Some takeaways from 1760 mile drive cross country

[gamecockcat]

Just moved from Denver area to the Jacksonville area and drove 1760 miles. Takeaways:
1. Astounding how much emptyness/farmland there is across eastern CO, all of Kansas, much of MO, and chunks of TN and GA. Not much of anything to see for miles and miles.
2. Saw many, many billboards across KS and MO for churches and Jesus 'sayings'.
3. Very few political signs but 100% were Trump.
4. No traffic problems until St. Louis (minor), Nashville (awful at 12:30 on a Friday) and Atlanta (pretty easy as we went thru on Saturday morning around 8:15 am). Planned around those cities on purpose.
5. In every larger city there were the few idiots driving 15+ mph faster than the traffic, weaving in and out, tailgating, etc. Idiot, impatient drivers are everywhere, evidently.
6. A lot more state patrol presence on the interstates than I expected.
7. A ton of road construction in every state we drove thru (CO, KS, MO, IL, KY, TN, GA).
8. Drivers on I-95 are in a HURRY. Speed limit of 70 is close to the minimum for most drivers. Set cruise on 75 and stayed way to the right.
9. Hawks are extremely plentiful across the middle states - probably saw > 100+ over the course of 26 hours of driving.
10. Getting way too old to drive 7+ hours, not including stops, for multiple days. Back and butt gave up the ghost just a bit earlier every day.

 

[bthaunert]

In 2008, we moved from New Jersey to Oregon. We took the I90/I80 route as it was summer. It was a brutal drive until you get to the Rockies, then it’s beautiful. It’s amazing how different that part of the country is.

In 2016, we moved from Oregon to Maryland in the winter. Took the southern route on I40. Some good scenery in Arizona and New Mexico but brutal after that.

 

[vhcat70]

This reminds me of the 23 days, 6500 miles driving vacation we took in 1983 from KY, northwest to Yellowstone, south thru UT to Grand Canyon, and then to CO & Rocky MNP before head home. As I count now, hit 9 NP's & several state parks for 1-4 days each.

 

[BC_Wader]

This reminds me of the 23 days, 6500 miles driving vacation we took in 1983 from KY, northwest to Yellowstone, south thru UT to Grand Canyon, and then to CO & Rocky MNP before head home. As I count now, hit 9 NP's & several state parks for 1-4 days each.

How comfy of a ride was that Wagon Queen Family Truckster? All jokes aside, I've always wanted to do that. I want to see out West before I get too old to do so.

 

[vhcat70]

How comfy of a ride was that Wagon Queen Family Truckster? All jokes aside, I've always wanted to do that. I want to see out West before I get too old to do so.

This was it, only silver. 1978 Cutlass wagon. I don't recall it being a bad ride.

 

[Cold Stout Beer]

Just moved from Denver area to the Jacksonville area and drove 1760 miles. Takeaways:
1. Astounding how much emptyness/farmland there is across eastern CO, all of Kansas, much of MO, and chunks of TN and GA. Not much of anything to see for miles and miles.
2. Saw many, many billboards across KS and MO for churches and Jesus 'sayings'.
3. Very few political signs but 100% were Trump.
4. No traffic problems until St. Louis (minor), Nashville (awful at 12:30 on a Friday) and Atlanta (pretty easy as we went thru on Saturday morning around 8:15 am). Planned around those cities on purpose.
5. In every larger city there were the few idiots driving 15+ mph faster than the traffic, weaving in and out, tailgating, etc. Idiot, impatient drivers are everywhere, evidently.
6. A lot more state patrol presence on the interstates than I expected.
7. A ton of road construction in every state we drove thru (CO, KS, MO, IL, KY, TN, GA).
8. Drivers on I-95 are in a HURRY. Speed limit of 70 is close to the minimum for most drivers. Set cruise on 75 and stayed way to the right.
9. Hawks are extremely plentiful across the middle states - probably saw > 100+ over the course of 26 hours of driving.
10. Getting way too old to drive 7+ hours, not including stops, for multiple days. Back and butt gave up the ghost just a bit earlier every day.

Google maps is the best. Built in radar detector that alerts you to upcoming cops and no interstates unless necessary. I love pulling it up on my screen via Apple car play.

