2024 Road Trip Plans

[hobsini2]

And then, adding in the villages to NY is a real big pain, since there are 531 of them on top of the 995 cities and towns.

And good luck visiting Tuxedo Park.

Boundaries actually extend beyond the gate, per State GIS and the Village's own zoning map.

I would say it qualifies once you are at Tuxedo and Park.

[Rothman]

And then, adding in the villages to NY is a real big pain, since there are 531 of them on top of the 995 cities and towns.

And good luck visiting Tuxedo Park.

That's just crazy rich people there. Wow.

Well...rich and super rich, anyway.

[froggie]

In Minnesota for a handful of days, with yesterday being the best day for me to take a daytrip.  My primary goals were to see the obscure MN 167 and shoot video of the now-completed 4-lane US 14 between New Ulm and Rochester.  Despite a constant series of mishaps, I managed to get a lot of video shot.  I'm not sure the quality yet...my original intention was to use a suction cup mount for my dashcam but it didn't arrive in time so I used my decade-old camcorder and borrowed my aunt's tripod.  Keeping the tripod stable was the most challenging part of the day.  Keeping the windshield clean was another challenge.  With how warm it's been there were a lot of bugs out.

Shot video of I-494, US 212, MN 167, MN 67, US 14, US 52, and Warner/Shepard Rds in St Paul.  I doubt the last one will turn out though because it was right into the sun.

[hbelkins]

Not sure how having all incorporated areas make things simpler.  When you have just unincorporated county land, it reduces the percentage of land area of the state that you have to cover.  It's more of a connect-the-dots exercise than hitting every square of a grid on a Battleship board.

Simpler doesn't necessarily mean easier. It just brings a lot more clarity about the task on hand. I'd much rather battleship-style than having to figure out what 5 spots to hit in one area, 10 in another, and then zero in some areas... but possibly 1 or 2 depending on your metric... it complicates quickly.
 

I'll take Kentucky's, what, 418 incorporated municipalities over NY's 1,526 incorporated municipalities any day.  Shoot, now I'm wondering how many of them I've been to, having just driven around the Jackson Purchase extensively "recently."

You didn't get a lot of them in the Purchase region. Now, if you were driving around Jefferson and Boone/Kenton/Campbell counties, you'd get a bunch. It's hard to tell where one municipality ends and the next one begins in those places.

[Rothman]

Not sure how having all incorporated areas make things simpler.  When you have just unincorporated county land, it reduces the percentage of land area of the state that you have to cover.  It's more of a connect-the-dots exercise than hitting every square of a grid on a Battleship board.

Simpler doesn't necessarily mean easier. It just brings a lot more clarity about the task on hand. I'd much rather battleship-style than having to figure out what 5 spots to hit in one area, 10 in another, and then zero in some areas... but possibly 1 or 2 depending on your metric... it complicates quickly.
 

I'll take Kentucky's, what, 418 incorporated municipalities over NY's 1,526 incorporated municipalities any day.  Shoot, now I'm wondering how many of them I've been to, having just driven around the Jackson Purchase extensively "recently."

You didn't get a lot of them in the Purchase region. Now, if you were driving around Jefferson and Boone/Kenton/Campbell counties, you'd get a bunch. It's hard to tell where one municipality ends and the next one begins in those places.

*shrug*

I thought the Jackson Purchase was the only region in KY divided totally up into townships.

[Quillz]

Just got back from my two-week trip!

Week 1:

• Started in the SF Valley. (CA-27 to CA-118)
• Went into the Mojave Desert. (I-405 to I-5 to CA-14 to US-395).
• Crested the Sierra (first time) at Sherman Pass.
• Spent the first night in Fresno but got there via CA-190, Yokul Drive, CA-198, CA-245, CA-180. (I was deliberately taking scenic routes and trying to follow the Sierra as much as possible).

Second night was from Fresno to Susanville. (As I was spending the first week in the Lassen area).

• CA-41 to CA-49.
• CA-49 to CA-4. This was new, I have never been on this route before so I crested the Sierra (second time) at Ebbets Pass. I read it was one-lane, was not expecting a large portion of the route to be one-lane. And of course I was dealing with opposing traffic and cyclists, so took me a long time.
• After that, easy drive: CA-89 to US-50 in South Lake Tahoe to US-395 in Carson City. Then a straight shot through Reno and on to Susanville.

Week 2:

Susanville to Arcata as I would spending time in redwoods. The logical thing would have just been CA-36 to the coast and then US-101 north. But since I'm not that logical, I wanted to visit Crater Lake.

