2026 Road Trip Plans

[Max Rockatansky]

Thanks to some mechanical problems, my southernmost Florida's Turnpike Service Plaza photography crusade has been delayed again.

That was the best plaza too (Snapper Creek).  It isn't full service like the others and thus always had less traffic.  It was a super handy stopping spot coming out of the Keys.

Really? Because I thought that was full service with the addition of a Miami-Dade County Fire-Rescue station.

Oh, BTW, the proposed NYC road trip with my mother was postponed to August, but now I'm not even sure it will happen.

Yes, it basically is just a mini mart with a Dunkin Donuts and gas pumps.  The restrooms aren't dissimilar to what you'd find at a normal gas station.  The fact that it isn't a full travel plaza and is in the middle of the urban environment keeps it pretty quiet. 

[D-Dey65]

^
Eh, I'm still going to grab pictures of it and post it in Wikimedia Commons anyhow. The same goes for Pompano Beach.

[Max Rockatansky]

Apparently I have several planned through November:

-  My wife and I will be staying at a cabin this weekend up around Shaver Lake and exploring the road network above Hunting Lake. 
-  I have a day trip planned to capture a series of mining roads in SLO County and Santa Barbara County.
-  I'm taking my nieces up to San Francisco in late August to take photos.  One is a senior and apparently that is a thing that kids do?
-  I am taking my wife to Lake Tahoe for her birthday coming up in early September.
-  At some point in September I'm looking at knocking out Central Camp Road east Oakhurst.  I'm also looking at completing Bear Creek Road to Balch Camp at some point also.  There are a couple weird roads around the Tule River watershed I'd like to see.
-  The first weekend in October my wife and I (possibly my father in law also) heading out to Great Basin National Park in Nevada.
-  In late October I'm attending a conference in Oceanside for work.  I'm taking my wife and turning that into a San Diego area trip.
-  My wife and I will be heading back to Maui in early November.  I'm unclear at this point if we will take the ferry to Lanai.  I rented a Jeep Wrangler and will be looking to complete Piilani Highway.

[D-Dey65]

My New York trip with Mom has been cancelled, or at least postponed. For August I'm still hoping for the Florida's Turnpike South Florida photography crusade. I also want to get another drive to the old DeLand ACL station for another SunRail tour.

If I'm lucky, I'll be able to take a trip on my own to the New York Tri-State area in November. A lot of it depends on whether or not Mom will panic while she's alone.

[pderocco]

-  I'm taking my nieces up to San Francisco in late August to take photos.  One is a senior and apparently that is a thing that kids do?

Consider going to Treasure Island at dusk to photograph the city.

[Max Rockatansky]

-  I'm taking my nieces up to San Francisco in late August to take photos.  One is a senior and apparently that is a thing that kids do?

Consider going to Treasure Island at dusk to photograph the city.

I'm to under the goal is Baker Beach and the Palace of the Fine Arts.  I have to transport the photographer to the city.  My role beyond that is unclear.

[kphoger]

We have plans to visit family in Branson in December.  Our lodging is on the west side of town, so I'll probably take US-160 south from Springfield for the first time (and MO-13), instead of the usual US-65.  I don't think I've ever been between Springfield and Branson West before;  at least, if I have, then it was long enough ago that I don't remember.

[D-Dey65]

I'm starting to have serious doubts about going on a Tri-Rail photography crusade due to enforcement of rigid and frequently ambiguous naming conventions by high-profile members of WikiProject:Trains.


I'll take other pics on future road trips though. I still have to set a date for the Florida's Turnpike southern rest area photography crusade.

[JayhawkCO]

Just booked flights to go visit some family in Minnesota. Because I'm not normal, I booked a RT flight to Sioux Falls and am going to drive back and forth with the plan to clinch the 20 counties in Western Minnesota that I haven't been to.

Initial thoughts for a route are:

Outbound
I-90 East
MN23 North
MN30 East
MN4 North
MN68 West
MN67 West
MN19 East
MN15 North
US212 East

Inbound
US12 West
MN9 North
MN28 West
US75 north to Traverse County line then back south
MN7 East
US59 South
MN19 West
SD30 West
I-29 South

Would clinch the following Minnesota counties:
Big Stone
Brown
Chippewa
Cottonwood
Kandiyohi
Lac Qui Parle
Lincoln
Lyon
McLeod
Meeker
Murray
Pipestone
Pope
Redwood
Renville
Stevens
Swift
Traverse
Watonwan
Yellow Medicine

[kinupanda]

It looks like I'll be driving to South Padre Island in October (most definitely off-off-season) for an event. Despite living in San Antonio, I've yet to make it to the RGV, so this gives me a chance to visit a few places on my "want to go" list and engage in some forum-relevant activities (e.g., new counties).

