Pac-48 Roadtrip Route

Good evening all. Next week at this time, we should be in Sioux Falls, SD, after completing Day 1 of the Pac-48 Roadtrip! This trip is planned to span 12 days and 13 states from July 21-August 1 and will take us to our 47th and 48th states, Washington and Oregon, respectively. We are very excited about this trip as it will allow us to clinch the final two states that we haven't been to in the continental United States!

Here is the planned trip route. Of course, this is subject to change:

Day 1 - Wednesday, July 21 - OKC-Sioux Falls:

I-35 North -> I-335 North -> U.S. 75 North -> NE/IA 2 East -> I-29 North

Day 2 - Thursday, July 22 - Sioux Falls-Miles City, MT:

I-29 North -> I-90 West -> U.S. 83 North -> I-94 West

Day 3 - Friday, July 23 - Miles City, MT-Spokane, WA:

I-94 West -> I-90 West'

Day 4 - Saturday, July 24 - Spokane, WA-Seattle, WA:

I-90 West

Day 5 - Sunday, July 25

Roadgeeking in NW Washington (I-5 North to Canada, ferry to Bremerton)

Day 6 - Monday, July 26 - Seattle, WA-Portland, OR:

I-5 South

Day 7 - Tuesday, July 27
Roadgeeking in NW Oregon/SW Washington

Day 8 - Wednesday, July 28 - Portland, OR-Redding, CA

I-5 South

Day 9 - Thursday, July 29 - Redding, CA-Kennewick, WA

I-5 North -> I-84 East -> I-82 West -> U.S. 395 North

Day 10 - Friday, July 30 - Kennewick, WA-Provo, UT

U.S. 395 North -> I-182 East -> I-182 West -> I-82 East -> I-84 East -> I-15 South -> I-215 South -> I-15 South

Day 11 - Saturday, July 31 - Provo, UT-Denver, CO

I-15 South -> I-70 East -> CO 470 South/East

Day 12 - Sunday, August 1 - Denver, CO-Oklahoma City, OK

I-25 North -> I-225 North -> I-70 East -> U.S. 287 South -> U.S. 50 East -> U.S. 183 South -> U.S. 270 East -> OK 3 East

In other news, I am still working on writing picture captions from the Rocky Mountain Roadtrip. I am currently on Day 6 (the next-to-last day of the trip). Hopefully I will finish Day 6 & Day 7 from that trip before next Wednesday. I don't think I'll get to the picture captions from the New Mexico Trip until the Pac-48 Trip is complete. In other words, there will be enough work for me to do for several weeks (maybe months) to come!

ES

New Mexico Roadtrip

This weekend, we will be taking a trip to New Mexico. We plan on driving through most of the state's major cities in the northern half of the state, including Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Taos, Farmington, and Gallup.

The proposed trip route is listed below: (subject to change)

Friday, July 2 (OKC-Tucumcari):

I-40 West -> NM 469 North -> U.S. 54 East -> NM 39 North -> Harding County -> NM 39 South -> U.S. 54 West

Saturday, July 3 (Tucumcari-Santa Fe-Red River-Raton-Albuquerque):

I-40 West -> U.S. 285 North -> NM 502 West -> Los Alamos -> NM 502 East -> U.S. 285 North -> U.S. 64 East -> NM 38 West -> Red River -> NM 38 East -> U.S. 64 East -> Raton -> I-25 South -> Albuquerque, NM

Sunday, July 4 (Albuquerque-Gallup-Shiprock-Farmington-Albuquerque):

I-40 West -> Arizona state line -> I-40 East -> U.S. 491 North -> U.S. 64 West -> U.S. 160 East -> U.S. 491 South -> U.S. 64 East -> U.S. 550 South -> I-25 South

Monday, July 5 (Albuquerque-OKC)

I-40 East -> U.S. 287 South -> U.S. 83 North -> I-40 East

After this trip, we should have 8 new counties (5 NM, 1 CO, 2 TX) and should also have all of Interstate 25 clinched. Hopefully the weather will cooperate with us, as this is the wet season in parts of New Mexico.

