Part I of IVTime for my 23rd annual (and presumably final, as Cornerstone Festival is apparently ending) July 4 Great American Great Plains Road Trip. Day 1: I-35 from Minneapolis to Kearny, MO, except for stretches of US 69 in Des Moines and north of Ames.
*The I-35 & US 14 interchange is moving along nicely. Didn't stop to take pictures
* As another poster noted, I-35 just south of the Minnesota border is a candidate for the worst stretch of interstate in Iowa. It's gotten better in previous years, but is still bumpy the last few dozen miles.
* The top of Iowa Rest Area. The first (and last) under a program to permit commercial developement at rest areas. It looks a lot nicer in this photo because in real life you can't ignore the fact that it's next to a gaudy casino, Burger King, gas station, and hotel instead of out in the country (like it was a year or two after it opened) Archive photo.
Lots of Windmills in northern Iowa. Archive photo.
* Planned to clinch US 69 between IA 5 and US 20, but a stretch north of Ames was closed so I went back to the interstate. Stopped at the "Roadgeek Rest Area", the I-35 Story City Southbound. The Top of Iowa was the first new rest area in years and was a unique design, from that point forward new and rebuilt rest areas use a standard design with individual theming. This one has a transportation theme. Highway shields are on the floor, transportation trivia is set in tiles in the commons area. THe new standard design has tall ceilings, a large commons area with laptop booths, lots of windows, easily the nicest rest areas I've been too, as opposed to the old design which is among the most basic. Archive Photos
*In Minnesota most signals are one of three designs, Minneapolis and St. Paul have their own designs but most others use the same design as Mn/DOT signals. Iowa they seem to vary a lot more widely. Here's a structure on US 69 in Des Moines that looks massively overkill for a couple of signal heads.
*Several areas of head to head traffic for bridge replacements south of Des Moines. I've never been on I-35 south of Des Moines before
If Iowa has some of the best rest areas, Missouri has some of the worst, and they keep closing them rather than rebuilding and expanding them. This one entering from Iowa is the best one I've seen, it has both an indoor commons area and a walking trail, something others lack.
Spent the night in Cameron, MO. The stupid Super 8 reservation site never goes to the confirm screen, so I clicked "confirm twice" before I got emails saying they had actually gone through. I called the number to try to cancel one of them and got someone probably in India that said she'd cancel one of them, but she did not. I found I had two rooms on arrival, but the night desk was kind enough to just cancel one of them rather than charge me for two rooms.
Day 2 I drove the remaining distance to Worlds of Fun / Oceans of Fun. I saw a cable stayed bridge from Mamba, I assume it was the Bond Bridge, I rode again at night but was unable to pick it out.
Worlds of Fun is owned by Cedar Fair, who also own the park near me, Valleyfair. Some of the rides were similar, but better. Some of the food stands were exact duplicates, and the layout was vastly different. My two favoritites were Mamba; a DH Morgan Hypercoaster, and Prowler, a GCI woodie. Mamba>Wild Thing (although Mamba should be the one that's bright green and they make the ops at WOF repeat stupid speels); Prowler>Renegade. Pattriot was OK but like most inverts it's only really good in the front seat. The rest of the coasters were forgettable. As for flats, it was my first time to ride a Wipeout or a Round Up, and I like them. The Wipeout is an indoor dark ride adding to the effect. Oceans of Fun, the waterpark, was OK. It is a lot better than Soak City at Vallefair and was probably better before being outclassed by even the ones at a typical Six Flags, but it felt good on a 100 degree day.
That night I drove down I-35 to I-435 to Blue Springs, where I spent the night at the Days Inn. First time driving through Kansas. I like it that they actually care about interchange lighting; usually a 100 tower with metal halide luminaires, Minnesota has a couple of those left at the Fish Lake interchange but Kansas they're everywhere. From what I've seems among the midwest Minnesota and Kansas are the best at lighting interchanges. Wisconsin doesn't care if people get killed on their highways at night as long as they don't have to pay a light bill. Iowa and Illinois strangely light the exits but not the entrances, Missouri does both but only has a single truss arm at each point. Which may be OK, the defining Minnesota study on interchange lighting found the safety benefit between nothing and half-assed is much greater than half-assed and complete. Sometime Minnesota will use less than the standard 14 poles to light an interchange (but only at very low volume locations, where lighting is warranted based on mainline volume but not ramp volume). ND and SD have lighting where it needs to be, but there are a number of areas with very low traffic where it's not warranted.
Day 3 I drove down I-470 and then headed back east on I-70. Stopped to see the the Oregon Trail Museum. Drove around the Independence courthouse, just like the wagons trains used to do while departing. Tried to fix the perspective on this but it wound up looking goofy so I left it as-is.
Took a detour to see the Liberty Bend Bridges
I got off on US 40, Here's a stretch of original pavement that is still drivable.
And a stretch that is not.
Drove back and forth to pick up the stretch of I-70 I had missed, including the Rocheport Bridge
Headed south and spent the night at the Days Inn in Jefferson City. I saw a rainbow just north of town