On the way there, I have some stops in McAllen and Brownsville. I'm planning on taking SH 16 to Hebbronville, then cutting across SH 285 to catch US 281/I-69C in Falfurrias to get to McAllen. From there, I'll take the obvious I-2/US 83 to I-69E/US 77/US 83 to Brownsville. (How I get to Port Isabel and the bridge to SPI depends on the order I make my visits there.)

On the way back, I'll stick to the straightforward I-69E/US 77 and I-37, with a potential stop in Kingsville (depending on timing).

[CoreySamson]

It looks like I'll be driving to South Padre Island in October (most definitely off-off-season) for an event. Despite living in San Antonio, I've yet to make it to the RGV, so this gives me a chance to visit a few places on my "want to go" list and engage in some forum-relevant activities (e.g., new counties).

I'm also considering a short trip to South Padre sometime in the next couple years, maybe this fall. I also need a few counties down there.

[JayhawkCO]

Very excited. Unfortunately, my current beater car crapped out. But I'm buying a new one and picking it up in Imperial, CA. Flying into San Diego, driving over so I'll clinch I-8 and then going to do a couple of bucket list drives in the Apache and Coronado Trails coming home. Should pick off 6 or 7 new counties, finishing Arizona.

[gonealookin]

Yesterday I completed my 15-night summer road trip.  It was 7-1/2 days of driving covering 4082 miles, and the cost of the gasoline came to $657.66.

Day 1:  Stateline, NV to Winnemucca, NV (a half-day "head-start")
Day 2:  Winnemucca to Evanston, WY
Day 3:  Evanston to Fort Morgan, CO
Day 4:  Fort Morgan to Omaha

Days 5-8:  Golf in Elkhorn, NE

Day 9:  Omaha to Lemmon, SD
Day 10:  Lemmon to Thermopolis, WY
Day 11:  Thermopolis to Boise

Days 12-15:  Golf in Boise

Day 16:  Boise to Stateline

There was a fair amount of Interstate involved, but I tended to stick more to US routes and state routes.  For example, Day 4 was routed on US 34, Kansas SR 27, US 36, US 81 and US 136 to Rock Port, MO, and then I-29 up to Council Bluffs.  I find it easier to maintain concentration on the two-lane highways that require slowing to pass through a town every 25 to 30 miles in areas like northern Kansas and southern Nebraska.  And that grid of routes across the Plains appears to have AADT maybe in the +/- 1000 area with speed limits of 65 or 70 mph, so it's not much slower than Interstates.  Those roads just seem more mentally engaging on a long trip than an Interstate.

A few highlights:
-- US 89 from Logan, UT over to Bear Lake.
-- Wyoming 130 over the Snowy Range from Saratoga to Laramie.
-- That run along the Kansas/Nebraska line has pleasantly rolling topography; very little of it is flat.
-- US 14 from Interstate 90 over the mountains to US 20 at Greybull, Wyoming might have been my favorite stretch of the whole trip.  It's a steep climb up the east side of the mountains, then the road becomes a fairly long high-speed straightaway across a high plateau, then you go plunging back down another stretch that doesn't cover much distance horizontally, it's just kind of a winding vertical descent.
-- US 20 through the steep-walled Wind River Canyon south of Thermopolis is short but very interesting.
-- US 26 across the Continental Divide.

Less interesting:
-- Interstate 29 from Omaha/Council Bluffs to Sioux Falls, and then the various roads I took in South Dakota east of the Missouri River.  Dead flat, and nothing but corn fields for hours on end.  That was a very long day.
-- Having traveled Interstate 84 across southern Idaho previously, I tried US 20 from Idaho Falls to Mountain Home.  Except for passing Craters of the Moon, I didn't see anything on that part of US 20 that I-84 doesn't offer.

[JayhawkCO]

A few highlights:
-- That run along the Kansas/Nebraska line has pleasantly rolling topography; very little of it is flat.

US36 is definitely the best way to get between KC and Denver from a scenery perspective. (Admittedly, the bar is low.)

[kphoger]

US36 is definitely the best way to get between KC and Denver from a scenery perspective. (Admittedly, the bar is low.)

Growing up in a town along US-36 in western Kansas, I always said that people who claimed Kansas was flat had apparently only ever taken I-70 across the state.

[JayhawkCO]

US36 is definitely the best way to get between KC and Denver from a scenery perspective. (Admittedly, the bar is low.)

Growing up in a town along US-36 in western Kansas, I always said that people who claimed Kansas was flat had apparently only ever taken I-70 across the state.

As you well know from the Guess the State thread, Nebraska is even a better example vis a vis I-80.

