Things that taunt you...

[Zeffy]

What's preventing me from getting a Roadgeek achievement? Oh, maybe the fact that I don't have a personal vehicle yet. And I'm 20...

[hotdogPi]

What's preventing me from getting a Roadgeek achievement? Oh, maybe the fact that I don't have a personal vehicle yet. And I'm 20...

I don't drive yet (I'm 15). I have still clinched I-88 in New York.

[Brandon]

What's preventing me from getting a Roadgeek achievement? Oh, maybe the fact that I don't have a personal vehicle yet. And I'm 20...

Don't worry about that too much.  I was 24 before I finally got mine.

[agentsteel53]

Most taunting one for me is WA SR 20, where I'm only missing the 6-mile section bypassing Omak and Okanogan.  It's especially taunting because we turned off the road onto the business route looking for food, thinking maybe I'd get lucky and find something right away so we could go back to the road and preserve the clinch.

Well, we did find food right off of SR 20.  Right off the northern junction with the business route, having already meandered all the way through town.

On the bright side, I do have a much less impressive clinch of SR 215 that I wouldn't otherwise have.

meh.  I'd count it.  I have US-6 in so many bits and pieces and old alignments that there are certain freeway-multiplex and modern two-lane alignments which I barely would know where to find, much less have actually driven.  but I consider myself having clinched US-6.  I've driven some section between all of the major and semi-major points, and have always backtracked (as opposed to "front-tracked") to connect separated alignments. 

speaking of WA-20... I have done neither very much of that, nor a significant portion of US-2 in Washington.  those are my two major missing roads in that state.

[SSOWorld]

I believe I forgot a couple of these...

-I-55 between Joliet an Bloomington.
One county in Michigan UP.

[thenetwork]

Alleged "intelligent" traffic lights that are part of a system of lights that relay upcoming traffic to the next intersection, yet I sit at a protected left red for up to two minutes watching NOTHING coming the opposite way or sitting on a side-street red way seeing no cross-traffic in the immediate area. 

Couldn't these "traffic engineers" fix these lights so that a 20-second green cycle CAN seamlessly fit into a normal 120 second cycle if it KNOWS main traffic won't be affected by the short red??

[pianocello]

Another one I forgot: I'm about 10 miles from clinching I-96. I need the section between I-69 South and Cedar St in Lansing (which I'm up in that area so much, it's a wonder I haven't been on that stretch) and the mile or so southeast of I-94 in Detroit.

I'm also slightly annoyed by the fact that I have all of I-55 in Illinois except the minor stretches between I-155 and I-74 East, and then between BL 55 on the north side of Blormal and US-24.

[Laura]

I was just looking at my Clinched Highway Mapping data and I was reminded of Virginia's Interstates. The only things keeping me from clinching all of Virginia's Interstates are all of I-464 (5.7 miles), all of I-564 (2.8 miles), two segments of I-195 (1.2 miles in total), all of I-381 (1.1 miles), and the part of I-77 north of I-81 (25.6 miles). The I-195 portion would be easy enough to remedy the next time I'm in Richmond. The rest of those, not so much, especially I-381 (which is in Bristol, a good 380 miles from home in a part of the state I haven't visited since May 1997, coupled with my dislike for using I-81 to get there) and I-77 (there is really no reason why I'd ever be on that particular segment of that road other than trying to find an excuse for the clinch).

Distance becomes a major nuisance sometimes, doesn't it?

I-77 taunts me as well. It's the only interstate I need in VA, but it's so far away...

....

For me it's not just that it's far away, though it is. It's also that it doesn't provide a logical route for me to go anywhere given that I live in the DC area. Sure, if I were headed south I could detour up that road, go through the tunnel to cross the state line, and then come back, but that would add an hour to what would already be bound to be a long drive and there's no way my wife would put up with it.

