Spring Break trip 2021

[kphoger]

Most times of day, I'd probably go I-70 straight to I-64.  However, at peak traffic times, it's best to avoid downtown.  The last time I made that drive, that's the way I went, but it was also late in the evening.

I actually recommend I-270 east from Saint Charles (use MO-370 or not, six one way and half a dozen the other), then I-255 south from Glen Carbon.

70 to 64 is fine bc you don't go straight through downtown. You just take the Musial Bridge and segue right onto 64 in East STL.

Ah, yes, I suppose that's true.  All of my previous trips through there were pre- I-70 shift.

[D-Dey65]

At this point, I'm considering the possibility, I may not take any big road trips of any kind until the Spring of 2021, because I'm getting ready to schedule an operation on my knee. That's because more than eight years ago I tried sitting in the driver's seat of a 1966-67 MG Midget, and have had water on the knee ever since, but now it's starting to bulge up.

Small cars and big people just don't mix!

[D-Dey65]

New plans; While I still want another Northeastern Florida day trip in the Spring of 2021, I want to try another day trip before this in a more northwesterly direction. That's because I want to get more pics of US 129 in Levy County, and US Alternate 27 that isn't overlapped with US 19 and 98.


Also, I might want to add the Folkston Funnel to my Northeastern Florida trip.

[GaryV]

I never really understood why spring break was so special. Schools typically didn't have fall breaks back when I was in college (1979-1983). Why is a spring break needed if a fall break isn't?

And I never went anywhere on spring break. Farthest I ever got from home was either Lexington (shopping) or Hindman (high school basketball tournament). And one year I had to stay on campus and work. So spring break was never a magical thing for me. I appreciated the week off from classes, but it wasn't a big deal other than that.

In Mexico, spring break always falls during Holy Week and Easter, as many families travel during that time to be with relatives.  I always thought it strange that spring break doesn't line up in the same way here in the USA, even while winter break does line up with Christmas.

For some reason, Christmas was considered a secular holiday and Easter a Christian holiday, so binding spring break to Easter was challenged in court.

Perhaps the fact that Easter moves on the calendar had almost as much to do with it.  Sometimes it falls very near to the end of a college academic term, much like Thanksgiving does.  Sometimes when I was in school, the calendar-fixed "spring" break in March fell very near to Mardi Gras.

Most colleges have a semester break from some time in Dec to Jan.  But when schools were on trimesters, the break might fall at Thanksgiving, and they'd get another winter break at Christmas - but with assignments.  I never understood trimesters.  Same number of weeks of school in the year (3x10 vs 2x15), but one extra week of exams.

[1995hoo]

When I was growing up, spring break in the Fairfax County schools was almost always (note "almost") tied to Easter, though sometimes it was the week after Easter when Easter fell in March. When we were little kids, it was widely known, even among Jewish students, as "Easter vacation," though that custom fell by the wayside. The times when spring break wasn't tied to Easter was normally when Easter fell very late in April (for me, that likely would have been 1984, when Easter fell on April 22; I also vaguely recall spring break being separate from Easter in 1991, when Easter fell on March 31, because I recall one of the teachers being thrown off by it–spring break normally marked the end of the third quarter of the school year but that year it didn't). School here also ended later than it does in many other parts of the country–usually mid-June, around June 16 or so when I was a kid–and I think that had something to do with when spring break was scheduled, as they didn't want it to be too early relative to the end of the school year or too late relative to either when the academic quarters began and ended or high school AP exams.

One significant change they made over the years was a rule that if spring break is not scheduled for the week before Easter, Good Friday will always be a "teacher workday" (i.e., no school for students) and teachers will be given flexibility as to whether they want to work that day or some other. This came up after one year when school was scheduled for that day and they ran into a teacher rebellion when a lot of them sought to take that day off and there weren't enough substitutes.

[ftballfan]

In Michigan, there tend to be two popular weeks for Spring Break in K-12 schools, regardless of when Easter falls:
The week beginning the last Monday in March in the Traverse City area (basically Ludington/Big Rapids and north)
The week beginning the first Monday in April in the rest of Lower Michigan

My school was always the last Monday in March began Spring Break. This year, Good Friday falls during that week. Even when Good Friday doesn't fall during that week, it's a day off (my hometown is heavily Catholic and Good Friday services run from 12 noon to 3pm; businesses used to close between those times on Good Friday)

[TravelingBethelite]

My plans for spring break have changed quite a lot, due to the friend I was supposed to take the trip with being called back home to the Chicago area for spring break at the request of his mom. Naturally as a roadgeek, I cooked up a new trip in minutes after hearing this news. It'll be my first epic solo road trip, and I estimate it to be nearly 4000 miles. I'm getting some repair work done on my Civic this week so it should hopefully be up to the task.

