The Final Blog of the Decade

Good evening. It is about 90 minutes until the end of 2009 and the beginning of 2010. My wife & I are still in San Antonio. We still plan to leave Saturday and drive to Wichita Falls that day before heading back to OKC on Sunday.

Tuesday was a cold, rainy day. Thankfully, the rain subsided some in the afternoon, and my wife wanted to see a movie, so while she watched the movie, I went out and did some roadgeeking around San Antonio! I got pictures of U.S. 90, TX 151, and Spur 422.

Wednesday, I drove to Laredo and back to San Antonio via U.S. 90, U.S. 83, and I-35. Not much to report; other than the drive between Laredo & San Antonio is quite boring. I already knew that prior to Wednesday, though, as I did that drive in October 2003 during the South Texas Roadtrip. Which brings me to this point: this trip could also be called South Texas Roadtrip Part 3...

Today, my wife & I mostly stayed in the hotel to watch the OU-Stanford Sun Bowl game on TV (which OU won!), but we did venture out a little bit. We just took U.S. 281, though, which I have already covered this week. I have got to know U.S. 281 quite well this week...

Tomorrow, my wife & I are planning on going to LuLu's Bakery for a large cinnamon roll (3 1/2 pounds!). From there, we will go to New Braunfels & Austin and check out those areas. And, yes, that does include the University of saxeT.

Have a great new year everybody! See y'all later, and drive safely.

ES

San Antonio Trip Day 2

Day 2 of the San Antonio Trip is complete. We have made it back to San Antonio after going to Corpus Christi today.

Trip route:

U.S. 281 South to I-37

I-37 South to U.S. 181

U.S. 181 North to TX 35

TX 35 North to TX 361

TX 361 South to TX Park 22 (includes the Port Aransas Ferry)

TX Park 22 West to TX 358 West

TX 358 West to TX 286 North

TX 286 North to I-37

I-37 South to U.S. 181

U.S. 181 North to I-37

I-37 North to U.S. 281

U.S. 281 North to Loop 1604

Skies were partly to mostly sunny all day. The sun didn't affect nearly as many pictures today as it did yesterday.

Tomorrow, we plan on staying in the San Antonio area. There is a chance of rain so we may not do much tomorrow. Wednesday, we plan on going to Laredo via I-410, U.S. 90, and U.S. 83, then take I-35 North to San Antonio.

ES

San Antonio Trip Day 1

Day 1 of the San Antonio Trip is complete. We left OKC at about 8:30 this morning and made it to San Antonio at about 5:15 this afternoon. Skies were mostly cloudy from OKC to Davis, then mostly clear from Davis to San Antonio. The mostly sunny skies were nice to see, however, it also affected a lot of pictures. I had to delete a lot of pictures because my camera wanted to focus on the sun instead of the road sign! It was quite frustrating but I did the best I could. Sun angles this time of year are not very good for southbound travelers.

Pictures from Day 1 are currently being uploaded to Flickr.

Here is the current plan for the rest of the trip:

Day 2 (Monday 12/28):

Corpus Christi area

Victoria area (if time allows)

Day 3 (Tuesday 12/29):

San Antonio area (forecast calls for rain on this day so there may not be too much road coverage)

Day 4 (Wednesday 12/30):

Laredo area

Day 5 (Thursday 12/31):

San Antonio area

Day 6 (Friday 1/1):

Austin & New Braunfels area

Day 7 (Saturday 1/2):

San Antonio to Wichita Falls via I-10, U.S. 83, and U.S. 277

Day 8 (Sunday 1/3):

Wichita Falls to OKC via I-44

ES

San Antonio Trip Update

Good evening all. We are still planning (and hoping) to begin the San Antonio Trip tomorrow. We are not sure if it will be morning or afternoon, or even if we will get to San Antonio tomorrow, but we are sure gonna try. We were able to leave home today and got to the southwest side of OKC and back just fine. (I live in northwest OKC)

ES

New Trip Plan

After a few hours of venting about not being able to go to San Diego, I have come up with a new trip plan. As of this point, it looks like we should be able to get out of our apartment complex sometime tomorrow afternoon. So we have a new trip plan...

We are going to another major city with two words and the first word of "San". We are currently planning on leaving Sunday for San Antonio, and plan to spend a week in that area. We hope to go to some of the area cities (ie. Corpus Christi, Laredo, Austin) and explore those areas.

More details to come later...

ES

San Diego Trip Cancelled

I have cancelled the San Diego Trip. I cannot get out of my apartment complex. At this time, I don't know if this trip will ever happen.

ES

14 inches of snow!!

That's right, OKC received 14 inches of the white stuff today. That is a new record for single-day snowfall in the month of December. Go figure that it happens two days before I am supposed to leave for the sunny beaches of San Diego.

I have not made a decision yet on the trip, but I will say all options are on the table at this point, whether that means a delay in starting the trip, reroute, or full cancellation of the trip. Believe me, full cancellation of the trip is the very last thing I want to do and will explore all other options before I outright cancel the whole trip. Stay with this blog, it'll keep you advised.

ES

Christmas Eve Blizzard

Well, we aren't just getting snow, we're getting a freakin' blizzard! And, the H.E. Bailey Turnpike is closed from Newcastle to Texas. And I am supposed to be driving on that turnpike on Saturday! So...there is still a possibility of a reroute or delay of the San Diego Trip. :( Stay tuned.