In an example of a really morbid line of thought, I found myself looking at a map trying to determine whether, if an elderly relative of ours who is in poor health in Ohio were to die shortly before our next trip to Florida, it would be practical to go from Ohio to the south via I-77 to knock off that segment, but I concluded I would be more interested in seeing Breaks Interstate Park and/or Cumberland Gap than finishing off that segment of I-77. Then I was embarrassed that I had engaged in that line of thought at all.

I found us some reasons to go north on I-77: http://www.visitmercercounty.com/familyFun_sports.html

At the southern end of I-77 is Mt. Airy, NC, famous for being the home of Andy Griffith. There's an Andy Griffith museum there.

What's preventing me from getting a Roadgeek achievement? Oh, maybe the fact that I don't have a personal vehicle yet. And I'm 20...

I don't drive yet (I'm 15). I have still clinched I-88 in New York.

Yep. I clinched lots of routes before I had a car (I bought mine when I was almost 17) through family trips and trips with friends who did have cars. I had more local taunting gaps before I had a car than after. It was easier to convince friends who just got cars to drive places (Omg, lets go to ______ because we can!) because of the newfound freedom that a car brings. Haha, I was one of those people easily convinced because road geek.

[74/171FAN]

I was just looking at my Clinched Highway Mapping data and I was reminded of Virginia's Interstates. The only things keeping me from clinching all of Virginia's Interstates are all of I-464 (5.7 miles), all of I-564 (2.8 miles), two segments of I-195 (1.2 miles in total), all of I-381 (1.1 miles), and the part of I-77 north of I-81 (25.6 miles). The I-195 portion would be easy enough to remedy the next time I'm in Richmond. The rest of those, not so much, especially I-381 (which is in Bristol, a good 380 miles from home in a part of the state I haven't visited since May 1997, coupled with my dislike for using I-81 to get there) and I-77 (there is really no reason why I'd ever be on that particular segment of that road other than trying to find an excuse for the clinch).

Distance becomes a major nuisance sometimes, doesn't it?

I-77 taunts me as well. It's the only interstate I need in VA, but it's so far away...

....

For me it's not just that it's far away, though it is. It's also that it doesn't provide a logical route for me to go anywhere given that I live in the DC area. Sure, if I were headed south I could detour up that road, go through the tunnel to cross the state line, and then come back, but that would add an hour to what would already be bound to be a long drive and there's no way my wife would put up with it.

In an example of a really morbid line of thought, I found myself looking at a map trying to determine whether, if an elderly relative of ours who is in poor health in Ohio were to die shortly before our next trip to Florida, it would be practical to go from Ohio to the south via I-77 to knock off that segment, but I concluded I would be more interested in seeing Breaks Interstate Park and/or Cumberland Gap than finishing off that segment of I-77. Then I was embarrassed that I had engaged in that line of thought at all.

I found us some reasons to go north on I-77: http://www.visitmercercounty.com/familyFun_sports.html

At the southern end of I-77 is Mt. Airy, NC, famous for being the home of Andy Griffith. There's an Andy Griffith museum there.

What's preventing me from getting a Roadgeek achievement? Oh, maybe the fact that I don't have a personal vehicle yet. And I'm 20...

I don't drive yet (I'm 15). I have still clinched I-88 in New York.

Yep. I clinched lots of routes before I had a car (I bought mine when I was almost 17) through family trips and trips with friends who did have cars. I had more local taunting gaps before I had a car than after. It was easier to convince friends who just got cars to drive places (Omg, lets go to ______ because we can!) because of the newfound freedom that a car brings. Haha, I was one of those people easily convinced because road geek.

I was just looking at my Clinched Highway Mapping data and I was reminded of Virginia's Interstates. The only things keeping me from clinching all of Virginia's Interstates are all of I-464 (5.7 miles), all of I-564 (2.8 miles), two segments of I-195 (1.2 miles in total), all of I-381 (1.1 miles), and the part of I-77 north of I-81 (25.6 miles). The I-195 portion would be easy enough to remedy the next time I'm in Richmond. The rest of those, not so much, especially I-381 (which is in Bristol, a good 380 miles from home in a part of the state I haven't visited since May 1997, coupled with my dislike for using I-81 to get there) and I-77 (there is really no reason why I'd ever be on that particular segment of that road other than trying to find an excuse for the clinch).