 

[Spica Orbit]

In 2016, we moved from Oregon to Maryland in the winter. Took the southern route on I40. Some good scenery in Arizona and New Mexico but brutal after that.

---
Maybe 20 to 25 years ago in New Mexico, I went right at 70 miles & only saw one home. Can't remember the road right off, but it was in the southern part of the state.

 

[bthaunert]

Google maps is the best. Built in radar detector that alerts you to upcoming cops and no interstates unless necessary. I love pulling it up on my screen via Apple car play.

I live and die by Waze. GPS in general has made traveling so much better.

 

[gamecockcat]

---
Maybe 20 to 25 years ago in New Mexico, I went right at 70 miles & only saw one home. Can't remember the road right off, but it was in the southern part of the state.

When we moved to CO, drove pretty much straight across northern NM from Dallas. Absolutely nothing to see. If I weren't on meth when moving there, I would be soon thereafter.

Drove from my sister's home in Las Cruces to ABQ once and it's about as desolate an area as one can imagine (eastern UT from the CO border to SLC is a kissing cousin). Have spent many days in ABQ on business and can't for the life of me understand why 800k people live there.

Have driven southern part of AZ and the scenery was more interesting to me than anywhere in NM save Santa Fe. But, I don't find much beauty in the desert. Some people love it. Different strokes.

 

[Cold Stout Beer]

I live and die by Waze. GPS in general has made traveling so much better.

My neighbors suggested Waze 2 weeks ago. I have not tried it yet but agree on GPS!

 

[BigBlueDave_rivals76951]

Google maps is the best. Built in radar detector that alerts you to upcoming cops and no interstates unless necessary. I love pulling it up on my screen via Apple car play.

I drove from Sacramento, Ca to Kentucky back in Dec 2022. A neat feature is to list all of a certain restaurant on the route. I ate a different Chick-fil-A meal every lunch for four days.



I didn’t eat Chick-fil-A for 6 months after that.


In 2010, I bought a flatbed ford in Los Angeles. I drove right through Winslow, Arizona on the way back home. I didn’t make time to stop and take a pic with the city limit sign.

Life is full of big regrets.

 

[Cold Stout Beer]

I drove from Sacramento, Ca to Kentucky back in Dec 2022. A neat feature is to list all of a certain restaurant on the route. I ate a different Chick-fil-A meal every lunch for four days.



I didn’t eat Chick-fil-A for 6 months after that.


In 2010, I bought a flatbed ford in Los Angeles. I drove right through Winslow, Arizona on the way back home. I didn’t make time to stop and take a pic with the city limit sign.

Life is full of big regrets.

I used to eat Chick Fillet all the time but once time it was so greasy that I can't even look at it anymore. Now Texas Roadhouse, that's a different story. Love that place!

 

[Stan the caddy_rivals218342]

Great post, thanks for sharing the experience. Agree about the mind boggling amount of empty land in the country. Anytime I hear the word “overpopulation”, I always think “there’s plenty of space”.

 

[dvillecatfan]

Enjoy my Mexico and Carribean visits...trips out west are the best tho.

 

[natron20]

Went on a cross country road trip in 1986 when I was 8 years old. Loved it as a kid and to this day one of my traveling goals when I retire is to make many more trips out west. I’ve done it four times total and love the experience.

One day I plan to drive as much of the old Route 66 I can (skipping the places where I might get shot. Looking at you East St Louis). Would love to visit all the road road side attractions.

I’ve made several trips to New England but nothing beats the open road heading west.

 

[Blueisbest]

When I was a kid back in the early 70's, my parents and I drove from Louisville to Mew Mexico in a car that had no A/C in the middle of summer to see my sister and brother-in-law. It was the old 4 windows down. 70 mph air both ways. Great fun.

 

[starchief]

Talk about desolate, try I 10 between Kerrville TX and Las Cruces NM. 535 miles of nothing to see except buffaloes roaming, deer and antelopes playing (but seldomly a discouraging word).

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Ker...36dd01df13f32bd!3e0?sa=X&ved=1t:2040&ictx=111

 

[HymanKaplan_rivals48997]

I tried that once, but I died from dysentery.

 

[DreadLox]

How comfy of a ride was that Wagon Queen Family Truckster? All jokes aside, I've always wanted to do that. I want to see out West before I get too old to do so.