[darmstarm]

I've had quite a few trips in 2026, and still a couple more left that may or may not happen.

Completed, in order:

• Spring Break Trip: 5-day trip hitting a bunch of state parks en route to Mammoth Cave NP in Kentucky. First time ever in Kentucky and Indiana. First time on a bunch of primary interstates such as I-65 and I-71. Also clinched the entire Cumberland Parkway in one shot, which remains my second largest clinch. Was only in Indiana for a few miles or so, basically went in and out to put it on the map.
• Graduation Trip: Raleigh, North Carolina to Panama City Beach, Florida. First time on I-10. Got painstakingly close to clinching I-85, but the others in the car were not gonna waste another two hours driving through Montgomery just to fill a spot on a map. Regardless, by far longest one-shot drive I've ever done. Shoutout to SC5, very cool road.
• Trip to Canada: With my father, first time going out of the US. Was on the new stretch of I-99 concurrent with US15 just days before they put the signage up.
• Trip to Guatemala: This was a mission trip so roads were less of a priority. Still, probably the most unique highways I'll get for a very long time. So many Hiluxes!
• "Operation Get Half of Delaware": This was a spur of the moment trip going home from the beach where I basically zig-zagged up the state. Ended up getting a ton of DE9 and DE15 and ended with Delaware at 49.87% clinched.
• Susquehanna River Trip: Nothing super crazy here other than PA74, but it was really awesome walking on the river with the dam lowered.
• Connecticut Trip: Well, upstate New York, but Connecticut was "in the way" . First time in Connecticut. Highlights are US44 and NY35, two 2-digit numbers I didn't have yet. First time on I-84 and I-78 as well.
• Centralia Trip: With my family, some really cool mountain driving. Really a shame that the famous graffiti'd old part of PA61 is basically gone now.

Coming soon:

• Going down to Stevensville, MD in a few weeks to visit some friends from college. Hoping to get most, if not all of MD8, MD18 and other Kent Island stuff. Maybe can clinch MD213 too.
• Family trip to Pittsburgh, of which I've never been. Convincing them to go a different way back may be tough. Hopefully can get some of PA51 and PA28 which is another set of 2-digit numbers I don't have. Maybe I-79 as well, which is my only missing primary interstate in Pennsylvania.
• Planning a trip from DC to Wheeling, WV to visit some other friends from college. If I don't get PA51 from Pitt, MD51 is inevitable here. May or may not be in 2026.

Nothing planned for 2027 yet.

[kphoger]

• Trip to Guatemala: This was a mission trip so roads were less of a priority. Still, probably the most unique highways I'll get for a very long time. So many Hiluxes!

Speaking as someone who leads mission trips to Mexico that are driving trips:  shall I assume you flew to Guatemala?

[darmstarm]

• Trip to Guatemala: This was a mission trip so roads were less of a priority. Still, probably the most unique highways I'll get for a very long time. So many Hiluxes!

Speaking as someone who leads mission trips to Mexico that are driving trips:  shall I assume you flew to Guatemala?

Yes, from Dulles to Guatemala City. Driving from Virginia to Guatemala in a Fuso would be... certainly something.

[kphoger]

Yes, from Dulles to Guatemala City. Driving from Virginia to Guatemala in a Fuso would be... certainly something.

My point is that it wasn't really a road trip to Guatemala, then.  That's all.

It would only be one more border crossing than driving to Mexico, and, from what I understand, the process is similar at both borders.  Of course, there would be a whole extra couple of days in between...

[JayhawkCO]

Yes, from Dulles to Guatemala City. Driving from Virginia to Guatemala in a Fuso would be... certainly something.

My point is that it wasn't really a road trip to Guatemala, then.  That's all.

But certainly was a road trip IN Guatemala.

[kphoger]

But certainly was a road trip IN Guatemala.

Yes, that's fair.  Typically, though, when I hear "road trip", I think of a trip starting and ending at home.

[JayhawkCO]

But certainly was a road trip IN Guatemala.

Yes, that's fair.  Typically, though, when I hear "road trip", I think of a trip starting and ending at home.

As someone who flies to places, rents a car, and drives with some regularity, that's not my initial inclination. Doing another one of those here in 2.5 weeks clinching 20 counties in western Minnesota.

[darmstarm]

But certainly was a road trip IN Guatemala.

Yes, that's fair.  Typically, though, when I hear "road trip", I think of a trip starting and ending at home.

Yea, ya caught me. To be fair, I *did* get about 100 miles of new roads out of it, most of which were in Guatemala; the rest were Maryland/Virginia detours as DC traffic was particularly bad that day. Unfortunately not the ~2k miles from starting in PA, but we take what we can get, I suppose.