Good news is; I do have the rental car for the trip; a Pontiac G6 with satellite radio! Love me some satellite radio...

ES

Trip route from San Diego to OKC

Here is the planned trip route from San Diego to Oklahoma City. This may change due to weather, but this is what the current plan is:

Friday, January 1:
I-5 North to CA 56
CA 56 East to I-15
I-15 North to I-215
I-215 North to CA 60
CA 60 East to I-10
I-10 East to Tucson, AZ

Saturday, January 2:
I-10 East to U.S. 70
U.S. 70 East to Roswell, NM

Sunday, January 3:
U.S. 70 East to U.S. 60
U.S. 60 East to I-27
I-27 North to I-40
I-40 East to OKC

Tomorrow, I pick up the vehicle that will take us on this trip. Less than 65 hours remain until the start of the trip!

ES

Snow in OKC?!

Well, it looks like we will be getting snow in OK City tomorrow. Yay. At least it's not ice. I guess we may have snow on the ground on Christmas for the 3rd time in my 26 years of living...

Thankfully, this stuff is supposed to be gone by tomorrow night, so we are still planning on leaving for San Diego on Saturday morning as scheduled.

When does summer start?

ES

4 days

Just 4 days remain now until the beginning of the San Diego Trip! In my last blog, I covered the route to San Diego. This post will cover some of the highways I hope to cover while in San Diego. The routes for each day in San Diego haven't been determined yet, but this will give y'all an idea of what I plan to see:

• I-5
• I-15
• I-805
• CA 15
• CA 52
• CA 75 (Coronado Bridge)
• CA 163

The next blog will cover the route for the trip from San Diego to Oklahoma City. Until then, see y'all later, and drive safely.

ES

6 days

Just 6 days remain until the beginning of the San Diego Trip! This post will cover the route we will be taking to San Diego...

Saturday, December 26:
I-44 West to U.S. 277

U.S. 277 South to I-20

I-20 West to Odessa, TX

Sunday, December 27:

I-20 West to I-10

I-10 West to Tucson, AZ

Monday, December 28:

I-10 West to I-8

I-8 West to San Diego, CA

The next blog will have some of the highways I hope to cover on this trip. Until then, see y'all later, and drive safely.

ES

San Diego Trip Update

At this point, (knock on wood) the weather for at least the beginning of the San Diego trip looks good. Cold, but no precipitation. So, hopefully that does not change between now and next Saturday. Within the next 9 days between now and the trip, I plan on posting a summary of what routes I hope to photograph during the trip. Some highways will be covered for the first time since 2004, and there will be some all-new territory covered on the trip.

I am getting anxious and excited about this trip and hope that all goes well!

ES

San Diego Trip to be affected by weather?

The San Diego Trip is scheduled to begin in 11 days, on Saturday, December 26. I am planning on driving from OKC to Odessa, TX, on that day, via I-44, U.S. 277, & I-20. Currently, there are several weather forecasts saying that there will be winter precipitation in Oklahoma late next week. Thankfully, there are still 11 days between now and the scheduled beginning of the trip, but it will be interesting to see what the weather does and if it affects the trip.

If there is winter weather, I would much rather have snow than ice. I have driven in snow on one roadtrip, the Florida Trip in December 2003, where I to reroute the trip from Charlotte, NC, to Murfreesboro, TN, to bypass the NC mountains due to a snowstorm that dumped 8 inches of the white stuff. I still did get to drive through snow between Chattanooga & Murfreesboro but it wasn't very much.

I will keep posting updates on here as time gets closer. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and the trip will go as planned, but this time of year, you never know with Oklahoma weather.

ES

Long time, no blog

It's been over a month since I blogged. I have been busy with a lot of other things. The good news is that I did upload some more 2006 pictures to Flickr. I also took a few pictures from a short trip to Tulsa I did two weekends ago. I got some pics of I-244, U.S. 64/OK 51, and U.S. 75.

I was in Yukon last weekend and noticed that OK 92 shields have been taken down. A couple of years ago, OK 92 was decommissioned between I-40 & OK 66 (about 1.5 miles), but I was south of I-40, and there were no OK 92 shields. So I am thinking that the whole route has been decommissioned, which leaves just the southern OK 92. That OK 92 goes from U.S. 62/U.S. 277/OK 9 east of Chickasha to OK 37 in Tuttle. It once went as far south as Lake Burtschi State Park southwest of Norge, but was truncated to east of Chickasha in 2005.

That is all I have for today. Three weeks from today is the first day of the San Diego Trip!

ES

Today's mini-trip

This afternoon, I did a short roadtrip around northwest OKC & Edmond. I took pictures of the Lake Hefner Parkway and of the new U.S. 77 interchange at Memorial Road & Kelley Avenue. Pictures have been uploaded to Flickr.

• All the new signs on U.S. 77 are in Clearview (no surprise there)
• The new overpasses over Memorial Road & Kelley Avenue are decorated quite well (especially for Oklahoma). It seems like some bridges built in Oklahoma during the past year or two have had this type of decoration. The new Memorial & Kelley overpasses look somewhat like the new OK 102 bridge over Interstate 44 near Wellston.
• OK 74 goes from a four-lane freeway to a narrow two lane road just north of Memorial Road. Eventually, the freeway will extend one mile north to N.W. 150th Street. For now, though, OK 74 traverses the narrow, dangerous, and overburdened Portland Avenue.

