hair under 50% as of now), but that's not a high priority. Getting the US 59/71/75 trio will be a terrible grind.

[Rothman]

When I started my cross-border commute, it occurred to me:  I think I would like to visit all of the official border-crossings between Canada and the Lower 48.

The dinky ones in northern NY are cute and more numerous than you'd think.

[formulanone]

I have been working on a personal photo collection of route numbers from 1-1000 for a few years, and have accomplished that. I still like to get some variety, and even go beyond to 1100, 1200...who knows?

Clinching all the state roads in Florida and Alabama. I'm likely 50-60% completed in the former, and perhaps 25-30% finished for the latter.

County collecting, counting airports, recording the basic airline/aircraft data, are also things I record. I doubt I will ever complete these tasks, although the first one is a bit more realistic. Airports change and gain/lose commercial service, and flying on every aircraft is impossible. But I like to get a photo of the ones I've ridden on.

One odd thing I do is go to a state's beach and have a swim, or try touch the shoreline (if too cold, or unable to swim due to time constraints) for states with access to the ocean.

[oscar]

When I started my cross-border commute, it occurred to me:  I think I would like to visit all of the official border-crossings between Canada and the Lower 48.

I've done all five of the land crossings between Canada and Alaska (plus the one ferry crossing requiring clearing customs, between Prince Rupert BC and Ketchikan AK), and all the crossings between Canada and the lower 48 where Interstates or U.S. routes end at the border, as well as some of the other crossings. I've done some such crossings between Mexico and the U.S. (including the handful where Interstates end at the border, rather than stopping short like I-19, I-35, I-69W, and I-69E), but don't have much interest in completing that checklist.

[MikeTheActuary]

When I started my cross-border commute, it occurred to me:  I think I would like to visit all of the official border-crossings between Canada and the Lower 48.

The dinky ones in northern NY are cute and more numerous than you'd think.

I just about have Vermont finished. 

The guards at the low-volume crossings tend to be confused about my interest.

[bassoon1986]

I would love to clinch every state Highway in Louisiana, but that's a nearly impossible task. I'm trying to just track and figure out the percentage of LA routes I have traveled. I do have all the state routes in my home parish of Rapides. Trying to get pieces of the ones I'm missing in neighboring parishes.

Still missing all of I-59 and a bit of I-510 in LA. I will be able to clinch the last piece of the newest I-49 portion in north Shreveport this weekend.

As for US routes in Louisiana, I'm missing a few good chunks. I need lots of US 90 and US 51.

I've almost got all of the LA/TX bridges and routes that cross the state line.


iPhone

[froggie]

When I started my cross-border commute, it occurred to me:  I think I would like to visit all of the official border-crossings between Canada and the Lower 48.

The dinky ones in northern NY are cute and more numerous than you'd think.

I just about have Vermont finished. 

The guards at the low-volume crossings tend to be confused about my interest.

How often do you pass north/south?

[Flint1979]

Lately I've been trying to clinch some of Michigan's state highways that are shorter and I haven't been able to clinch. Right now I have M-52 started from the northern terminus to Owosso.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

Specific roads - Lincoln Hwy (1998-2002); Old State Rd (Central Ohio); Great River Rd (this was a passing interest for me when I was living in Louisiana). Some point in the immediate future I'm going to investigate the 'Old Port Washington Road' in Holmes & Tuscarawas Counties, because the locals there have declared it to be the "First state road in Ohio." 
http://www.experience-ohio-amish-country.com/port-washington-road-trip.html

[slorydn1]

I guess I must be the strange one in this group.

I have no real goals in mind. I mean, yeah, I like going back and seeing what I have done so far whether that be route clinches, county clinches (etc). I like keeping the lists of those things. But I don't look at the list and say "I just hafta' go to________ so I can clinch that next".

All of that said, two things I would like to do is I-70 in the Rockies, and the Pacific Coast Highway. I guess I'll have to wait until I retire to do those, I can't get enough time off in one block to do it now.

[jon daly]

I guess I must be the strange one in this group.

I have no real goals in mind. I mean, yeah, I like going back and seeing what I have done so far whether that be route clinches, county clinches (etc). I like keeping the lists of those things. But I don't look at the list and say "I just hafta' go to________ so I can clinch that next".

All of that said, two things I would like to do is I-70 in the Rockies, and the Pacific Coast Highway. I guess I'll have to wait until I retire to do those, I can't get enough time off in one block to do it now.

I would have to go back 50 years to figure all of that out, but I did start a county list on mobrules.

[CNGL-Leudimin]

I'm trying to get all national and regional roads in my home region of Aragon, Spain. So far I've managed to get all freeways (and I stress 'free', also in the sense of no cost to the user), but that won't last long since on Monday a ca. 2.8 mile section is opening not far from me; and also all national roads in Zaragoza province (one of the three provinces making up Aragon along with Huesca and Teruel).

[MikeTheActuary]

How often do you pass north/south?

Every 3-4 weeks, all too often with little notice.  ("Hey, can you attend this meeting tomorrow?" "Let me book a hotel, and I'll get on the road.")

[froggie]

Pity.  Because I'm right along your theoretical primary route of travel, now that I work in St. J.

[ce929wax]

I keep track of counties mainly.  The chances of me getting all 3,142 (?) of them are minute, because of resource limitations, but I have a goal of 1,500.  I have roughly 600 collected already.  I haven't really been on a trip since 2015, because of said resource limitations, but I am working on changing that.  I'm thinking Texas next February or March (I need to get out of Michigan winter for a week or so).  It is also difficult because I no longer own a vehicle (long story).

Kind of travel related, but not really, but another one of my goals is to travel to all 30 major league ballparks.  I have five so far, was going to get number six this summer, but the money situation just didn't work out. 

Other than that, I don't really have much.  I do a lot of "travelling" on Google Earth.

[J N Winkler]

I have been working on expanding the number of countries from which I have successfully obtained pattern-accurate sign panel detail sheets for highway construction projects.  Since the beginning of this year, I have found sheets from Argentina, Chile, Germany, the Czech Republic, and Hungary.  Asia and Africa are still largely closed books to me, though I have hopes of progress with Japan.

[mvak36]

I'd like to try to clinch all of the interstate system. I also want to clinch one US highway and then at least one state highway in each state, if possible.

[Flint1979]

I've been keeping track of the counties I'm in too. So far I've been in 76 of Michigan's 83 counties, the 7 I haven't been in are all in the western U.P. so the chances of clinching Michigan anytime soon is probably not going to happen. Only state I've clinched every county in is Connecticut. For Michigan though I'm quite surprised that I've never been to Marquette, the other ones are Keweenaw, Houghton, Baraga, Iron, Ontonagon and Gogebic. Next closest is Rhode Island and I only have Newport County to clinch there. I do want to get Ohio done one of these days, I still have 30 counties to clinch in Ohio, mostly in the eastern and central parts of the state. I'm planning on doing the four counties that I haven't clinched in Ohio that are surrounded by counties that I have clinched (Putnam, Van Wert, Mercer and Darke) and doing that within the next couple of months I'll probably also clinch a few Indiana counties that I haven't clinched.