Distance becomes a major nuisance sometimes, doesn't it?

I-77 taunts me as well. It's the only interstate I need in VA, but it's so far away...

....

For me it's not just that it's far away, though it is. It's also that it doesn't provide a logical route for me to go anywhere given that I live in the DC area. Sure, if I were headed south I could detour up that road, go through the tunnel to cross the state line, and then come back, but that would add an hour to what would already be bound to be a long drive and there's no way my wife would put up with it.

In an example of a really morbid line of thought, I found myself looking at a map trying to determine whether, if an elderly relative of ours who is in poor health in Ohio were to die shortly before our next trip to Florida, it would be practical to go from Ohio to the south via I-77 to knock off that segment, but I concluded I would be more interested in seeing Breaks Interstate Park and/or Cumberland Gap than finishing off that segment of I-77. Then I was embarrassed that I had engaged in that line of thought at all.

I found us some reasons to go north on I-77: http://www.visitmercercounty.com/familyFun_sports.html

At the southern end of I-77 is Mt. Airy, NC, famous for being the home of Andy Griffith. There's an Andy Griffith museum there.

What's preventing me from getting a Roadgeek achievement? Oh, maybe the fact that I don't have a personal vehicle yet. And I'm 20...

I don't drive yet (I'm 15). I have still clinched I-88 in New York.

Yep. I clinched lots of routes before I had a car (I bought mine when I was almost 17) through family trips and trips with friends who did have cars. I had more local taunting gaps before I had a car than after. It was easier to convince friends who just got cars to drive places (Omg, lets go to ______ because we can!) because of the newfound freedom that a car brings. Haha, I was one of those people easily convinced because road geek.

First off, I did not consistently have a car until I was 20, and due to family trips, band trips(etc.) I had already clinched I-95 from Miami, FL to I-87 in the Bronx (minus the Wilmington, DE portion).  Also I have clinched all of I-77 south of US 460 in West Virginia without driving the majority of it (from I-74 near Mount Airy to the south end) on mission trips.

Unfortunately, around 20, roadgeeking became secondary to other priorities (school and other things), until I decided to go to the Pikeville meet last October.  I probably had only done three real(and short) road trips in over a year (two in the New River Valley, the other around Richmond last March). 

As a result, US 52 itself taunts me between I-74 and US 58 Business/US 221 in Hillsville now.  If I get a job in North Carolina this summer, my plans are to hopefully clinch that and most of US 52(I do have the part between Hillsville and Wytheville) and Huntington, WV.

[Mapmikey]

What taunts me most often in this hobby is my wife...makes fun of me.

On the other hand she allows me to take about 10 rides a year by myself so I have the freedom to do circuitous things and double-backs to clinch highways.  HAven't progressed to being able to spend the night yet on these rides but maybe one day.

I also live in one corner of Virginia where Bristol is 5 hrs from me.  The only way you can ever make progress like that is to get up at 3 a.m. and stay gone 15-18 hrs, which is what I do.  It still took a long time to clinch the Virginia primary system, and inconveniently the newest segment to open since then is a US 460 Bypass just SE of Grundy.  So I have to spend 12 hrs just to go get that.  So I am waiting on an opportunity to accomplish something else out that way.

Other things that taunt me:
I messed up finishing the western US 422 in 2003 when I mistook one of the I-77 ramps in Cleveland for the other one, and are missing the 3/4 mile in between them (will go to Cleveland this summer to get that but I will also clinch nationally US 322 and I-77 to make it worth the effort).
I am taunted by the digital age starting too late.  Wish digital photography was available when I lived in Norfolk 1991-93...the number of older shields and cutouts still available throughout Virginia was mind-boggling.  Those who have seen some of Mike Summa's stuff - he only got a small fraction of what was out there.
I am taunted by US 4 having a 7-mile detour when I drove the rest of it last summer.