55 days until the San Diego Trip!

ES

"Retro" Sign Goofs

If you have been following this blog & my Flickr lately, you know that I have been on a "2006-kick" lately. In other words, I have been uploading and captioning pictures from 2006 that never got a webpage made for them on OKRoads.com. While doing these pictures, I have been reminded of a couple of sign goofs that I am glad I photographed: (click on picture for larger size)

U.S. 77 South approaching OK 74C, which connects OK 74 & U.S. 77 in Logan County. Notice Crescent is spelled incorrectly. This was taken on July 29, 2006, and I have not been back to this area since then, so the Cresent goof may still be present.

Interstate 35 & OK 77 North assurance shields, as taken on December 9, 2006. These were posted near the end of the reconstruction project that widened Interstate 35 to three lanes in each direction through the Shields interchange in north Moore. This sign goof was corrected a few months later and this shield assembly now displays a correct U.S. 77 shield. There were two other cases where OK 77 shields were posted during this construction project...one on the northbound frontage road at the on-ramp from N. 12th Street, and the other was a shield assembly on Interstate 35/U.S. 77 South. Those have been corrected as well.



Near U.S. 70's eastern junction with U.S. 377 & OK 99, U.S. 377 and/or OK 99 South is signed as West 3 times. These pictures were taken May 29, 2006. I have not been to this area since this day, so I am not sure if these goofs have been fixed.

ES

Flickr updates & a short trip this weekend

Yes, I am still alive and well. I have just been keeping busy with everything else in life. In the process, I have uploaded some more "new-old" pictures from 2006. These pictures are from three mini-trips I did in May and July 2006. I have completed the captions for two sets from May and have started on the July set. After this is complete, I will upload some more 2006 pictures from January, February, and March. There will be some Kansas & Texas pictures included in those sets, but about 90% of the pics will be from Oklahoma.

This weekend (Sunday to be exact) will mark my wife & I's one year wedding anniversary. To celebrate this occasion, we are taking a trip to southeast Oklahoma, with a sidetrip in northeast Texas planned as well. I do plan on taking some pictures during this short trip.

If I remember, I will update the OKRoads picture of the week tonight. By the time I remembered to update it last week, it was already Friday, and here it is Tuesday and I still have not updated it, but hopefully that will change tonight.

San Diego Trip countdown - 67 days

ES

New old pictures on Flickr

Earlier this evening, I finished writing captions for the pictures from the Kansas City roadtrip. As I type this, I am uploading some new pictures to Flickr. These are pictures from the first day of the West Texas Roadtrip that I took April 5-7, 2006, when I drove from Oklahoma City to El Paso. After those pictures are uploaded, I will upload the pictures from the other two days of that trip to Flickr. There are pictures from New Mexico & the Texas Panhandle from those two days.

Other than that, and the new iPhone I got yesterday, things have been going as usual for me. I will get to take a short trip to southeast Oklahoma in late October for my one-year wedding anniversary. The next time I am planning to be out of state will be in December when we go to San Diego.

ES

Updates!

It has been 20 days since I last blogged, but I have kept plenty busy in those 20 days. I did the Kansas City roadtrip over Labor Day weekend and the weather cooperated for the most part. It was cloudy for most of the trip but it didn't rain.

Last night, I wrote the captions for the final pictures from the New England roadtrip. Next, I will be writing captions for the pics from the Kansas City trip. I am hoping to have that done by October 15.

After that, my plan is to upload some old pictures from the first half of 2006 onto Flickr, including several trips I made of U.S. highways in Oklahoma & North Texas, and pictures from the West Texas Roadtrip I took back in April 2006, in which I drove through Lawton, Lubbock, El Paso, Las Cruces, Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Clovis, Lubbock again, and Amarillo. Highways I took during that trip include I-44 from OKC to Lawton, U.S. 62 from Lawton to El Paso (with a break in Lubbock when I used Loop 289 to bypass the city), I-10 from El Paso to Las Cruces, I-25 from Las Cruces to near Las Vegas, U.S. 84 from Las Vegas to Lubbock, I-27 from Lubbock to Amarillo, U.S. 60 & TX/OK 152 from Amarillo to Elk City, and I-40 from Elk City to OKC. Whew!

By the time I am done with those pictures, it should be close to the San Diego Roadtrip, still scheduled to take place December 26-January 4.

ES

Kansas City Trip This Weekend

Plans are being firmed up for this weekend's Kansas City roadtrip. The plan is to take a little sidetrip around the area on Saturday afternoon. I plan on photographing the "Alphabet Loop" in downtown Kansas City in both directions, U.S. 169 north of downtown Kansas City, and possibly another highway or two in the area.

This will be the first time I have been in Kansas City, Missouri, since August 2003 (which was two cameras ago!). I have been to a lot of other places since then, but not to KCMO. The last time I was in KCKS was in May 2005. There were a couple times between August 2003 & the present that I did go to Overland Park, but never went any farther north than that. In other words, it's been a long, long time since I got decent coverage of Kansas City!

