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Message
Avoiding the Interstate
Posted on 4/26/21 at 11:32 am
Posted on 4/26/21 at 11:32 am
Does anyone else make a regular practice of avoiding the interstate on vacation road trips?
I'm a big believer in the American Road Trip, and the last 3 years we've focused on trips out West.
Year 1, we took mostly the "normal" route but noticed that the jaunts off the interstate were always much more nuanced, so the last two years we've taken trips out west and logged no more than 70 or so miles of interstate travel.
It's much more enjoyable, and you see terrain and sites you'd never see on the interstate. The drives really only take slightly longer, but the views and lack of traffic make it entirely worth while.
1.) The Dust Bowl/Comancheria TX/OK/NM/KS are a ton better than I40
2.) In NM, getting south of I40 gives you an entirely different perspective, and you don't even need to get that far from I40 to see the difference.
3.) The smaller hwys in SE Utah are transcendent, but they are also well known.
4.) The smaller roads in CO are the only way I travel, I'll never hit the interstate in CO again.
I'm a big believer in the American Road Trip, and the last 3 years we've focused on trips out West.
Year 1, we took mostly the "normal" route but noticed that the jaunts off the interstate were always much more nuanced, so the last two years we've taken trips out west and logged no more than 70 or so miles of interstate travel.
It's much more enjoyable, and you see terrain and sites you'd never see on the interstate. The drives really only take slightly longer, but the views and lack of traffic make it entirely worth while.
1.) The Dust Bowl/Comancheria TX/OK/NM/KS are a ton better than I40
2.) In NM, getting south of I40 gives you an entirely different perspective, and you don't even need to get that far from I40 to see the difference.
3.) The smaller hwys in SE Utah are transcendent, but they are also well known.
4.) The smaller roads in CO are the only way I travel, I'll never hit the interstate in CO again.
7
Posted on 4/26/21 at 11:38 am to LSUfan20005
I try to take back roads, but not until I'm past West Texas. I like to get across that as soon as possible.
Posted on 4/26/21 at 12:12 pm to LSUfan20005
Yep. Went to St. Augustine a few years back. On the way, I cut over and drove by the beach ASAP.
Posted on 4/26/21 at 12:43 pm to LSUfan20005
Driving through Tx is brutal. Couldn’t imagine taking backroads.
Posted on 4/26/21 at 2:36 pm to LSUfan20005
My wife (no pics) and I differ on what a vacation road trip should look like. I love taking the “scenic” route she prefers to get where we are going, however I’m usually the one behind the wheel.
Posted on 4/26/21 at 3:24 pm to LSUfan20005
Hmmm.. depends on the situation, destination and departure point, and amount of urbanity along the non-interstate routes. Stoplights and traffic in multiple towns on a non-interstate route will KILL your travel time.
If it is a long haul (more than 8 hours) and if your departure and destination are in a more or less straight line on Interstates, the interstate is best. But I know people who will ONLY take the interstate, doing things like going from Dallas to Denver via interstate only-- going north thru Oklahoma City and Wichita to I-70 in Kansas and turning west. That's just dumb.
There are so many things (and destinations) OFF the interstate-- national parks, etc.-- that you kind of HAVE to get of the interstate just to see them.
For me, it's usually 50/50 especially on a vacation or road trip. On the 1st day we usually have a thing to get to at a major city (often a sports event) and boogie on the interstate. The remainder of the trip is usually to see specific off-the-beaten-path attractions, so we are off the interstate for most of the remainder.
Plus, I am one of this weird group who "counts their counties": ( Why Do You Think They Call Them Counties?), so I will often take the lesser roads to add more. We did that coming back from Dallas a few years back-- would have been faster to just take I-20-I-49-I-10, but we went home via Athens, Nacogdoches, Toledo Bend Dam, DeRidder, Oberlin and Jennings to see new stuff and add counties.
If it is a long haul (more than 8 hours) and if your departure and destination are in a more or less straight line on Interstates, the interstate is best. But I know people who will ONLY take the interstate, doing things like going from Dallas to Denver via interstate only-- going north thru Oklahoma City and Wichita to I-70 in Kansas and turning west. That's just dumb.
There are so many things (and destinations) OFF the interstate-- national parks, etc.-- that you kind of HAVE to get of the interstate just to see them.
For me, it's usually 50/50 especially on a vacation or road trip. On the 1st day we usually have a thing to get to at a major city (often a sports event) and boogie on the interstate. The remainder of the trip is usually to see specific off-the-beaten-path attractions, so we are off the interstate for most of the remainder.
Plus, I am one of this weird group who "counts their counties": ( Why Do You Think They Call Them Counties?), so I will often take the lesser roads to add more. We did that coming back from Dallas a few years back-- would have been faster to just take I-20-I-49-I-10, but we went home via Athens, Nacogdoches, Toledo Bend Dam, DeRidder, Oberlin and Jennings to see new stuff and add counties.
Posted on 4/26/21 at 8:32 pm to LSUfan20005
My grandpa hated the interstate
I wanna say one year we drove to destin or somewhere for a convention almost exclusively on 90
It took FOREVER
I wanna say one year we drove to destin or somewhere for a convention almost exclusively on 90
It took FOREVER
Posted on 4/26/21 at 8:32 pm to LSUfan20005
quote:
The smaller roads in CO are the only way I travel, I'll never hit the interstate in CO again.
Definitely this
Posted on 4/27/21 at 1:02 am to kciDAtaE
quote:
Driving through Tx is brutal.
It’s really not that bad. You can crank it at like 89 mph through the 80 mph zone.
Posted on 4/27/21 at 1:04 am to S
quote:
Definitely this
We drove from Denver to Telluride and took I-70 on the way there and backroads on the way back. Backroads are better but I-70 through Colorado is a great drive.
Posted on 4/27/21 at 7:42 am to The Boat
quote:
It’s really not that bad. You can crank it at like 89 mph through the 80 mph zone.
I don’t want to drive 90 mph for 10 hours straight
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