• CA-36 to CA-44 to CA-89. This is a great drive for those who haven't done it, it's part of the Volcanic Scenic Legacy Byway and you get great views of Lassen and Shasta.
• CA-89 to I-5 to US-97. Short drive but offers more good views of Shasta, and you get to visit Weed, CA and tell everyone how much you love weed.
• US-97 up to Klamath Falls, then OR-62 to Crater Lake. (BTW I would end up clinching the entirety of OR-62). I haven't been to Crater Lake in nearly 20 years so visiting it again was amazing. Was there until sunset, could just barely make out Shasta which I think is more than 100 miles south at that point.
• OR-62 to I-5 to CA-96. Clinched the entire route, then finally CA-299 and my hotel is literally right off the freeway portion. Second time I've clinched the entirety of CA-96 (somewhat famous for having many alleged Bigfoot sightings in the area). Always a nice drive along the Klamath River.

Took some day trips up to Crescent City since they have a great beach and Jed Smith is one of the best state parks as far as the redwoods are concerned. Did some new trails I haven't done before.

Yesterday was Arcata to Monterey*, took US-101 down to CA-1, took that as far as the Russian River/CA-116, looped back to US-101. Then after crossing the Golden Gate Bridge, took CA-1 to CA-35 and did the entire Skyline Boulevard. Like CA-4, did not know CA-35 has a significant one-lane segment. Finally CA-17 back to CA-1 and my hotel.

*Oh, except the hotel decided to cancel my reservation I made months ago and didn't tell me until I showed up after five straight hours of driving. Something about my credit card being declined (a complete lie, my card works fine and I didn't get any attempted charges on it or fraud calls). I didn't hear the phone ring because when I'm driving CarPlay puts on the Do Not Disturb focus. So it was really great to show up after midnight, find out I don't have a hotel room I reserved for months, and being told "sorry, guess you're out of luck." Didn't find another room until nearly 3 AM down in Soledad, and it cost $200. (Whereas my reserved room was just $70, and now I think I know why my card that I was using all week suddenly had issues). And I'm really pissed because I've stayed there many times, have at least 2-3 cards on file with them. And the number they called me from was flagged as a spam number based in Indiana.

[vdeane]

Yesterday I got back from a three day clinching trip to clean up my New England mileage.  Friday featured a clinch of the north end of US 5 (finishing the route), some new mileage on US 302 and US 3, and cleaning up my US 2 mileage around Bethel.  Saturday had an incidental clinch of NH 115 before filling in the big gap in my US 3 mileage before heading back north so I could finish clinching US 302 to Portland, along with a clinch of ME 77 (I also grabbed pieces of ME 22 and ME 9 in Portland to clean that up, which may have been a mistake given how early everything closes there; it also didn't occur to me until too late that I could have cut that short and hopped on I-295 after getting ME 22 east of there and the signed but "might not actually be part of the route" north end of ME 77 to ME 100).  Sunday unified my main and Maine clinches of US 1 along with the eastern end of US 4 (finishing the route), main Spaulding Turnpike section of NH 16, bypass US 1 (and US 1A in York), the eastern end of NH 101 (finishing the route), and incidental mileage of NH/MA 1A and MA 110, tidying up some stuff from the Newburyport meet.

Along the way this was met with horrible traffic Saturday, especially on I-93 at exit 32 and the lane drop in Franconia Notch, and being stuck for miles behind slowpokes on US 302, which delayed me by a fair amount getting to Portland.  Sunday had trouble spots too (especially getting on the MassPike), but fortunately Google Maps correctly factored them into the drive time.

[D-Dey65]

On November 4, I finally got to do something I've been trying to do for months. I got to take another North Central Florida day trip. The first of my stops was the entrance to the Silver Glen Spring Recreation Area in Ocala National Forest. I wanted to get a sign on FL 19, I almost got in trouble for it because that whole area is a no parking zone, and I believe an undercover ranger spotted me.

The next stop was West DeLand, Florida, where I stopped at the DeLand Amtrak and SunRail station, and took a bunch of pictures of SunRail stations. The rain messed up some of the ones I took when I returned to DeLand.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get extra pics of the truck weigh station along US 17 between San Marco and East Palatka.

[PColumbus73]

My annual Thanksgiving trip to Ohio is coming up next week.

Starting in Georgetown, SC, I usually go:

North on SC 51 to SC 41
SC 41/41A, US 501, SC 38 to I-95
I-95 to NC 87
NC 87 to US 421
US 421 to I-85/73 (Greensboro Outer Loop) to I-40
US 421 / Salem Pkwy to US 52 / I-74
I-74 to I-77 / WV Turnpike
Turnpike to I-64 West in Charleston
I-64 to US 35
US 35 to Chillicothe, OH (end)

Last year, I-74 had just opened around Winston-Salem on the return, but I didn't take it, signage and markings were unclear. I may try I-74 this time, but I also feel like I want to go downtown to get on US 52 just because that's the way I've gone for so long. I also like looking at the skyline. Most likely, I'll probably use I-74 on the return trip because of the 52/421 interchange.