At this point, the weather looks OK for the trip. There is a chance of rain throughout the trip, but hopefully, it won't rain during the times we are on the road, or during the Royals game we are going to on Sunday afternoon.

Pictures will be uploaded to Flickr each night of the trip, provided that the Internet connection works in each hotel we are staying in. :D

ES

Updates

Good morning all. I have just updated the picture of the week on OKRoads. I apologize for not posting one last week.

On Flickr, I have finished writing captions for all pictures up to the beginning of Day Seven (Northern Maine). I have about 4,000 pictures left to write captions & geotag from the New England trip.

Next Friday, September 4, is the beginning of the Kansas City roadtrip.

Planned route:

Friday, September 4:

Kilpatrick Turnpike East to I-35

I-35 North to Wichita

Saturday, September 5:

I-35 North to U.S. 59

U.S. 59 North to I-70

I-70 East to I-35

I-35 South to Downtown Kansas City

Sunday, September 6:

I-70 East to Kauffman Stadium

I-435 South/West to K-10

K-10 West to Lawrence

Monday, September 7:

K-10 East to I-435

I-435 East to U.S. 69

U.S. 69 South to U.S. 400

U.S. 400 East to I-44

I-44 West to Creek Turnpike

Creek Turnpike West to I-44

I-44 West to I-35

I-35 South to OKC

ES

Flickr updates

I have finished writing picture captions from Days Three & Four of the New England trip. Pics from those days have been divided into more specific sets on Flickr. The pictures are dispersed throughout the New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island collections.

I have also started writing captions from Day Five. I have finished placing the New Hampshire pictures from that day into specific highway sets.

A Flickr rant: it seems like every time I create a new collection for a state's road pictures, and I put it into alphabetical order, the alphabetical order of other collections gets messed up. I have tried several times to get it correct but I haven't got it figured out yet. It looks fine in the Organizr when I leave it but when I close the Organizr, the order gets messed up yet again. In summary: I do know how to sort the state collections in alphabetical order, but the Organizr has some issues when I create new collections.

ES

Update: I think I figured out the Organizr...seems like I can only move one collection to a different location at a time. -ES

Roadtrip announcement

I am glad to announce the next "major" roadtrip for OKRoads! It is currently planned to take place December 26, 2009 through January 3, 2010, and will take us to San Diego, California, or San Diago as Ron Burgundy calls it. :D The trip route has already been planned out, so here goes:

Saturday, December 26:

Oklahoma City, OK - Odessa, TX

I-44 West to U.S. 277

U.S. 277 South to I-20

I-20 West to Odessa

Sunday, December 27:

Odessa, TX - Tucson, AZ

I-20 West to I-10

I-10 West to Tucson

Monday, December 28:

Tucson, AZ - San Diego, CA

I-10 West to I-8

I-8 West to San Diego

Tuesday, December 29, Wednesday, December 30, and Thursday, December 31:

San Diego area activities TBD

Friday, January 1:

San Diego, CA - Tucson, AZ

I-15 North to I-215

I-215 North to CA 60

CA 60 East to I-10

I-10 East to Tucson

Saturday, January 2:

Tucson, AZ - Roswell, NM

I-10 East to U.S. 70

U.S. 70 East to Roswell

Sunday, January 3:

Roswell, NM - Oklahoma City, OK

U.S. 70 East to U.S. 60

U.S. 60 East to I-27

I-27 North to I-40

I-40 East to Oklahoma City

So there you have it! Of course, this is subject to change as it gets closer, but hopefully it won't change too much from this.

27 days until the Kansas City roadtrip! And only 140 days until the San Diego trip. :D

ES

New England Trip Day One & Two Picture Pages

Pictures from the first 2 days of the New England trip have been captioned & geotagged on Flickr. Links to the pages are listed below:

All Day One Pictures:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/okroads/sets/72157621252593778/

All Day Two Pictures:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/okroads/sets/72157621182766379/

Interstate 44 East - Oklahoma:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/okroads/sets/72157611025924474/

Interstate 44 East - Missouri:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/okroads/sets/72157621749575173/

Interstate 55 North - Missouri:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/okroads/sets/72157621749594159/

Interstate 70 East - Illinois:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/okroads/sets/72157621749594159/

Interstate 70 East - Indiana:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/okroads/sets/72157621883926118/

Interstate 465 Inner Loop - Indiana:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/okroads/sets/72157621883938604/

Sam Jones Expressway East:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/okroads/sets/72157621883951694/

Interstate 70 East - Ohio:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/okroads/sets/72157621915920636/

Interstate 670 East - Ohio:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/okroads/sets/72157621791373149/

Interstate 71 North - Ohio:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/okroads/sets/72157621915941340/

Interstate 271 North - Ohio:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/okroads/sets/72157621915947130/

Interstate 77 North - Ohio:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/okroads/sets/72157621915956516/

Interstate 90 East - Ohio:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/okroads/sets/72157621791419815/

Interstate 90 East - Pennsylvania:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/okroads/sets/72157621810883935/

Interstate 90 East - New York:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/okroads/sets/72157621936554238/

Interstate 290 West - New York:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/okroads/sets/72157621936604230/

Interstate 190 North - New York:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/okroads/sets/72157621812064971/

U.S. 62 North - New York:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/okroads/sets/72157621936641942/

NY 104 West:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/okroads/sets/72157621812113255/

Robert Moses State Parkway South:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/okroads/sets/72157621812133217/

Interstate 190 South - New York:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/okroads/sets/72157621936714352/

Interstate 290 East - New York:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/okroads/sets/72157621936736450/

Interstate 490 East - New York:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/okroads/sets/72157621812215449/

NY 390 North:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/okroads/sets/72157621812247889/

I am over halfway done through Day Three's pictures. Hopefully by the middle of next week I will have those completed.