We took the kids on a tour of the west around 30 years ago. Saw White Sands, Sedona, the Grand Canyon, an Indian mesa in New Mexico, Santa Fe ...

It was great, but at Santa Fe there was a general revolt. "HOME!"

The last amazing sight we saw was the underside of a B-52 somewhere in Oklahoma.

 

[BC_Wader]

We took the kids on a tour of the west around 30 years ago. Saw White Sands, Sedona, the Grand Canyon, an Indian mesa in New Mexico, Santa Fe ...

It was great, but at Santa Fe there was a general revolt. "HOME!"

The last amazing sight we saw was the underside of a B-52 somewhere in Oklahoma.

I want to see Yellowstone, Jackson Hole, Grand Tetons, Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam. I'm going to make it out there one day. Supposedly somewhere on Route 66, there are indentions in the road like the ones near warning lanes on the highway. If you drive a certain speed you'll hear America the Beautiful being played through your tires. That would be cool as hell.

 

[gamecockcat]

Talk about desolate, try I 10 between Kerrville TX and Las Cruces NM. 535 miles of nothing to see except buffaloes roaming, deer and antelopes playing (but seldomly a discouraging word).

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Ker...36dd01df13f32bd!3e0?sa=X&ved=1t:2040&ictx=111

Having been there, once you reach Las Cruces, it's not like the Garden of Eden. It's barely better than a wide spot in the road, imo. To paraphrase my father, 'I resent having to drive all this way to get to this pile of crap'.

 

[MegaBlue05]

Drove from Kentucky to Denver in 2017. Kansas might be the worst state I’ve ever driven through. Felt like we were in it 3 days (about 9 hours in reality) and it soooooo desolate out there. The “next exit 87 miles” signs were slightly alarming. I said to my car “Car, you better keep working for at least another 85 miles.”

 

[Joerules19]

Drove from Kentucky to Denver in 2017. Kansas might be the worst state I’ve ever driven through. Felt like we were in it 3 days (about 9 hours in reality) and it soooooo desolate out there. The “next exit 87 miles” signs were slightly alarming. I said to my car “Car, you better keep working for at least another 85 miles.”

Man you must have been driving super slow since it is about 425 miles across the state on I-70. Hell you can get from KC to Denver in under 8 hours. And there are exactly 0 signs about next exit being 87 miles.

 

[RexBowie]

I had an idea once about road signs. I’m open to investors.

We buy digital billboard(s) then we have the public bid on what the billboard says.

If in a deep red area, our sign will say “Support Abortion” with a URL to vote to change underneath.

In in a deep blue area, we put “God and Patriots support Donald Trump.”

DM me if interested

 

[gamecockcat]

Man you must have been driving super slow since it is about 425 miles across the state on I-70. Hell you can get from KC to Denver in under 8 hours. And there are exactly 0 signs about next exit being 87 miles.

You're right about KS as that's the route we took, I-70. But Denver to the KS border is about 200 miles. Maybe you can drive >600 miles in less than 8 hours, but most people won't average 75+ mph for 8 straight hours. You gotta stop for gas and bathroom break somewhere. You'd have to drive 80 mph or better the whole way.

 

[blubo]

Sacramento, Ca to Kentucky back in Dec 2022. A neat feature is to list all of a certain restaurant on the route. I ate a different Chick-fil-A meal every lunch for four days.



I didn’t eat Chick-fil-A for 6 months after that.


In 2010, I bought a flatbed ford in Los Angeles. I drove right through Winslow, Arizona on the way back home. I didn’t make time to stop and take a pic with the city limit sign.

Life is full of big regrets.

you knew it was coming

 

[blubo]

Drove from Kentucky to Denver in 2017. Kansas might be the worst state I’ve ever driven through. Felt like we were in it 3 days (about 9 hours in reality) and it soooooo desolate out there. The “next exit 87 miles” signs were slightly alarming. I said to my car “Car, you better keep working for at least another 85 miles.”

i hitchhiked from omaha to kansas city one friday night. standing out in the middle of nowhere in kansas in the middle of the night waiting on a ride, totally flat horizon any direction, no houses, no lights except the stars. sometimes waiting an hour or longer for a car to come by. it was surreal, like being on the moon. i took a greyhound back to omaha.