When I-295 is fully open, I may still go through Fayetteville, more to see what's changed since I used to live there as a kid. Ever since I-295 and the Murchinson Road Frwy, Bragg Blvd's gotten rundown between Skibo Rd and 295.

Seeing the widened I-95 opened would be cool. Other than that, it might just be the same ol' trip.

Has anyone been through Wytheville, VA recently? How has traffic been on I-77 & 81 since Hurricane Helene?

[hbelkins]

Has anyone been through Wytheville, VA recently? How has traffic been on I-77 & 81 since Hurricane Helene?

I was on I-77 south to I-81 south a couple of months ago, so I can't really comment on the section that would be most impacted by hurricane-detoured traffic (the concurrency).

We've had crews detailed to Boone for about six weeks. The route they took was US 23 to Kingsport, I-81 to Wytheville, I-77 south to US 421, then 421 back north (actually west) to Boone.

[D-Dey65]

I still want to try for the remaining westbound rest areas and weigh stations of I-10 in Madison County, as well as some other stuff in the region. But on my way there, I also want to capture the Zaxby's on FL 40 in Ocala. Why, you ask? Because it used to be the Whataburger in Ocala and until I found out about this one in Mulberry, Florida there was only one image in that category.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Former_Whataburger_restaurants

[PColumbus73]

My annual Thanksgiving trip to Ohio is coming up next week.

Starting in Georgetown, SC, I usually go:

North on SC 51 to SC 41
SC 41/41A, US 501, SC 38 to I-95
I-95 to NC 87
NC 87 to US 421
US 421 to I-85/73 (Greensboro Outer Loop) to I-40
US 421 / Salem Pkwy to US 52 / I-74
I-74 to I-77 / WV Turnpike
Turnpike to I-64 West in Charleston
I-64 to US 35
US 35 to Chillicothe, OH (end)

Last year, I-74 had just opened around Winston-Salem on the return, but I didn't take it, signage and markings were unclear. I may try I-74 this time, but I also feel like I want to go downtown to get on US 52 just because that's the way I've gone for so long. I also like looking at the skyline. Most likely, I'll probably use I-74 on the return trip because of the 52/421 interchange.

When I-295 is fully open, I may still go through Fayetteville, more to see what's changed since I used to live there as a kid. Ever since I-295 and the Murchinson Road Frwy, Bragg Blvd's gotten rundown between Skibo Rd and 295.

Seeing the widened I-95 opened would be cool. Other than that, it might just be the same ol' trip.

Has anyone been through Wytheville, VA recently? How has traffic been on I-77 & 81 since Hurricane Helene?

Just returned home from Thanksgiving.

To answer my own question regarding traffic on I-77 / Wytheville, VA, I didn't notice a major change in volume. I-77 North might have been thicker, but moved at or around the posted speed limit.

On I-95 in North Carolina, the lanes were shifted onto the southbound side, still at 60 MPH between Business 95 and I-74. The HUGE APL at the I-95/295 interchange was uncovered, likely because there wouldn't be a tarp to cover it.

On US 421, I also saw the new Future I-685 signs (meh) between Sanford and Greensboro, looks like they installed them at the county lines mostly.

At US 52 / NC 74 on the way up, the merge there was backed up for a while but on the way back south, it looks like they shifted NC 74 onto the permanent westbound lanes. I did use NC 74 on the return trip for the first time. It's a pretty decent drive, and I might use it regularly to bypass the ramp from 52 South to 421 South. But, I feel like the 'old' way, staying on US 52, makes for a more interesting drive. Other than the sound walls, there isn't much to look at on NC 74.

In West Virginia, they are working on rebuilding the jersey barriers on the Turnpike for a few miles on either side of the Cheylan toll plaza, they didn't close any lanes, but it's a tight ride for a little bit between the walls and the lane markings.

[D-Dey65]

I still want to try for the remaining westbound rest areas and weigh stations of I-10 in Madison County, as well as some other stuff in the region. But on my way there, I also want to capture the Zaxby's on FL 40 in Ocala. Why, you ask? Because it used to be the Whataburger in Ocala and until I found out about this one in Mulberry, Florida there was only one image in that category.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Former_Whataburger_restaurants

This road trip is happening tomorrow, and it's also going to include Folkston, Georgia.