Taking the long way to reach a destination

[golden eagle]

In 2001, I was driving back to Atlanta after coming home for a week. Rather than taking I-20 to get back to Atlanta, I decided to drive down to the MS Gulf Coast and then cut over to Mobile, where I proceeded to go north on I-65 to Montgomery, then 85 north straight into Atlanta. I know, way out of the way. Probably by at least 200 miles. Gas was cheap then, so that wasn't an issue.

I don't know if this is necessarily out of the way, but on my way back home from my recent trip to Nashville, instead of taking I-40 all the way to Memphis, I decided to get off at Jackson, TN, and took US 45 down to Starkville, then MS 25 all the way in. That added about two extra hours to my time, but a lot of that was because I decided to stop and drive through some of the towns along the way.

[Duke87]

I'm about to drive from New York to West Palm Beach via Santa Monica (I leave Friday). Beat that.

[nwi_navigator_1181]

Funny you mention Atlanta, because I took the long way home from our trip back in 2007. The easiest and quickest way involves heading up I-75 North to I-24 West, and then to I-65 North all the way to the north terminus.

However, the adventurer that I am, when the time came to choose between I-75 North and I-24 West, I decided to take the long and winding road to Cincinnati. From there, I took I-74 to pick up I-65 (via I-465/865) and legged it home as normal. It's about an extra 150-200 miles, but I liked the scenery, and road trips are meant for fun.

When my father and I drove to and from our annual family reunion in Savannah, TN, my father was told about going back home via I-57. Little did we know that it is shorter than the route we usually take (I-65 to I-40 west, with 50 miles of back roads).

Duke, you are a brave soul. Safe travels.

[golden eagle]

I recall a conversation I had with a man on a plane who said that as a kid, his dad was taking the family on a trip from New York to New Orleans. When they got to Mobile, his dad realized that they'd have to go through Mississippi to get to the Big Easy. Once he found this out, he then decided to ride up north into Tennessee, cross over into Arkansas and enter Louisiana. He did all that to avoid Mississippi because of the things he heard about the state. This was in the 60s.

[vdeane]

Earlier this year I went from Potsdam to Montreal via Ogdensburg.  This is actually logical given the current situation with the Seaway Bridge, but I wasn't even thinking about it at the time; I just wanted to clinch more of ON 401.

I went back to Sidney, NY from the New Haven and Central NJ meets via Scranton.  There were two motives here: clinching parts of I-80 and I-84, and Krispy Kreme donuts (why I didn't think to stop when I was in Montreal, I have no idea).

I'm about to drive from New York to West Palm Beach via Santa Monica (I leave Friday). Beat that.

On the documentary Freedom Downtime (available on Google Video), the people take a trip from NYC to North Carolina via Las Angeles, Las Vegas, and a zillion other places along the way.  They must have been roadgeeks, because the reasoning was "we'll go to North Carolina where they're shooting Track Down, stop at the hacker convention in Vegas, and while we're there we might as well go to LA to visit this journalist, and while we're there we might as well go to San Francisco to visit this person he wrote a book with, and on the way back we might as well stop at these corporations that claimed they were hacked".  There were even videos of road signs in the documentary.

[OracleUsr]

Charlie Daniels sang a tale of going to LA through Mississippi and had such a rough time when he got a flat in some backwater town that he said next time, and I quote:

I think I'm gonna re-route my trip.  I wonder if anybody'd think I'd flipped if I...went to LA...VIA OMAHA

I always sing it one step more...I wonder if anybody'd think I'd flipped if I...went to LA..VIA ST. PAUL!

[jwolfer]

I recall a conversation I had with a man on a plane who said that as a kid, his dad was taking the family on a trip from New York to New Orleans. When they got to Mobile, his dad realized that they'd have to go through Mississippi to get to the Big Easy. Once he found this out, he then decided to ride up north into Tennessee, cross over into Arkansas and enter Louisiana. He did all that to avoid Mississippi because of the things he heard about the state. This was in the 60s.

Like Thelma and Louise avoiding Texas.

[jdb1234]

Charlie Daniels sang a tale of going to LA through Mississippi and had such a rough time when he got a flat in some backwater town that he said next time, and I quote:

I think I'm gonna re-route my trip.  I wonder if anybody'd think I'd flipped if I...went to LA...VIA OMAHA

I always sing it one step more...I wonder if anybody'd think I'd flipped if I...went to LA..VIA ST. PAUL!

The song in question is called "Uneasy Rider." 

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

I recall a conversation I had with a man on a plane who said that as a kid, his dad was taking the family on a trip from New York to New Orleans. When they got to Mobile, his dad realized that they'd have to go through Mississippi to get to the Big Easy. Once he found this out, he then decided to ride up north into Tennessee, cross over into Arkansas and enter Louisiana. He did all that to avoid Mississippi because of the things he heard about the state. This was in the 60s.

Was he black or jewish?

[mjb2002]

Charlie Daniels sang a tale of going to LA through Mississippi and had such a rough time when he got a flat in some backwater town that he said next time, and I quote:

I think I'm gonna re-route my trip.  I wonder if anybody'd think I'd flipped if I...went to LA...VIA OMAHA

I always sing it one step more...I wonder if anybody'd think I'd flipped if I...went to LA..VIA ST. PAUL!

The song in question is called "Uneasy Rider." 

And that is the 1973 original. Those lyrics are not sung in his 1988 version.

[brownpelican]

I am guilty of this. Every time I went to Charlotte, instead of taking I-85 when I drove through  Atlanta, I cut off at Ga. 316 to Athens, Ga. and then take Ga./S.C. 72 through Elberton, Ga.; Greenwood, Clinton, Chester and Rock Hill in S.C. to I-77.

