US 160, end-to-end?

[oscar]

Judging by online reviews, your choices along I-25 are either (1) over $100 a night or (2) dumps.

Google Maps tells me that it's 767 miles from Springfield to Trinidad using US-160.  That is a heck of a long day's drive on two-lane roads.

Honestly, it might be worth taking a 20-mile deviation into Liberal (link to Google Maps directions) and stay the night there.

Or maybe deviate in the opposite direction, into Garden City?

[Scott5114]

Honestly, it might be worth taking a 20-mile deviation into Liberal (link to Google Maps directions) and stay the night there.

Also, visiting Liberal makes it easy to pick up Texas and Beaver counties in Oklahoma, if you want to go on a short excursion to do that after you drop your brother off at the room.

[apeman33]

Judging by online reviews, your choices along I-25 are either (1) over $100 a night or (2) dumps.

Google Maps tells me that it's 767 miles from Springfield to Trinidad using US-160.  That is a heck of a long day's drive on two-lane roads.

Honestly, it might be worth taking a 20-mile deviation into Liberal (link to Google Maps directions) and stay the night there.

Or maybe deviate in the opposite direction, into Garden City?

Longer deviation. Liberal is good. The best motels are on the west side on U.S. 54 or at U.S. 83 at the very north end of town.

You'd also get to see the north end of U.S. 270, which runs in Kansas only from the state line to the intersection of 54 and 83. The only reason that part still exists is because Oklahoma wouldn't agree to terminate 270 at the intersection with 83 north of Turpin.

[oscar]

^ Makes sense for H.B. But I've stayed overnight in Seward County KS (a long time ago, don't remember where I stayed), and I'm trying to stay overnight in counties I haven't stayed before. So the trip I'm plotting (entering Colorado via KS/CO 96, since I've clinched all of US 160 west of US 83) will include an overnight stay in Garden City.

I might, time permitting, deviate to Liberal anyway, and beyond to Hooker OK and back before heading north to Garden City. I don't need the OK counties south of Liberal for my "round 2" count. But it would fill a hole in my coverage of US 54, which I might finish off on my way back from Colorado.

BTW, H.B., it looks from your counties map like you might've clinched the short and mostly intrastate US 166 already, since you have a strip of counties in Kansas along the Oklahoma border, including one (Chautauqua) served by US 166 but missed by US 160. Is my guess right?

[kphoger]

I might, time permitting, deviate to Liberal anyway, and beyond to Hooker OK and back before heading north to Garden City.

I have childhood memories of driving through Hooker.  Back then, there was a farmhouse visible from US-54 with 'HOOKER HARDWARE' painted on the roof in huge letters.  I could only assume such a business existed in case one's prostitute needed modifications.  Alas, the building doesn't seem to exist anymore, as I've been unable to locate it on Google Maps upon several attempts.

[hbelkins]

^ Makes sense for H.B. But I've stayed overnight in Seward County KS (a long time ago, don't remember where I stayed), and I'm trying to stay overnight in counties I haven't stayed before. So the trip I'm plotting (entering Colorado via KS/CO 96, since I've clinched all of US 160 west of US 83) will include an overnight stay in Garden City.

I might, time permitting, deviate to Liberal anyway, and beyond to Hooker OK and back before heading north to Garden City. I don't need the OK counties south of Liberal for my "round 2" count. But it would fill a hole in my coverage of US 54, which I might finish off on my way back from Colorado.

BTW, H.B., it looks from your counties map like you might've clinched the short and mostly intrastate US 166 already, since you have a strip of counties in Kansas along the Oklahoma border, including one (Chautauqua) served by US 166 but missed by US 160. Is my guess right?

Yes, I clinched US 166 on my trip to the Wichita meet back in 2013, which was a consolation prize for having my trip altered by my vehicle breakdown outside of Springfield. My plan was to get a bunch of those Oklahoma counties on the way out to Wichita, spend Friday night in Wichita, and then had a reservation in Lawrence for Saturday night after the meet before heading home via I-70 on Sunday. But my vehicle woes altered my plans. I overnighted in Joplin on Friday, then drove to Wichita via US 400, which got me the concurrent part of 166. I couldn't cancel my Lawrence reservation, and I had to stay in Springfield on Sunday night so I could pick up my vehicle on Monday, so I changed up my travel plans. On Sunday I went back to Wichita and then did a modified reversal of my intended routing, and I decided to clinch US 166 when I headed back east. I enjoyed that drive, which was surprisingly scenic through the Flint Hills.

I may have my brother talked into making the trip. He's going a bit stir-crazy and is itching to get out of his house for awhile, so he may be a go for this. I'm shooting for late September or early October to do this, assuming he doesn't decide to go fishing in Florida or Alabama at some point during that timeframe.