 

[BankerCat12]

My bro lives in Denver and drives here and back for Christmas every year. They drive straight back on the way home. 16-17hrs. Absolutely brutal.

I’ve driven that twice and agree KS is nothing but Missouri is the worst. All brown and ugly. I fly to Denver often and the flight looking out the window over MO and KS bores me.

Nothing like seeing the mountains in the distance when driving out there. I love it out west.

 

[MegaBlue05]

Man you must have been driving super slow since it is about 425 miles across the state on I-70. Hell you can get from KC to Denver in under 8 hours. And there are exactly 0 signs about next exit being 87 miles.

Had my coffee guzzling wife with me, so there were several pee stops along the way including one where she had to create her own facility on the side of I-70 because we were about 40 miles from a pisser. I’m also not one of those “always in a hurry” people when traveling. That’s how my dad was and it made vacations feel like work.

Maybe I’m thinking of a couple signs for the next gas station being several dozen miles away because some of those exits look like they exited to gravel roads and dirt in the western part of the state.

We went back to Denver in 2021 and flew for the reason of “F Kansas.”

 

[vhcat70]

I want to see Yellowstone, Jackson Hole, Grand Tetons, Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam. I'm going to make it out there one day. Supposedly somewhere on Route 66, there are indentions in the road like the ones near warning lanes on the highway. If you drive a certain speed you'll hear America the Beautiful being played through your tires. That would be cool as hell.

Those are good choices. Y-stone/Tetons/JH are basically the same place, maybe 150 miles north to south. Grand Canyon is gorgeous, but not much to do except look or hike down (& then back). The place that really gets me is Zion. You drive down into it and then can hike in the river and on the walls. Much more human scale than GC. Yosemite is fantastic also, but 600 miles west of even GC. You really ought to fly to see CA sites.

 

[HagginHall1999]

Just moved from Denver area to the Jacksonville area and drove 1760 miles. Takeaways:
1. Astounding how much emptyness/farmland there is across eastern CO, all of Kansas, much of MO, and chunks of TN and GA. Not much of anything to see for miles and miles.
2. Saw many, many billboards across KS and MO for churches and Jesus 'sayings'.
3. Very few political signs but 100% were Trump.
4. No traffic problems until St. Louis (minor), Nashville (awful at 12:30 on a Friday) and Atlanta (pretty easy as we went thru on Saturday morning around 8:15 am). Planned around those cities on purpose.
5. In every larger city there were the few idiots driving 15+ mph faster than the traffic, weaving in and out, tailgating, etc. Idiot, impatient drivers are everywhere, evidently.
6. A lot more state patrol presence on the interstates than I expected.
7. A ton of road construction in every state we drove thru (CO, KS, MO, IL, KY, TN, GA).
8. Drivers on I-95 are in a HURRY. Speed limit of 70 is close to the minimum for most drivers. Set cruise on 75 and stayed way to the right.
9. Hawks are extremely plentiful across the middle states - probably saw > 100+ over the course of 26 hours of driving.
10. Getting way too old to drive 7+ hours, not including stops, for multiple days. Back and butt gave up the ghost just a bit earlier every day.

You pretty much nailed it. Wife and I just drove the four kids in the rental van from NKY to Breckenridge, CO. It was a roughly 1300 mile drive with 3 boys- 11, 8, 5 and 1 girl- 2. Long few days as we made pit stops in Columbia, MO; Burlington, CO and an unplanned stop in Denver when we found out our VRBO check in was actually Sunday instead of Saturday. Flew home...thank God.

Completely agree with most of your take. I can say I unequivocally enjoyed the Kansas drive....while it is a long shot all the way through the state it is quite beautiful, especially since I experienced zero Jayhawk fans along the way.

Worst stretch of drive IMHO was Denver to Breckenridge which was littered with traffic, hills, semis and construction.

 

[WildcatfaninOhio]

This thread reminds me of an epic 24 hour, 1200 mile trip, my brother and I took back in 1978 in his 69 Dodge Super Bee. I had been discharged from the USAF and we left Cheyenne WY and drove straight thru to Covington KY.

The trip across Iowa on I80 is perfectly described in this song.