In other news, I am still writing Flickr captions from the Rocky Mountain Roadtrip's pictures. I am currently up to Dillon, MT on Day 3 of the trip. I don't think I'll have all of that trip's pictures captioned by this weekend's New Mexico Trip but hopefully I'll be close.

Also, I am hoping to announce another major roadtrip soon that will take place during the last 2 weeks of July. At this time I am not completely sure where we are going, but I will say that it could be anywhere from California to South Carolina to Delaware to Michigan.

ES

Rocky Mountain Roadtrip So Far...

Good evening from Billings, Montana, where we are spending the night after a rainy & foggy Day 4 of the Rocky Mountain Roadtrip. It rained about 95% of today's 306 mile trip from Helena to Billings.

We have had to make a couple changes during the trip; one due to time constraints (no sidetrip to Logan, UT, yesterday) and one due to the weather (no trip to Yellowstone today). Other than that, the trip has gone as planned thus far. The weather has cooperated for the most part; it has been cloudy for a good part of the trip but there have also been blue skies for much of the trip. Sometimes there has even been blue sky visible while it's raining! But all in all, it has been a great trip.

Wednesday, we entered our 44th state (Wyoming), and yesterday, we entered our 45th & 46th states (Idaho & Montana, respectively). We've even seen a few sign goofs (Business Loop I-80 signed as I-80 in Wyoming, Business Loop I-15 signed as I-15 in Idaho, and UT 265 signed as U.S. 265 at its eastern terminus).

The pictures for the first 4 days are all uploaded to Flickr, and our county map has been updated as well. Tomorrow, we plan on going to Buffalo, WY, via Rapid City & Mt. Rushmore.

ES

KC Road Meet & County-Collecting Roadtrip

Good evening all. It has been yet another stormy week in Oklahoma. After the tornadoes last Monday 5/10 and then the hail on Sunday 5/16 (which damaged the hotel I work at), we have had more severe weather in the state tonight. Thankfully, the storms somehow missed Oklahoma City but hit areas just to the north and south. Hopefully the storms are over now and the weather will be great for the Kansas City Road Meet & County-Collecting Roadtrip that I have planned for this weekend. The forecasts seem to indicate that the weather will cooperate this weekend, so I'm hoping that is the case...

I will be leaving Friday morning for Kansas City but will do some county collecting in eastern Kansas & southeast Nebraska before making it to Kansas City. Saturday, I plan on doing some driving in the Kansas City area before and after the road meet. Finally, on Sunday, the plan is to do some more county collecting in eastern Kansas & southeast Nebraska before heading back to Oklahoma City, where I will spend about 36 hours until the Rocky Mountain Roadtrip begins on Tuesday! Overall, I hope to collect a total of 19 new counties during this weekend's trip (17 in Kansas & 2 in Nebraska). The approximate trip route for this weekend is as follows:

Friday:

I-44 East -> U.S. 69 North -> OK 2 North -> U.S. 59 North -> K-47 West -> U.S. 169 North -> U.S. 59 North -> U.S. 56 West -> U.S. 75 North -> U.S. 73 South -> U.S. 159 South -> U.S. 59 South -> U.S. 24 East -> K-7 South -> K-32 East -> I-635 South -> I-35 South

New counties: Labette, Neosho, Allen, Anderson, Jackson, Brown, Nemaha, Richardson (NE), Atchison, Jefferson

Saturday: TBD

Sunday:

K-7 North -> U.S. 73 North -> U.S. 59 North -> I-29 South -> U.S. 36 West -> K-63 North -> NE 50 North -> NE 8 West -> NE 99 South -> K-99 South -> U.S. 36 West -> K-15 South -> U.S. 24 East -> K-99 South -> I-70 West -> K-177 South -> U.S. 56 East -> U.S. 75 South -> U.S. 400 West -> U.S. 77 South -> U.S. 166 West -> U.S. 81 South -> U.S. 60 East -> I-35 South

New counties: Doniphan, Pawnee (NE), Marshall, Washington, Clay, Pottawatomie, Morris, Woodson, Wilson

In other news, we took a last-minute trip to SE Oklahoma last weekend. It was a good thing we did; it saved our cars from being affected by Sunday's hail storm! The U.S. 377/OK 99 West sign goofs in Madill that I photographed in 2006 are still there. I also took some pictures of the Chickasaw Turnpike, thus ending my "boycott" of the turnpike since the only other time I had driven the turnpike in March 2002 (before I even had a digital camera!).