ES

New England Roadtrip Recap

Finally, 2 1/2 weeks after the trip ended, I am writing a recap of the ESKS New England Extravanagza Roadtrip 2K9! I will briefly recap each day of the trip. This is the first of several blogs I will be making today because I have some other things to cover and a big roadtrip announcement to make.

The trip started at 6:34 AM on Friday, July 10, and ended at 4:32 PM on Tuesday, July 21. In that 11 days, 9 hours, and 58 minutes, my wife & I traveled 6,082.4 miles through 20 different states. This trip allowed me to drive in two new states, Rhode Island & Maine. This was the first time I had been in new states since July 9, 2005, when I was in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, and New Hampshire for the first time. During this trip, I entered each of those states for the 2nd time. Rhode Island became my 42nd state entered on July 12 (which also happened to be my 26th birthday), and Maine became my 43rd state entered on July 15.

The weather was pretty good for the trip as a whole, considering that up to that point, it had been very rainy in New England in recent weeks. We saw sunshine and blue skies at some point on every day of the trip.

Here is a daily recap of the trip:

Day One, Friday, July 10:

Started in: Oklahoma City, OK

Finished in: Indianapolis, IN

Miles: 732.8

States: OK (#1 on the trip), MO (2), IL (3), IN (4)

Weather: Clear skies until Missouri, then cloudy with occasional sprinkles & rain showers until Vandalia, IL, then partly cloudy to Indianapolis

Detours: None

Highlights: "Re-clinched" Interstate 70; it was rerouted around Indianapolis International Airport between the last time I was there in 2003 & the present

Day Two, Saturday, July 11:

Started in: Indianapolis, IN

Finished in: Rochester/Greece, NY

Miles: 625.2

States: IN, OH (5), PA (6), NY (7)

Weather: Mostly cloudy until Richmond, IN, then cloudy until Columbus, OH, showers & thunderstorms from Columbus to Mansfield, Sunny to partly cloudy from Mansfield to Ohio/Pennsylvania state line, cloudy from OH/PA state line to just south of Buffalo, sunny in Buffalo & Niagara Falls, cloudy from Niagara Falls to east of Buffalo, partly cloudy from east of Buffalo to Rochester (the weather was very indecesive on this day)

Detours: Niagara Falls via I-190, I-290 & U.S. 62

Highlights: Saw Niagara Falls for the 2nd time, but the 1st time with my wife

Day Three, Sunday, July 12:

Started in: Greece, NY

Finished in: Worcester, MA

Miles: 508.1

States: NY, MA (8), CT (9), RI (10)

Weather: Clear to partly cloudy skies all day

Detours: Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, MA; Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg; Providence, RI

Highlights: Toured Basketball Hall of Fame, Entered Rhode Island for the first time

Day Four, Monday, July 13:

Sidetrip to Providence, Fall River, Newport, Westerly, Plymouth, and Cape Cod

Miles: 471.4

States: MA, RI, CT

Weather: Clear to partly cloudy skies all day

Detours: None really, just a winding sidetrip to see some of Massachusetts & Rhode Island

Highlights: Saw Plymouth Rock & Cape Cod, including the unremarkable eastern terminus of U.S. 6, clinched all interstate mileage in Rhode Island

Day Five, Tuesday, July 14:

Sidetrip to New Hampshire & Vermont

Miles: 459.3

States: MA, NH (11), VT (12)

Weather: Clear skies at the beginning of the day, then cloudy with occassional showers the rest of the day

Detours: None

Day Six, Wednesday, July 15:

Started in: Worcester, MA

Finished in: Bangor, ME

Miles: 311.4

States: MA, NH, ME (13)

Weather: Clear to partly cloudy skies all day

Detours: Fenway Park

Highlights: Clinched all interstate mileage in New Hampshire, toured Fenway Park, drove northbound on the southbound lanes of I-295 in Maine (southbound traffic was being rerouted to nearby U.S. 201 due to construction)

Day Seven, Thursday, July 16:

Sidetrip to Houlton & Fort Kent, ME

Miles: 423.9

States: ME

Weather: Mostly cloudy almost all day, with some clearing around Houlton; rain showers from Fort Kent to Bangor

Detours: None

Highlights: Saw the northern termini of Interstate 95 & U.S. 1

Day Eight, Friday, July 17:

Sidetrip to Bar Harbor & Acadia National Park

Miles: 224.4

States: ME

Weather: Mostly cloudy & foggy almost all day, with some clearing around Bar Harbor

Detours: None

Highlights: Saw the beautiful Acadia National Park (even though dense fog affected our views of the ocean)

Day Nine, Saturday, July 18:

Started in: Bangor, ME

Finished in: Chambersburg, PA

Miles: 700.7

States: ME, NH, MA, CT, NY, NJ (14), PA

Weather: Showers from Bangor to Portland, then cloudy from Portland to Worcester, then sunny to partly cloudy the rest of the way