Mapmikey

[Laura]

What's preventing me from getting a Roadgeek achievement? Oh, maybe the fact that I don't have a personal vehicle yet. And I'm 20...

I don't drive yet (I'm 15). I have still clinched I-88 in New York.

Yep. I clinched lots of routes before I had a car (I bought mine when I was almost 17) through family trips and trips with friends who did have cars. I had more local taunting gaps before I had a car than after. It was easier to convince friends who just got cars to drive places (Omg, lets go to ______ because we can!) because of the newfound freedom that a car brings. Haha, I was one of those people easily convinced because road geek.
[/quote]

First off, I did not consistently have a car until I was 20, and due to family trips, band trips(etc.) I had already clinched I-95 from Miami, FL to I-87 in the Bronx (minus the Wilmington, DE portion).  Also I have clinched all of I-77 south of US 460 in West Virginia without driving the majority of it (from I-74 near Mount Airy to the south end) on mission trips.

Unfortunately, around 20, roadgeeking became secondary to other priorities (school and other things), until I decided to go to the Pikeville meet last October.  I probably had only done three real(and short) road trips in over a year (two in the New River Valley, the other around Richmond last March). 
[/quote]

Yep. I really think that part of my reasoning for not clinching more in college was because 1. Even though i had a car, gas is expensive as a broke college student, 2. Road geeking was secondary to other priorities at that point of my life.

What taunts me most often in this hobby is my wife...makes fun of me.

On the other hand she allows me to take about 10 rides a year by myself so I have the freedom to do circuitous things and double-backs to clinch highways.  HAven't progressed to being able to spend the night yet on these rides but maybe one day.

I also live in one corner of Virginia where Bristol is 5 hrs from me.  The only way you can ever make progress like that is to get up at 3 a.m. and stay gone 15-18 hrs, which is what I do.  It still took a long time to clinch the Virginia primary system, and inconveniently the newest segment to open since then is a US 460 Bypass just SE of Grundy.  So I have to spend 12 hrs just to go get that.  So I am waiting on an opportunity to accomplish something else out that way.

I'm trying to think about this from a non-road geek perspective, but it's hard to do! Does she not like traveling very much? Before I dated Mike, I had non-road geek boyfriends, but they all liked to travel and see and do new things. So we'd mix the two things: let's go away for the weekend to see your friend in _______ town, or hey let's go to this event or place in _______ town, and take the long way home. And there. Or not even the long way, just a different way.

If she doesn't like to travel, then I guess that won't work.


iPhone

[1995hoo]

....

Yep. I really think that part of my reasoning for not clinching more in college was because 1. Even though i had a car, gas is expensive as a broke college student, 2. Road geeking was secondary to other priorities at that point of my life.

....

When I was in college, I was annoyed when 92-octane gas got "expensive" by rising above $1.00 a gallon! 

....

What taunts me most often in this hobby is my wife...makes fun of me.

On the other hand she allows me to take about 10 rides a year by myself so I have the freedom to do circuitous things and double-backs to clinch highways.  HAven't progressed to being able to spend the night yet on these rides but maybe one day.

I also live in one corner of Virginia where Bristol is 5 hrs from me.  The only way you can ever make progress like that is to get up at 3 a.m. and stay gone 15-18 hrs, which is what I do.  It still took a long time to clinch the Virginia primary system, and inconveniently the newest segment to open since then is a US 460 Bypass just SE of Grundy.  So I have to spend 12 hrs just to go get that.  So I am waiting on an opportunity to accomplish something else out that way.

I'm trying to think about this from a non-road geek perspective, but it's hard to do! Does she not like traveling very much? Before I dated Mike, I had non-road geek boyfriends, but they all liked to travel and see and do new things. So we'd mix the two things: let's go away for the weekend to see your friend in _______ town, or hey let's go to this event or place in _______ town, and take the long way home. And there. Or not even the long way, just a different way.