 

[mrhotdice]

Just moved from Denver area to the Jacksonville area and drove 1760 miles. Takeaways:
1. Astounding how much emptyness/farmland there is across eastern CO, all of Kansas, much of MO, and chunks of TN and GA. Not much of anything to see for miles and miles.
2. Saw many, many billboards across KS and MO for churches and Jesus 'sayings'.
3. Very few political signs but 100% were Trump.
4. No traffic problems until St. Louis (minor), Nashville (awful at 12:30 on a Friday) and Atlanta (pretty easy as we went thru on Saturday morning around 8:15 am). Planned around those cities on purpose.
5. In every larger city there were the few idiots driving 15+ mph faster than the traffic, weaving in and out, tailgating, etc. Idiot, impatient drivers are everywhere, evidently.
6. A lot more state patrol presence on the interstates than I expected.
7. A ton of road construction in every state we drove thru (CO, KS, MO, IL, KY, TN, GA).
8. Drivers on I-95 are in a HURRY. Speed limit of 70 is close to the minimum for most drivers. Set cruise on 75 and stayed way to the right.
9. Hawks are extremely plentiful across the middle states - probably saw > 100+ over the course of 26 hours of driving.
10. Getting way too old to drive 7+ hours, not including stops, for multiple days. Back and butt gave up the ghost just a bit earlier every day.

I have a question. Could you have made thr ttip in any electric car? How many charging stations did you see close to the Interstate?

 

[gamecockcat]

I have a question. Could you have made thr ttip in any electric car? How many charging stations did you see close to the Interstate?

We were wondering about that, also. I'm guessing, if we'd had an EV, it wouldn't have taken us on I-70 as there is just too much nothing out there. I'd guess the GPS would have taken us down I-25 to ABQ and then east on I-10 as there are more inhabited areas along that route (although west TX is a barren wasteland between El Paso and San Antonio). If your EV breaks down in western KS, you might as well walk because I'm guessing it will be hours before a tow truck can get you to Topeka or thereabouts. In answer to your question, I don't know. But, I do know that never once did I wonder 'where in the world am I going to get fuel?' as, even in the endless wheat fields of KS and cornfields of MO, there was an exit w/in 5 miles that had a gas station. Never crossed my mind that I might run out of gas.

 

[DoubleSecretProbation]

Drove from Maysville KY to Boulder CO and back a couple times around 2000. Thought Kansas was pretty. Western Missourah was pretty damn bleak as was eastern Colorado. Drove back on 80 once and thought Iowa was pretty as well.

 

[birdforbogey]

This thread reminds me of an epic 24 hour, 1200 mile trip, my brother and I took back in 1978 in his 69 Dodge Super Bee. I had been discharged from the USAF and we left Cheyenne WY and drove straight thru to Covington KY.

The trip across Iowa on I80 is perfectly described in this song.

Haha. I live in Iowa and that pretty much nails it.

 

[chroix]

Moving to Florida in the summer is a brave move. Especially coming from somewhere with zero humidity. Good luck with it!

 

[TucsonCat]

Eastern Colorado seemed worse than Kansas. Both flat, but Kansas had some grass. Colorado had dirt.

Indiana was depressing. Like the color had been drained out of everything and civilizations along the way didn't help.

For those going West, Southern Utah is the pinnacle for driving.

 

[gamecockcat]

Moving to Florida in the summer is a brave move. Especially coming from somewhere with zero humidity. Good luck with it!

You're not the first person to mention that. Previous to living in Denver area, we lived in Houston for 6+ years. So, we're well acquainted with heat and humidity although you do forget a little until you're confronted with it again. So far, FL heat and humidity is better than Houston's: not quite as hot and generally at least some breeze almost all the time. Houston was just dead air, hot and extremely muggy many months of the year.

 

[chroix]

You're not the first person to mention that. Previous to living in Denver area, we lived in Houston for 6+ years. So, we're well acquainted with heat and humidity although you do forget a little until you're confronted with it again. So far, FL heat and humidity is better than Houston's: not quite as hot and generally at least some breeze almost all the time. Houston was just dead air, hot and extremely muggy many months of the year.

I found that as well living in Florida. That breeze saves the day. Especially if you stay in the shade. You get into the interior areas and it’s not so great. Enjoy the beach!