[kphoger]

I'm shooting for late September or early October to do this, assuming he doesn't decide to go fishing in Florida or Alabama at some point during that timeframe.

It looks like I'm going to be picking up about 250 miles of US-160 at the very end of September.  It'll be funny if we pass each other.

[oscar]

I have childhood memories of driving through Hooker.  Back then, there was a farmhouse visible from US-54 with 'HOOKER HARDWARE' painted on the roof in huge letters.  I could only assume such a business existed in case one's prostitute needed modifications.  Alas, the building doesn't seem to exist anymore, as I've been unable to locate it on Google Maps upon several attempts.

I drove through Hooker in late June, as part of a US 64 clinching effort. I don't recall seeing such a roof sign.

[kphoger]

I have childhood memories of driving through Hooker.  Back then, there was a farmhouse visible from US-54 with 'HOOKER HARDWARE' painted on the roof in huge letters.  I could only assume such a business existed in case one's prostitute needed modifications.  Alas, the building doesn't seem to exist anymore, as I've been unable to locate it on Google Maps upon several attempts.

I drove through Hooker in late June, as part of a US 64 clinching effort. I don't recall seeing such a roof sign.

I remember it being visible from US-54 (southeast side of the highway), not US-64, northeast of town.  But, as I said, I don't think it's there anymore.

[hbelkins]

Starting to put this together in case it does work out. Poplar Bluff to Independence would be a good first-full-day trip (add an hour if I stay in Sikeston and another hour if I stay in Paducah the first partial day). There are some pretty decent accommodations in Independence at some good rates.

[kphoger]

Independence to Alamosa would be a heck of a long day, but still doable.

[oscar]

I completed last week my attempt to clinch all of the part of US 160 I hadn't already clinched. My US 160 travels stopped at Ulysses KS, since I'd clinched the route in AZ, NM, and CO, as well as the part in KS west of US 83.

There is a bridge closure detour for US 160 in Dade County MO, which I had to bypass using secondary route O. Missouri 511 says the closure will last a few more months (IIRC, target is early December).

I suggest that you not wait if you can, and plan on coming back later to finish the gap in your coverage of the route. On a route as long as US 160, you're bound to have a closure somewhere. If you wait for a closure to be fixed, a new one will probably pop up somewhere else, and so the entire route may never be open to traffic at any given time.

Traveler services were limited from I-35 (Wellington, which has a Walmart) west to Meade. No danger of running out of gas, but don't be choosy, or wait until your tank is almost empty.

I might have more to add later on other things.

[hbelkins]

Looking more and more like I won't be doing this trip this year. My brother's October is pretty busy, and it probably won't be too much longer before weather would impact travel across the mountains in Colorado. I will probably have to wait until next spring unless something comes up.

[US71]

Looking more and more like I won't be doing this trip this year. My brother's October is pretty busy, and it probably won't be too much longer before weather would impact travel across the mountains in Colorado. I will probably have to wait until next spring unless something comes up.

Just as well. Maybe the world will be a little less crazy by then.

[hbelkins]

Looking more and more like I won't be doing this trip this year. My brother's October is pretty busy, and it probably won't be too much longer before weather would impact travel across the mountains in Colorado. I will probably have to wait until next spring unless something comes up.

Just as well. Maybe the world will be a little less crazy by then.

Actually, the thoughts of traveling now are appealing. Gas is reasonably priced, and room rates are fairly low because of suppressed demand.

[kphoger]

I just completed the following portions of US-160:

– 49 miles from K-144 to K-27

– 119 miles from US-385 to Trinidad, CO (Main St)

– 15½ miles of the I-25 overlap, from Exit 30 to Exit 15

– 40 miles from Huerfano (CO) CR-450 to CO-150

[hbelkins]

This is now officially off the table for this year. My brother is interested in doing it next year, though. Anyone have a general idea on when in the spring weather becomes mostly a non-issue across the Rockies between I-25 and Durango? I'm thinking probably April, since last year on our Amtrak journey on the California Zephyr, it was snowing at the first stop west of Denver. (Can't remember the town).

[zzcarp]

This is now officially off the table for this year. My brother is interested in doing it next year, though. Anyone have a general idea on when in the spring weather becomes mostly a non-issue across the Rockies between I-25 and Durango? I'm thinking probably April, since last year on our Amtrak journey on the California Zephyr, it was snowing at the first stop west of Denver. (Can't remember the town).

For the mountain passes, weather is never a "non-issue". There are sometimes high mountain snowstorms into May (and can have measurable snow in June too). That said, April has mostly beautiful days, but it is one of our snowiest months so you could hit a dumping of snow.