Detours: None

Highlights: Clinched the eastern Interstate 84, drove by ESPN Headquarters in Bristol, CT, briefly crossed into New Jersey via I-84's Exit 1 in New York

Day Ten, Sunday, July 19:

Started in: Chambersburg, PA

Ended in: Sevierville, TN

Miles: 566.3

States: PA, MD (15), WV (16), VA (17), NC (18), TN (19)

Weather: Clear to partly cloudy for most of the day, except for the Great Smoky Mountains, where it was cloudy

Detours: I-26 & I-40 through the Great Smoky Mountains

Highlights: Drove I-26 through the Smokies without having to deal with the remnants of a tropical storm (like I did in 2005)

Day Eleven, Monday, July 20:

Started in: Sevierville, TN

Ended in: Hot Springs, AR

Miles: 621.3

States: TN, AR (20)

Weather: Clear to partly cloudy from Sevierville to Memphis, then mostly cloudy from Memphis to Hot Springs

Detours: Sevierville via TN 66

Highlights: Re-entered the Central Time Zone

Day Twelve, Tuesday, July 21:

Started in: Hot Springs, AR

Ended in: Oklahoma City, OK

Miles: 410.8

States: AR, OK

Weather: Heavy rain from Hot Springs to Clarksville, then partly cloudy from Clarksville to Oklahoma City

Detours: None

Highlights: Made it back home safely

That is a quick recap of the ESKS New England Extravaganza Roadtrip 2K9. It was a wonderful trip and it was a great experience.

ES

Short roadtrip announcement

During Labor Day Weekend, my wife & I are planning on taking a roadtrip to Kansas City. We are planning on driving I-35 North to Kansas City, then take U.S. 69 South & some other highways TBD back to OKC. With the four-laning of U.S. 69 between Louisburg & Fort Scott now completed, I am looking forward to getting pictures of that newly widened highway.

This will be the first time I have been to Kansas since April 2007, which is a long time for me considering I went to Kansas at least once a month in my younger years.

I will post a recap of the New England trip later this week...I promise!

ES

Flickr updates

Today, I finished writing picture captions for the July 5, 2009 trip from Poteau to Oklahoma City. Pictures include U.S. 59, OK 9, OK 102, and Interstate 240.

U.S. 59 North:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/okroads/sets/72157621849639546/

OK 9 West:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/okroads/sets/72157620835454214/

OK 102 North:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/okroads/sets/72157621725289555/

Interstate 240 West:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/okroads/sets/72157621725308547/

I have also started writing picture captions from Day One of the New England roadtrip. I have made it to Springfield, MO thus far.

Also, I have just updated the Picture of the Week on OKRoads.com. No surprise here; it is a picture from the New England roadtrip, and it is from a state that hadn't been covered before the trip.

ES

Trip complete

The ESKS New England Extravanagza Roadtrip 2K9 is over, as we have made it back to Oklahoma City. A full recap of the trip will be posted later this week. We drove a little more than 6,000 miles through 20 states in 11 days. (OK, MO, IL, IN, OH, PA, NY, MA, CT, RI, NH, VT, ME, NJ, MD, WV, VA, TN, NC, AR)

Today, we drove through drenching rains from Hot Springs to Clarksville, then the rains finally gave way to partly cloudy skies which remained for the rest of the trip to Oklahoma City. Pictures from today's travels are currently being uploaded to Flickr.

Tomorrow's travels will take me to...work. :(

ES

Day Ten Recap

Good evening from Sevierville, TN, where Day Ten of the ESKS New England Extravaganza Roadtrip 2K9 has concluded. We took a bit of a detour to get to Sevierville, as we took I-26 East from I-81 to I-40, then I-40 West to Sevierville; whereas the previous plan had us take I-81 South to I-40 West to Sevierville. Skies were clear to mostly cloudy throughout the day. We drove through Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, and North Carolina today.

Pictures are being uploaded to Flickr right now. I have just finished uploading the pictures from yesterday's trip from Bangor, ME, to Chambersburg, PA, so all 1,120 of those pictures are now online.

Tomorrow, we plan on taking I-40 West to Little Rock or Hot Springs, then we will arrive back home in Oklahoma City on Tuesday.

ES

Yesterday's pictures

Yesterday's pictures from Bangor to Chambersburg were not uploaded last night as planned due to Internet issues at the hotel. They will all be uploaded tonight from Knoxville.

Day Eight & Nine Recaps

Good evening from Chambersburg, PA, where we arrived a couple hours ago after 700 miles of driving today.

Yesterday, we took a short trip from Bangor to Bar Harbor & Acadia National Park. Pictures for that day have already been uploaded.

Today, we drove from Bangor, ME, to Chambersburg, PA. We were in 7 states today (ME, NH, MA, CT, NY, NJ, PA). We took Exit 1 off I-84 in New York and went slightly south to New Jersey for a break, then headed back north into New York and west into Pennsylvania. We were in 3 states in about 2 minutes. I took 1,120 pictures today, and they will be uploaded to Flickr while we sleep tonight. It rained for the first part of the day, but after leaving the Boston area, the skies cleared up and stayed that way for most of the remainder of the day.