Day 1: Friday, March 26th: I-70 east > US 54 east > I-72 east > I-57 north > IL 9 east > IN 26 east > visit a friend in the Lafayette area > US 52 east > IN 47 "north" > path splits (local road east from Sheridan > IN 67 east > IN 32 > OH 571/IN 38) > US 36 > first long day ends at Piqua, OH

Day 2: Saturday, March 27th: Piqua > US 36 > plow across Ohio > US 250 > OH 151 > OH 332 > OH 9 > US 30 > OH 11 > US 224 > PA 551 > PA 208 > US 19 > US 62 > PA 965 > US 62 > I-86/NY 17 > NY 417 > I-99 > I-86/NY 17 > probably visiting/staying the night with a friend in Binghamton

Day 3: Sunday, March 28th: Binghamton > I-88 > NY 7 > Schenectady > NY 2 > US 4 > plow across Vermont > I-91 > US 302 > may stop at Mt. Washington to get the New England classic "My Car Climbed Mt. Washington" bumper sticker > US 302 > down into Portland, ME to stay the night with a friend

Day 4: Monday, March 29th (shorter day): Hang out with my friend in Portland for the first part of the day > US 1 > cut through New Hampshire > US 1 into Massachusetts > I-95 "west" > US 3 > stop for the rest of the day and stay the night with a friend in Bedford

Another post will come with my plans for the second half.

[vdeane]

FYI, both New York and Vermont have quarantine requirements.  NY's is anyone from a non-adjacent (by land, so this includes RI) state has to quarantine from two weeks if they don't test out with a shorter quarantine (negative test within three days before entering NY, negative test again three days after entering NY).  VT requires a two-week quarantine from everyone.  Whether the states will go back to the more lenient policies at some point is anyone's guess, but I would think that would be more a spring/summer thing than a late winter thing if they do.  Even then, for NY that would be contingent on MO's COVID numbers, and VT used a county-based system that never included MO in the first place.

[hbelkins]

FYI, both New York and Vermont have quarantine requirements.  NY's is anyone from a non-adjacent (by land, so this includes RI) state has to quarantine from two weeks if they don't test out with a shorter quarantine (negative test within three days before entering NY, negative test again three days after entering NY).  VT requires a two-week quarantine from everyone.  Whether the states will go back to the more lenient policies at some point is anyone's guess, but I would think that would be more a spring/summer thing than a late winter thing if they do.  Even then, for NY that would be contingent on MO's COVID numbers, and VT used a county-based system that never included MO in the first place.

How will they enforce this? If he's staying with a friend in Binghamton, if the friend doesn't rat him out, no worries. And it looks like he's just passing through Vermont. I'm presuming the enforcement is presentation of a certificate upon obtaining lodging at the hotel.

[vdeane]

All travelers coming from out of state (even from adjacent states) are required to fill out the traveler health form (online, for non-air travel) (and also to take a COVID test four days after arrival, even from adjacent states).  Enforcement is mainly at airports (where failure to do so carries a $10,000 fine), but in theory the state police can pull over someone with out of state plates and make sure quarantine requirements are followed.  I'm not sure how often it happens, though.  Still, violating quarantine requirements isn't exactly the greatest idea during the pandemic.  Travel is how the virus spreads, after all.

I have no idea what enforcement is like in Vermont.

[oscar]

Check also whether PA still has its own quarantine requirements. Last I checked (some time ago), they allowed travelers to pass through if they were taking a reasonably direct route through PA. The itinerary outlined above doesn't seem very "direct", if that rule is still in place.

ME and MA had tough quarantine requirements, too, last I checked. Also CT, RI, and NJ (I visited all three and NY last October, during a brief window when VA wasn't on their "bad lists", but the approach has changed quite a bit since then).

[TravelingBethelite]

Alright, thanks for the input everyone. I had not given as much consideration to COVID policies as I should have. I think I may try and get a (hopefully negative) test before I leave Missouri that I can produce on demand.

All travelers coming from out of state (even from adjacent states) are required to fill out the traveler health form (online, for non-air travel) (and also to take a COVID test four days after arrival, even from adjacent states).  Enforcement is mainly at airports (where failure to do so carries a $10,000 fine), but in theory the state police can pull over someone with out of state plates and make sure quarantine requirements are followed.  I'm not sure how often it happens, though.  Still, violating quarantine requirements isn't exactly the greatest idea during the pandemic.  Travel is how the virus spreads, after all.

I have no idea what enforcement is like in Vermont.

I wonder how they would enforce this if I am going to be in the state for 40 hours at the longest.

[D-Dey65]

I just came back from a two day trip to the Metro-Orlando area, because my aunt died.

My trip for northeastern Florida is still on for Friday (earlier than I planned), but I'll probably have to take more trips to my uncle's house after this.