See y'all later, and drive safely.

ES

Upcoming Roadtrips

It's been over a month since I last blogged. In that time, we have been as far away as Tulsa. (ooh aah)

But that is all about to change, because starting on May 21, we will have 10 roadtrip days out of 11 total days. I will be taking a trip to Kansas City for a road meet & county-collecting May 21-23, and then from May 25-31, my wife & I will be taking a trip to the "Mountain Northwest" as we take the Rocky Mountain Roadtrip through Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, Montana, South Dakota, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas.

I will post the trip route for the KC/County-Collecting Trip in a later blog, as that route is still being worked on. I do have the Rocky Mountain Roadtrip route planned out, and it is stated below. Of course this is subject to change...

Tuesday, May 25:
Oklahoma City, OK to Grand Island, NE
I-35 North -> I-135 North -> U.S. 81 North -> U.S. 136 East -> U.S. 77 North -> I-80 West -> U.S. 281 North

Wednesday, May 26:
Grand Island, NE to Evanston, WY
U.S. 281 South -> I-80 West (sidetrips planned include the eastern section of I-76 & the infamous I-180 in Cheyenne)

Thursday, May 27:
Evanston, WY to Helena, MT
I-80 West -> I-215 South/West -> I-15 South to Provo -> I-15 North

Friday, May 28:
Helena, MT to Billings, MT via Yellowstone
I-15 South -> I-90 East -> U.S. 89 South -> Yellowstone -> U.S. 89 North -> I-90 East

Saturday, May 29:
Billings, MT to Buffalo, WY via Mount Rushmore
I-90 East -> I-190 South -> U.S. 16 West -> U.S. 16A West -> SD 244 West -> U.S. 16 West -> I-90 West -> I-25 South

Sunday, May 30:
Buffalo, WY to Trinidad, CO
I-25 South -> U.S. 36 West to Boulder -> U.S. 36 East -> I-25 South

Monday, May 31:
Trinidad, CO to Oklahoma City, OK
I-25 South -> U.S. 87 South -> I-40 East

ES

Rocky Mountain High...Colorado (Plus a few other states)

Due to some unforseen circumstances, the Wyoming Trip, scheduled to take place May 29-June 1, has been renamed and expanded! The trip will now be known as the Rocky Mountain Roadtrip and will take place May 25-May 31.

We are no longer simply going to Wyoming. We have added Utah, Idaho, and Montana to the trip! This will be our first time to Utah & Colorado since June 2003, when we were in those states during the Deserts & Mountains Trip. This trip will also mark our first time to be in Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana. After this trip is complete, we will have been to 46 states! The trip route will be announced in late April or early May.

We are excited about this trip and are looking forward to getting pictures from 3 new states!

ES

Upcoming County Collecting Roadtrip

This weekend, we will be taking a roadtrip to East Texas and West Louisiana for a concert and some county/parish collecting.

Route:
Friday:

I-35 South -> I-35E South -> I-635 East

Saturday:

I-635 East -> U.S. 80 East -> I-20 East -> U.S. 59 South -> U.S. 84 East -> I-49 South -> U.S. 371 North -> U.S. 84 West -> U.S. 171 South -> LA 191 South -> LA 6/TX 21 West -> TX 103 West -> U.S. 96 North -> TX 21 West -> Bus. U.S. 59 North -> U.S. 259 North -> TX 64 West

New counties/parishes: Panola, Shelby, Red River (LA), Sabine (LA), Sabine (TX), San Augustine, Nacogdoches, Rusk

Sunday:

U.S. 69 North -> U.S. 80 East -> TX 155 North -> U.S. 271 North -> I-30 West -> U.S. 69 North -> U.S. 75 North -> U.S. 70 West -> I-35 North

New counties: Wood, Upshur, Camp

Coming soon: a big announcement about a future roadtrip!

ES