[golden eagle]

I recall a conversation I had with a man on a plane who said that as a kid, his dad was taking the family on a trip from New York to New Orleans. When they got to Mobile, his dad realized that they'd have to go through Mississippi to get to the Big Easy. Once he found this out, he then decided to ride up north into Tennessee, cross over into Arkansas and enter Louisiana. He did all that to avoid Mississippi because of the things he heard about the state. This was in the 60s.

Was he black or jewish?

A white man, actually.

[jwolfer]

I recall a conversation I had with a man on a plane who said that as a kid, his dad was taking the family on a trip from New York to New Orleans. When they got to Mobile, his dad realized that they'd have to go through Mississippi to get to the Big Easy. Once he found this out, he then decided to ride up north into Tennessee, cross over into Arkansas and enter Louisiana. He did all that to avoid Mississippi because of the things he heard about the state. This was in the 60s.

He was OK driving in Alabama and Arkansas?  There probably wasnt much difference between anywhere in the Deep South at the time.   There was a guy here in Jacksonville, Stetson Kennedy, who infiltrated the Klan and wrote a book about it.  There was some woman from New York interviewed who would not transfer her car registration to Florida because of the Jim Crow days in the South.  She felt OK getting Florida tags after reading about Stetson Kennedy.

[the49erfan15]

I am guilty of this. Every time I went to Charlotte, instead of taking I-85 when I drove through  Atlanta, I cut off at Ga. 316 to Athens, Ga. and then take Ga./S.C. 72 through Elberton, Ga.; Greenwood, Clinton, Chester and Rock Hill in S.C. to I-77.

I used that route as part of the drive to New Orleans from Rock Hill, it's a very nice drive.

[deathtopumpkins]

I don't necessarily take the 'long way' so much as I take the scenic, more interesting way.
For example, when driving back to Mass from Poughkeepsie, NY, I took US 44, despite being strongly advised against it, simply because it was a beautiful drive. On almost every long trip I take I try to use as many rural arterial highways as possible, because you see so much more and have so much more of an interesting time than you do on the interstates.

[Darkchylde]

There was this one time I went down to Tampa. Going there, I took I-10 to I-75 to I-275. Going back, I used mainly US 41 and US 98 until Mobile, then US 90 until Slidell. Not sure which was longer in distance, but the non-Interstate route was definitely longer in time.

Also, often either going to or coming back from northern Louisiana, I'll cut through Mississippi just to add some variation to the trip.

[kphoger]

Driving from Branson, MO, to the Chicago area (or vice versa), I took to using US-65 to Buffalo; then MO-73, US-54, and I-72 to Springfield, IL; then I-55 the rest of the way north.  All that because I've had bad situations in Saint Louis way too many times.  Rush hour multiple times, traffic backed up due to a high-speed car chase once, empty pallets falling out of the back of an 18-wheeler on an urban freeway once, you name it.  I figure the back way probably added a good 30 to 90 minutes to the drive, but at least I didn't have to drive the last two hours with a pounding headache.

That's the only notable exception to my general rule of taking the fastest way.  I often use a city bypass to avoid traffic, but I do so to avoid the possiblity of running into traffic; that's about it.

[jwolfer]

I would take the long way to go a different way or to go on a road had never been on before but my wife has caught on to me... She wants to know the quickest way.  I'm sure lots of significant others or traveling companions limit our road-geekery

[Grzrd]

I'm sure lots of significant others or traveling companions limit our road-geekery

Yep.

[agentsteel53]

I'm sure lots of significant others or traveling companions limit our road-geekery

Yep.

find better traveling companions

[kphoger]

I'm sure lots of significant others or traveling companions limit our road-geekery

Yep.

find better traveling companions

Top 10 bad reasons for a divorce.

= = = = =

It would be a little hard to find a better traveling companion on the return trip when your wife drove with you on the way out.  "Sorry, honey, but if you don't let me take the long way back, we're going to have to buy you a bus ticket."

[Grzrd]

I'm sure lots of significant others or traveling companions limit our road-geekery

Yep.

find better traveling companions

Top 10 bad reasons for a divorce.

My wife and I always enjoy the destination; she just doesn't appreciate the journey quite as much as I do ... which is OK.

[huskeroadgeek]

I'm sure lots of significant others or traveling companions limit our road-geekery

This usually hasn't been a problem for me, as long as I can come up with a legitimate reason for taking a longer route. In situations where I have been a passenger, the driver almost always trusts my navigation completely to where they won't question any route I choose(within reason). There have been many times in the past where I came up with a legitimate reason for taking a longer route, although the primary force behind it was to see a road I had never been on before, and usually to pick up some new counties.

[JREwing78]

I got so sick of the Ohio Turnpike after years of weekend trips to visit my girlfriend (now wife) that I had rather elaborate reroutes for a Lansing, MI <-> Cleveland, OH trip.

OH-2 is a no-brainer, even if the last 30+ miles is congested 2-lane. That got old too.

I've done US-20 paralleling the Ohio Turnpike between Toledo and Lorain a few times. Occasionally I'd divert to US-6 through Bowling Green to US-24, then cut up to US-127.

A couple times. I've gone down to Mansfield, OH, then cut across to Fort Wayne, IN, and back up I-69 to Lansing. Once, I cut over to US-23 at Upper Sandusky, and followed OH-15 through Defiance, OH.

Yeah, the Turnpike got REALLY old after a while.

[kphoger]

Does Greyhound count as "the long way"?
Your post about visiting a girlfriend-now-wife took me back to a time when I would take a commuter train, subway, and two Greyhound buses (transferring overnight in the ghetto of Saint Louis, back before they move to Union Station) to visit mine.