CDOT does a good job maintaining the roads, so unless you hit a true blizzard you should be fine in April. If you want to avoid almost any risk of snow, wait until after Mother's Day in May.

[hbelkins]

This may be back on the table, as I have a whole bunch of vacation days now piled up, and my brother seems interested in doing a road trip (he proposed me riding to Florida with him to scout out camping/fishing spots back in the winter, but I had to back out because I was sticking close to home to tend to a then-sick, now-deceased dog). I definitely want to do 160 to its terminus, then double back and pick up 163 through Monument Valley and then hit the Moki Dugway going downhill. Not sure where we might end up after that, but my guess is I-70 on the return trip.

I'll need to check my brother's schedule, as I think March and April are busy for him, but May would probably be better in terms of weather across the mountains.

As I'd mentioned previously, a good full first day of travel would be from Paducah/Sikeston/Poplar Bluff to Independence. We'd have to see about the rest of the journey. He'd be making accommodation arrangements so I wouldn't be as picky as I am if I'm traveling alone (preferring exterior corridors and the like).

[Scott5114]

Beware of May in KS-MO–that's peak tornado season in this part of the country. Of course, there's no way in advance knowing if any given day is going to be good or bad, but I'd push it back to June to be safe (June is hot, but not usually as hot as July-August).

[1995hoo]

Just to make sure you're clear: If you go through Monument Valley and then head north on UT-261, you'll be going up the Moki Dugway, not down, unless you do like we did and turn around and go back down (as I noted earlier in the thread, we headed down the dirt road to Muley Point first, and the view was worth it).

[hbelkins]

Beware of May in KS-MO–that's peak tornado season in this part of the country.

You say that like it's a bad thing. If I got to work a twister sighting into the trip, that would make it even better. I'd still love to go on a storm-chasing tour sometime, but my wife's not too keen on the idea. My brother and his wife drove through a tornado-warned storm in Minnesota on their way back from their honeymoon, but they didn't actually get to see the funnel.

[Scott5114]

Beware of May in KS-MO–that's peak tornado season in this part of the country.

You say that like it's a bad thing. If I got to work a twister sighting into the trip, that would make it even better. I'd still love to go on a storm-chasing tour sometime, but my wife's not too keen on the idea. My brother and his wife drove through a tornado-warned storm in Minnesota on their way back from their honeymoon, but they didn't actually get to see the funnel.

I mean, it can certainly be fun, but storms in this part of the country during that particular time of year can range from "exciting light show with a few spinups here and there" to "levels entire cities". The tornado which completely destroyed Greensburg, KS (on US-54/400, to the north of the US-160 corridor) took place during the first week of May. Things can very quickly go from a fun romp to "the President will be here for a photo-op in a few days" territory, and it's pretty hard to continue a roadtrip when your car has been picked up from where you left it and forcibly placed in an adjoining county by a rotating column of air with a flagrant disrespect for property rights.

June weather tends to favor nighttime squall lines, which are primarily wind and hail, with occasional weaker tornadoes. Just as exciting as supercells if you're not familiar with Plains weather, but less likely to try to kill you.

[kphoger]

Yeah, hail can put a damper on driving.  But I've never considered tornado threat to really affect my travels.  Just means you might hit storms.

[Scott5114]

I am not really afraid of tornadoes–if I were I would have moved a long time ago–but it can be extremely tricky to keep track of both the position of a dangerous storm and your own position when both are moving, especially if you're in a region where you aren't familiar enough with the names of counties or towns to have a good idea of how close a cell is.

It can also be difficult to find up-to-date weather information while driving, since car radios don't receive NOAA weather radio. TV meteorologists are often simulcast on radio, but often rely too much on Doppler displays as a visual aid, making it difficult to follow on the radio. They also tend to fixate on individual cells that threaten the larger cities in the viewing area, and can sometimes neglect cells in more rural areas long enough that it would make it difficult to keep track of their location. (This tendency is why I splurged on a software package that pulls radar data straight off the NOAA network, so I can keep an up-to-the-minute track of individual cells that I am interested in, while the guys on TV are salivating over some gee-whiz storm that has no chance of impacting me.)

At the very least, a roadtrip essential through this region in May would be a battery-operated NOAA weather radio, which I would keep on instead of any sort of music playlist any time I was in an area that carried a Hazardous Weather Outlook of Slight or above. Ideally, I'd either let someone else drive, or enlist a geography-minded copilot riding shotgun. Either way, someone who is not driving should be correlating NWS announcements and warning polygons with a map and the car's current location to advise the driver on when it may be a good idea to stop and wait, detour, or seek shelter.