If she doesn't like to travel, then I guess that won't work.

I think the hard part of this can be the question of how far out of the way, or how much of a double-back, would be reasonable. Ms1995hoo is usually OK with going another route if she knows I'm avoiding construction or heavy traffic, even if it means a longer distance. Avoiding I-95 between DC and Richmond would be a prime example of both. But the problem becomes where do you draw the line as to how far out of the way is OK? Let me refer to the I-77 example you and I both mentioned earlier in this thread. Suppose Ms1995hoo and I were driving down I-81 in Virginia en route to Alabama for a golf trip. Via I-81 it's a tick under 120 miles from the southern end of the I-64 concurrency to the southern end of the I-77 concurrency. If I wanted to go around via I-64 and I-77 to allow me to finish clinching said routes in Virginia,* it would add at least 70 miles. When we're already going to be in the car 10 to 12 hours that day, adding another hour or so is not something to which she takes kindly! I suppose it's easy to say, "Oh, it's just another hour," but the problem becomes that I can probably find quite a few "just another hour" detours at multiple points along any given trip! So the question is how and where to use those.

*Earlier I listed unclinched segments in Virginia. I had forgotten about I-64 west of Clifton Forge. On our trip to the Homestead a few years ago I exited at Clifton Forge and used the back road over the mountain at the suggestion of a friend who lives in Clifton Forge. Nice drive to do one time.

[bassoon1986]

Oh this is totally me and my wife too. She knows that I love roads, road signs and maps. And she knows that I know the fastest way to get somewhere. But now sea figured out if I get off a main highway that I'm going for clinching another highway somewhere. She really does love my neediness but I, too, watch for that balance of what is too far out of the way when we are traveling.

[Mapmikey]

I'm trying to think about this from a non-road geek perspective, but it's hard to do! Does she not like traveling very much? Before I dated Mike, I had non-road geek boyfriends, but they all liked to travel and see and do new things. So we'd mix the two things: let's go away for the weekend to see your friend in _______ town, or hey let's go to this event or place in _______ town, and take the long way home. And there. Or not even the long way, just a different way.

If she doesn't like to travel, then I guess that won't work.

I hope I didn't come across as blaming my wife for anything...she definitely is not a road-geek but I think I finally got her to understand the interest in cutouts.  Maybe.  Plus in addition to the rides I get to work on the websites a fair amount.

Anyway, when we were in high school and college (late 1980s) we used to ride around because there wasn't much else to do.  But she is over riding for riding's sake and traffic in N. Virginia is terrible for her tastes.  If we are traveling somewhere I have some latitude in varying the routes but there are some limits as she gets car sick relatively easily - so limited mountain driving and also can't be hours and hours and hours otherwise.  But we've driven cross country a few times and last month completed a 4100 mile trip to Fla and Baton Rouge where about half of that triangular journey was new mileage for me.  This summer we are taking a train to Denver but then driving to Yellowstone and Vancouver BC and back to Denver...so I'm getting opportunities.

My "complaint" is that I am running out of places to go that can be accomplished without staying the night or doing the long days.  This is partly due to the fact that I have never lived anywhere as a driver other than VA or SC.  I have finished VA and DE; 90% of NC; 75% of SC; 60% of MD.  WV is a slog no matter where you go but I do have it in the rotation.  The potential pool for US routes and Interstates I haven't reached in the east is dwindling.  The long days don't bother me so long as get a good night sleep the night before.  My terrible commute has innoculated me to the point I don't notice the first 3 hours of a drive anymore.

Mapmikey

[74/171FAN]

....

Yep. I really think that part of my reasoning for not clinching more in college was because 1. Even though i had a car, gas is expensive as a broke college student, 2. Road geeking was secondary to other priorities at that point of my life.

....