[kevinb1994]

I just came back from a two day trip to the Metro-Orlando area, because my aunt died.

My trip for northeastern Florida is still on for Friday (earlier than I planned), but I'll probably have to take more trips to my uncle's house after this.

I'm sorry to hear that.

I took a day trip there (to Metro Orlando) this past Sunday. Was able to clinch Lake County via FL-40. The thing I wish we did was use FL-11 heading there and back, instead of taking I-95 to FL-40, then taking FL-11 back to home territory. Astor/Volusia is nice via boating on the St Johns River.

[D-Dey65]

Was able to clinch Lake County via FL-40. The thing I wish we did was use FL-11 heading there and back, instead of taking I-95 to FL-40, then taking FL-11 back to home territory.

I've done some of those and more. In April 2019, I took FL 40 from I-75 in Ocala to FL 11 and headed up 11 to Bunnell when I was going to NYC. In October 2019 I clinched all of FL 11. In December 2019, I took FL 40 from I-95 in Ormond Beach to I-75, when I was coming back from NYC in November. Clinching FL 40 in Lake County is pretty easy, since it's a short distance, and intersections with all other major roads are outside of the county lines (FL 19 in Marion County, US 17 in Volusia County).

Astor/Volusia is nice via boating on the St Johns River.

Well, I've never boated on either side of the Astor Bridge, but that area looks nice enough, so I'll take your word for it. I keep looking for the time and the appetite to eat at the Blackwater Inn, but I never find it. Did you know that segment of Butler Road and Front Street in Astor used to be part of SR 40?

[kevinb1994]

Was able to clinch Lake County via FL-40. The thing I wish we did was use FL-11 heading there and back, instead of taking I-95 to FL-40, then taking FL-11 back to home territory.

I've done some of those and more. In April 2019, I took FL 40 from I-75 in Ocala to FL 11 and headed up 11 to Bunnell when I was going to NYC. In October 2011 I clinched all of FL 11. In December 2019, I took FL 40 from I-95 in Ormond Beach to I-75, when I was coming back from NYC in November. Clinching FL 40 in Lake County is pretty easy, since it's a short distance, and intersections with all other major roads are outside of the county lines (FL 19 in Marion County, US 17 in Volusia County).

Astor/Volusia is nice via boating on the St Johns River.

Well, I've never boated on either side of the Astor Bridge, but that area looks nice enough, so I'll take your word for it. I keep looking for the time and the appetite to eat at the Blackwater Inn, but I never find it. Did you know that segment of Butler Road and Front Street in Astor used to be part of SR 40?

Yes, I do know that, I could tell by the way that the road(way)(s) cut(s) off at the bridge (and the way that the power poles are laid out). I do know that a ferry once existed there before 1928.

[D-Dey65]

I just came back from my second Northeastern Florida excursion, which includes (believe it or not) Folkston, Georgia!

Pictures coming within the months.

And for the record, unless I have to visit my uncle in the Orlando area again, I'm not taking anymore day trips until late April or May, let alone cross country road trips.

[TravelingBethelite]

I'm really excited to go on this trip, if for no other reason that I can stop wasting time daydreaming about it on Google Maps.

[TravelingBethelite]

I am enroute. I'll share photos later. Staying the night in Piqua, Ohio on US 36 at I-75.

Thoughts so far:

-US 54 to I-72 is a great, if slower, way to bypass St. Louis if coming from the west.

-IL 54 is very obviously the old road, with lots of bumps and seals between Springfield and US 136.

-IN 28 is a great back way to cross Indiana

-US 421 is fun and hilly between IN 26 and Frankfort.

-IN 9 along the east side of Anderson is horrendous - there were traffic lights like every 1/8 of a mile for almost 3 miles.

-US 36 from the Ohio line to Piqua is not fun to drive at night. Definitely merits a 55 mph speed limit during the day, but after dark - I'm not so sure.

[D-Dey65]

The April Florida Spring Trip is on for Next Friday.

It's Polk County and FL 441 for me.

In between I've got a couple of private airports I'm considering, not to mention a bit of FL 415.

[NWI_Irish96]

-IN 28 is a great back way to cross Indiana

-IN 9 along the east side of Anderson is horrendous - there were traffic lights like every 1/8 of a mile for almost 3 miles.

-US 36 from the Ohio line to Piqua is not fun to drive at night. Definitely merits a 55 mph speed limit during the day, but after dark - I'm not so sure.

If I had known you were planning on driving 9 through Anderson, I'd have advised you to avoid that. Best way to get from IN 28 down to US 36 in that part of the state would be IN 13 to old 132 to Pendleton, which is a neat town.

[D-Dey65]

Since there's supposed to be a lot of rain in Friday, I'm going to try to move the next road trip to Thursday.