Tomorrow's travels will take us to Knoxville, TN. Monday we plan on driving to Little Rock, then home on Tuesday.

ES

Day Seven Recap

Day Seven of the New England roadtrip is complete as we have made it back to Bangor after driving through northern Maine today. We drove I-95 North to its northern terminus, then U.S. 1 North to its northern terminus, and finally back south on ME 11 & I-95 to Bangor. It did rain some today but only between Fort Kent and Bangor on the way back.

Tomorrow's travels will take us to...well, I'm not quite sure yet where we are going. Somewhere in Maine, I know that much. Then Saturday will begin the long trip back to Oklahoma City. Hopefully we will make it to southern Pennsylvania, Maryland, or West Virginia on Saturday, but we shall see.

ES

Day Six Recap

Day Six of the ESKS New England Extravaganza Roadtrip 2K9 is complete as we arrived in Bangor, ME, at about 4:45 this afternoon, to conclude the first half of the trip. We took a drive into Boston to take a tour of Fenway Park, then headed north on I-93 & I-95 for the rest of the way to Maine. Pictures will be uploaded to Flickr later tonight.

Tomorrow's trip will take us to the northern ends of I-95, U.S. 1, and ME 11.

ES

Day Five Recap

Day Five of the trip has concluded after 7 hours of driving today. We drove through New Hampshire & Vermont. Skies were mostly sunny for most of the morning, but became cloudy with a few sprinkles here and there at about 10:30 AM, and stayed that way for the rest of the day. Pictures have been uploaded to Flickr. Tomorrow, we will drive from Worcester to Boston, then on to Bangor, Maine, where we will spend a couple days before heading back toward Oklahoma City on Saturday.

ES

Day Four Recap

We have arrived back in Worcester after driving about 11 1/2 hours today.

Route:

I-290 West to MA 146

MA/RI 146 South to I-295

I-295 North to I-95

I-95 South to I-195

I-195 East to MA 24

MA 24 South to RI 114

RI 114 South to RI 138

RI 138 West to U.S. 1

U.S. 1 South to RI 78

RI 78 North to CT 2

CT 2 North to CT 49

CT 49 North to I-95

I-95 North to MA 140

MA 140 North to U.S. 1

U.S. 1 South to I-495

I-495 South to U.S. 44

U.S. 44 East to MA 3

MA 3 South to U.S. 6 (with a sidetrip to Plymouth on the way)

U.S. 6 East to Provincetown

U.S. 6 West to MA 25

MA 25 West to I-495

I-495 North to MA 9

MA 9 West to Worcester

As you can see, the route was quite complex, and there were over 1,000 pictures taken today. They will be uploaded to Flickr later tonight.

Tomorrow's sidetrip will take us to New Hampshire & Vermont. There is a slight chance of rain there, but we will see if it rains on us...

ES

Day Three recap

We have made it to Worcester, MA, after 508 miles of driving today. We entered one new state, Rhode Island, and got pictures of I-95, I-295, U.S. 44, RI 4, and RI 146. Pictures will be uploaded to Flickr later tonight.

Route:

NY 390 North to Lake Ontario Parkway

NY 390 South to I-490

I-490 East to I-90

I-90 East to I-291

I-291 West to I-91

I-91 South to Basketball Hall of Fame

I-91 North to I-291

I-291 East to I-90

I-90 East to I-395

I-395 South to U.S. 44

U.S. 44 East to I-295

I-295 South to U.S. 6

U.S. 6 East to RI 10

RI 10 South to I-95

I-95 South to RI 4

I-95 North to I-295

I-295 North to RI 146

RI/MA 146 North to I-290

I-290 East to Worcester

Trip Log:

Departed Rochester, NY - 7:21 AM, mile 2025.1

Massachusetts Service Area - Lee, MA - 12:35 PM, mile 2316.8

Basketball Hall of Fame - Springfield, MA - 1:57 PM, mile 2365.9

Citgo - Webster, MA - 4:28 PM, mile 2428.2

Arrived Worcester, MA - 6:40 PM, mile 2533.2

Tomorrow's travels will take us to Providence, then to Fall River, Newport, Westerly, then back up I-95 through Providence to I-93 North to MA 3 South & U.S. 6 East to Provincetown, then back west on U.S. 6 & MA 25 to I-495 & Worcester. (Whew!) It looks like the weather will be great once again with sunny skies and highs in the 70s like it was today.

ES

Day Two is over

After almost exactly 12 hours of driving, Day Two of the New England roadtrip is complete. We drove through rain between Columbus and Ashland, and a few sprinkles near Buffalo, but otherwise, the weather turned out better than we thought it would. We made it to Rochester at about 8 this evening.

Notes:

Saw several error NY 62 shields on U.S. 62 in Niagara Falls

Saw a U.S. 21 shield instead of OH 21 on I-77

Saw an exit on I-70 in Ohio with a blank Exit tab (unfortunately I didn't get a pic of the sign)

Pictures are currently being uploaded to Flickr.

Tomorrow's travels will take us to Worcester, MA, with sidetrips to the National Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, MA, Webster Lake (otherwise known as Lake Chargogga...), and the outskirts of Providence. Tomorrow, Rhode Island will become the 42nd state covered by OKRoads. On Wednesday, Maine will become the 43rd state. At this point, tomorrow's weather looks good.

