Hey, all! I’ve left my current POS job, last day was today. (HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! ahem. ) Tuesday I’m loading up the car and heading for my home state of Montana for about a month before starting my shiny new job. So: Leaving the Triangle, NC, arriving Kalispell, MT.
If you look at a map, you’ll see there’s about 16 ways to get there. Any recommendations on route, i.e., don’t go this way, it’s boring as shit, go this way, it’s pretty? Any recommendations on things that are “must-sees” in the Mid-West? Any advice on which part of the Mid-West is not currently under water, and therefore best to drive through?
I prefer secondary roads as they’re more interesting than Interstates, but it is 2500 miles, so at least some of the driving will have to be done on the I’s. But secondary highways are cool too. Roads with stoplights every 2 miles, probably not.
This time of year, and having time, I think I would take a northern route. How about up 75 through Michigan? This would take you across the third longest suspension bridge in the world.
Then across northern Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota. Heck, you could even go into Canada and skirt the northern shore of Lake Superior.
:note: I’ve never taken this route, so that’s why I might take it. I’ve seen very little of that part of the country.
Take the Beartooth Highway! Thanks for that totally awesome advice (in my Yellowstone vs. Glacier thread), BTW. If I hadn’t been in such a hurry to get a campsite at Yellowstone (got one at Norris at 1PM, but it filled shortly thereafter) I would have dawdled up there all day. Sadly, I did see the aftermath of a fatal motorcycle accident on my drive through Beartooth and that ruined my day.
I drove through the Bighorns on my way home and also loved those!
In my opinion, while I love the sights on the backroads; food, gas and rest stops get a bit more dodgy - especially if you are traveling alone.
PS - I loved Montana. I even saw some real cowboys driving cattle out one evening. I met them (a man & his wife; the ranch managers) the next morning and they laughed at me when I told them I was taking pictures of them.
edited to add: I preferred I94 through N. Dakota over I90 through S. Dakota. Bonus is the rest stop at Teddy Roosevelt Nat’l park near the border - gorgeous!
Sorry ** Jodi ** But if I were you I would stick to the interstate for the most part. I know it is boring but having to take a 60 mile detour is even worse. Missouri, Illinois and Indiana seem to be in the worst shape right now.
And yes I should have been more specific about the midwest.
Anyone got recommendations on where to check for highway closures across multiple states? I’m also going cross country next week (California to D.C.) and I’ve only got 3 days to do it in, so detours would be muy malo.
The only way I’ve found to check so far is to go to each state’s individual traffic website or hotline and dick around. And those systems generally ask you to narrow your search to a specific part of their state before they’ll give you any road closure info. Google maps is better, but it only has traffic information for some of the major cities.
It was open on Wednesday and Thursday when we drove through Iowa. But that state got slammed by more storms as we were driving through so even my fairly current information may be out of date now.
We drove some of that route - from NC (Chapel Hill) up to Seattle via Colorado, Rocky Mountain National Park, Grand Teton, Yellowstone. We didn’t proceed on to the Kalispell area (we visited that a year later, flying into Seattle and driving). IIRC, we went west along I-40 then halfway through TN, went north and west through Kentucky and southern IL; interstate the whole way. West along I-70 then which was unremarkable except for the approach to St. Louis, where (as it was a clear day) we could see the Gateway Arch for many miles. That was cool. As was the approach through western KS (or eastern CO) where we were still on flat ground, but could see the mountains ahead: there was a thunderstorm over the mountains and we could see the lightning, but we were in clear weather.
I believe we took I-25 into WY, then I-80 west to get on US 287 up to Grand Teton. We stayed in Jackson WY, but to get there we had to drive through the park late at night - on flat roads with these really scenic mountains that looked very close, but (in daylight the next day, we could see) were actually quite some distance. 287 was hilly, and of course the terrain was quite unfamiliar to us Easterners, but probably unremarkable to someone from Kalispell. Teton and Yellowstone are well worth the jaunt, but if you’re from MT yourself you’ve probably seen them.
If you are a member of AAA, you can have one of the AAA reps do a Triptik for you - they’ll have the latest info on road construction (another summer hazard in the Midwest) and road closures, and can offer you advice on the advantages and disadvantages of the available routes.