When I was in college, I was annoyed when 92-octane gas got "expensive" by rising above $1.00 a gallon! 

For me, my brokeness was mostly as a sophomore (when I actually did take a couple trips).  My junior year was really when I, for the most part, did not take any despite having a bit more money (18 credit hours with two labs my first semester and then 15 credits plus working two days a week for the most part the second). 

My sickness of US 460 did help me a little bit though as well.  On the way home for Christmas last fall, I took US 60 instead from I-81 near Lexington to VA 147/SR 653 near Midlothian (OT, but has any progress been made on extending VA 147 south to US 360?) so I have a slight taunting of US 60 now through Richmond mostly from VA 161 to Laburnum Ave (with some parts clinched in Downtown Richmond).  I am also hoping to take US 58 most of the way home for Spring Break (starting near Hillsville), but I have a US 340 (from Greenville to Waynesboro) shortcut back-up plan just in case.

[Ian]

The thing that's taunting me the most at the moment is the fact that the only portion of the entire length of I-95 that I have left to clinch is between Gray and Lewiston (between exits 63 and 80) and north of Medway/Millinocket (exit 244). Those are also the only portions of interstate in Maine I have left to clinch.

[bugo]

The mere existence of US 491.

[briantroutman]

Every time I see this thread's title, I see this...

[CNGL-Leudimin]

I

What's preventing me from getting a Roadgeek achievement? Oh, maybe the fact that I don't have a personal vehicle yet. And I'm 20...

I'm 20 too, but I already have a personal vehicle.

I had the only possible partial clinch of the weird-numbered ARA-A1, leaving me with only 0.4 miles, from AP-2 to N-II, to fully clinch it (And the whole regional motorway system, as ARA-A1 is the only one). However, as of today this is no longer the case...

[Duke87]

I didn't own a car until I finished college. Indeed, prior to this forum starting up (which was at about the same time), I had no interaction with other roadgeeks, although I had by that point known about and been visiting some people's websites (including this one) for years. Prior to this point I obviously hadn't seen much roadwise - only what we drove on family trips, which were never particularly ambitious in scope, and my parents pretty much always said no when I asked to take a different longer route.

I did, however, "clinch" the entire NYC subway system while I was in college, so that's something.

The concept of clinching counties (as opposed to roads or train lines) was something that never occurred to me before I started going to road meets, though.

[txstateends]

Strangely enough, AR and LA taunted me in my early days, as late as 1997.  Somehow, till then, I would get within mere miles of either border with TX, but yet hadn't been to either state.  Some next-door neighbors had a couple of friends that landed a job in Nashville but didn't have a way to get there, so I took them.  Nice trip, except I was dead tired by the time I got them up there, and by the time I got back.  So, not only did I HA!ha! in a way about breaking the AR and LA barrier, but I also finally got to see the Mississippi River, and TN and MS.

More recently, the big taunt has been just getting and keeping a car, as well as the $$ for the gas.

[hbelkins]

Thought of two more for me. I only need I-579 to have all of Pennsylvania's interstates, and I only need I-395 to have all of Virginia's.

[freebrickproductions]

For me, it would have to be finding worded pedestrian signals, rare traffic signals, or rare sirens and railroad crossing equipment on the other side of my state or near me but just out of reasonable driving distance.

[Zzonkmiles]

The short segment of I-77 in Ohio between Akron and I-90 is all that stands between me and clinching it. But I don't know if I will ever be up in northern Ohio again. That would be my first clinch of any long-distance significance.

[cl94]

A few things nearly clinched, listing the area I missed:

-I-87 except north of US 11
-The New York Thruway within Exit 24
-I-787 within the Exit 23 interchange
-I-684 north of I-84
-I-490 within Exit 29 in New York
-NY 93 west of the Robert Moses Parkway
-NY 98 between NY 31A and NY 31
-Jackie Robinson Parkway south(west) of Exit 1. Maybe 1/4 mile.
-NJ 3 between NJ 495 and US 1-9