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A Thread for Travel: Trips/Advice/Ideas

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Re: A Thread for Travel: Trips/Advice/Ideas

bigblue_dl said:
This one is pretty close to what I had:

http://goo.gl/maps/AqUmF
Click to expand...
Could this be improved by catching the northeast corner of Iowa between Chicago and Minneapolis and then taking a more direct route from North Dakota down to New Mexico/Oklahoma/Texas without going east to get the western edge of Iowa? I guess I don't really know whether there are roads that would make it worthwhile.

FlagDUDE08 said:
Oh come now, the LI Expressway, Bronx-Whitestone, and Hutchinson to 684 isn't THAT bad! I quite enjoyed it.
Click to expand...
It's not terrible but the time cost could be significant depending on when they're traveling.

Edit to add: Seems like it's a shorter route geographically, but winds up being significantly slower because you wind up on smaller highways through Wisconsin and Minnesota.
 
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Re: A Thread for Travel: Trips/Advice/Ideas

jmh said:
Could this be improved by catching the northeast corner of Iowa between Chicago and Minneapolis and then taking a more direct route from North Dakota down to New Mexico/Oklahoma/Texas without going east to get the western edge of Iowa? I guess I don't really know whether there are roads that would make it worthwhile.

It's not terrible but the time cost could be significant depending on when they're traveling.

Edit to add: Seems like it's a shorter route geographically, but winds up being significantly slower because you wind up on smaller highways through Wisconsin and Minnesota.
Click to expand...

The direct route from North Dakota down to NM/OK/TX goes through Iowa (I-29). You have to go over around Council Bluffs in order to get NE.
 
Re: A Thread for Travel: Trips/Advice/Ideas

FlagDUDE08 said:
The direct route from North Dakota down to NM/OK/TX goes through Iowa (I-29). You have to go over around Council Bluffs in order to get NE.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I had tried what jmh suggested, it doesn't work too well, as you guys seemed to find out. There are areas in there that would be nice to figure out how to stay on more direct interstates.
 
Re: A Thread for Travel: Trips/Advice/Ideas

FlagDUDE08 said:
The direct route from North Dakota down to NM/OK/TX goes through Iowa (I-29). You have to go over around Council Bluffs in order to get NE.
Click to expand...
Not sure what you mean. If you remove the waypoint in Iowa just north of Omaha, the route (the Google default route anyway) diverges from I-29 before it crosses into Iowa and cuts over to US-81 South. It's more direct, though not a whole lot faster since you're off the interstates. Taking I-29 down to Omaha is still way better than the alternate way I suggested for getting Iowa, though.

The other thought I had earlier was that from Memphis you could go via Terre Haute and Indianapolis, cutting off I-57 at Effingham and going via I-70, I-69 (hee), and US-20, to catch the northwest corner of Ohio and then across I-90 to Chicago, rather than going straight up I-57 all the way to Chicago. It's maybe a little less of a diversion than catching Ohio across the West Virginia border and then you could do a more direct route to Mobile.
 
Re: A Thread for Travel: Trips/Advice/Ideas

bigblue_dl said:
Yeah, I had tried what jmh suggested, it doesn't work too well, as you guys seemed to find out. There are areas in there that would be nice to figure out how to stay on more direct interstates.
Click to expand...

The biggest issue are those huge rocks on the left. I'm still wondering how they started at the border or Idaho and Montana. Their blog doesn't give any specifics.
 
Re: A Thread for Travel: Trips/Advice/Ideas

jmh said:
Not sure what you mean. If you remove the waypoint in Iowa just north of Omaha, the route (the Google default route anyway) diverges from I-29 before it crosses into Iowa and cuts over to US-81 South. It's more direct, though not a whole lot faster since you're off the interstates. Taking I-29 down to Omaha is still way better than the alternate way I suggested for getting Iowa, though.

The other thought I had earlier was that from Memphis you could go via Terre Haute and Indianapolis, cutting off I-57 at Effingham and going via I-70, I-69 (hee), and US-20, to catch the northwest corner of Ohio and then across I-90 to Chicago, rather than going straight up I-57 all the way to Chicago. It's maybe a little less of a diversion than catching Ohio across the West Virginia border and then you could do a more direct route to Mobile.
Click to expand...

Not to mention, I-81 does spend 20 miles in WV.

I-29 doubles with US 81 in ND, so that's probably where they get that. Wonder if there's a good way, then, when you're going from Chicago to Minneapolis, to cut the corner of Iowa and then back to cut into Wisconsin.

EDIT: There is. US 20 to US 61.
 
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Re: A Thread for Travel: Trips/Advice/Ideas

FlagDUDE08 said:
The biggest issue are those huge rocks on the left. I'm still wondering how they started at the border or Idaho and Montana. Their blog doesn't give any specifics.
Click to expand...
This is the best I have found so far with the Idaho/Montana border criteria: http://goo.gl/maps/E6lah

edit: improved: https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=...,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18&t=m&z=6

Edit2: another variation that doesn't cut it: http://goo.gl/maps/K2cYT
 
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Re: A Thread for Travel: Trips/Advice/Ideas

Maybe we're restricting ourselves by thinking we have to cut ND on the east side... what about the west side?
 
Re: A Thread for Travel: Trips/Advice/Ideas

There are like 2 roads total in western North Dakota, and they both run East-West, I don't know how you could do it.
 
Re: A Thread for Travel: Trips/Advice/Ideas

bigblue_dl said:
This is the best I have found so far with the Idaho/Montana border criteria: http://goo.gl/maps/E6lah

edit: improved: https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=...,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18&t=m&z=6

Edit2: another variation that doesn't cut it: http://goo.gl/maps/K2cYT
Click to expand...
Your Idaho/Montana location is messed up:
https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=...5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18&t=m&z=16
Based on the video on their blog, I have moved "B" to the spot where they started from.
 
Re: A Thread for Travel: Trips/Advice/Ideas

Looking at the rules, if you get pulled over for any sort of traffic violation, you are DQ'd.
 
Re: A Thread for Travel: Trips/Advice/Ideas

bigblue_dl said:
If you're in western North Dakota on US85, then you'd hit Montana quick and not have to end in Montana.
Click to expand...

True. They probably did do I-29/ND-11/MN-55. Aside from the 65-45-25 part, it was a nice stretch (2-lane rural roads in ND have a speed limit of 65)
 
Re: A Thread for Travel: Trips/Advice/Ideas

I do wonder what Google's criteria for time determination is. Are they using the true speed limit? An average based upon state?
 
Re: A Thread for Travel: Trips/Advice/Ideas

I tried using Bing instead of Google, just to see if there is any different in times. I liked Bing much more, it seemed to refresh faster and had hours and minutes listed for a route, so I could be more precise. The problem with Bing is, you can only add 10 waypoints between the start of the route and the destination, so there is no way to actually get the entire route mapped. Anyone know another way to do it?
 
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