ES

Day One is complete

Day One of the ESKS New England Extravaganza Roadtrip 2K9 has concluded. We left Oklahoma City at 6:30 this morning, and after 732.8 miles, made it to Indianapolis at almost 8 Eastern Time.

The weather changed several times through the day. Skies were clear when we left Oklahoma City. As we entered Missouri, the skies became cloudy, and we drove through intermittent showers from Springfield to Vandalia, IL. From Vandalia to Indianapolis, skies were partly cloudy.

Some notes from today:

Oklahoma Highway Patrol was out in full force; we saw about 5 of their cars along our travels through Oklahoma. We hardly saw any in Missouri, then saw 2 in a 5-mile stretch in Illinois.

Missouri (at least on I-44) has not converted to Clearview yet. Illinois has a few Clearview signs but not too many. Indiana still has a lot of button copy signs left.

The only major traffic jam of the day was in downtown St. Louis when we were going onto I-70 East; traffic was backed up all the way to I-44's eastern terminus.

Route:

OK 3 West to Kilpatrick Turnpike

Kilpatrick Turnpike East to I-44

I-44 East to I-70

I-70 East to I-465

I-465 North to Sam Jones Expressway

Trip Log:

Departed OKC: 6:34 AM, mile 664.4

McDonald's - Vinita, OK: 8:57 AM, mile 833.9

Conoco - St. Robert, MO - 12:18 PM, mile 1034.5

Taco Bell - St. Robert, MO - 12:19 PM, mile 1034.5

Illinois Travel Center - 3:36 PM, mile 1194.8

Indiana Travel Center - 6:36 PM EDT, mile 1324.3

Arrived Indianapolis - 7:50 PM, mile 1397.2

The pictures will be uploaded to Flickr later tonight, so stay tuned!

Tomorrow, we plan to travel to Rochester, NY, with a sidetrip to Niagara Falls. It appears it will be a rainy day, but we shall see.

ES

11.5 hours to go!

Good evening. We are 11.5 hours away from the beginning of the ESKS New England Extravaganza Roadtrip 2K9!! Today we picked up the temporary OKRoad-mobile for the trip: a 2010 Ford Fusion with just 640 miles on it when we picked it up. We'll double the miles on it just during the day tomorrow!! :D

We are leaving at about 6:30 in the morning and will hopefully make it to Indianapolis at 7:30-8 pm. The route for tomorrow is pretty straightforward, taking I-44 East to I-70 East to Indy. As long as the high speed Internet works at each hotel we stop at, pictures will be uploaded to Flickr each night of that day's travels.

We have been anxiously awaiting this trip for weeks now and can't believe it's almost here!!

ES

New England Trip Route Update

As promised, here are some of the changes we are making to the New England trip route:

Friday & Saturday are staying the same at this point

Sunday, July 12:
After the Webster Lake visit, we are going to take a bit of a detour to see some of Rhode Island a day earlier than planned:
I-395 South to U.S. 44
U.S. 44 East to I-295
I-295 South to I-95
I-95 South to RI 4
RI 4 South to the first exit
RI 4 North to I-95
I-95 North to I-295
I-295 North to RI 146
RI/MA 146 North to Worcester

Monday, July 13:
We have deleted the Boston section of the trip from this day, and have decided to go to Provincetown instead. We will do Boston on Wednesday instead of Monday:
MA/RI 146 South
I-295 North
I-95 South
I-195 East
MA/RI 24 South
RI 138 West
U.S. 1 South
RI 78 North
I-95 North
I-93 North
MA 3 South
U.S. 6 East to Provincetown
U.S. 6 West to MA 25
MA 25 West to I-495
I-495 North to I-290
I-290 West to Worcester

Tuesday, July 14 is staying basically the same, with sidetrips planned to clinch I-293 & I-393 (so on Wednesday, when we drive I-95 to Bangor, we will clinch New Hampshire's interstate mileage)

Wednesday, July 15:
I-290 West to I-90
I-90 East to MA 1A
I-90 West to Fenway Park/whatever else we do in Boston
I-93 North to I-95
I-95 North to I-295
I-295 North to I-95
I-95 North to Bangor
There will also be sidetrips to clinch I-195 ME & I-395 ME on this day.

ES

New England Trip Route Plan Part 2

Just 2 days remain until the beginning of the ESKS New England Extravaganza Roadtrip 2K9! This blog will cover what is currently planned for the second half of the roadtrip (July 16-22). Of course, this is subject to change during the trip.

Thursday, July 16:
Sidetrip through northern Maine
I-95 North to U.S. 2
U.S. 2 West to U.S. 1
U.S. 1 North to ME 11
ME 11 South to I-95
I-95 South to Bangor

Friday, July 17:
Sidetrip to Acadia National Park & Bar Harbor
Route TBD

Saturday, July 18:
I-95 South to I-495
I-495 South to I-90
I-90 West to I-84
I-84 West to I-81
I-81 South to wherever we end up

Sunday, July 19:
I-81 South to I-40
I-40 West to wherever we end up

Monday, July 20:
I-40 West to wherever we end up

Tuesday, July 21:
I-40 West to I-44 East
I-44 East to OK 3
(or relax if we get back Monday)

As you can see, there are still many question marks on the last half of the trip. If time permits, we may make a deviation from this route to see more highways, but I don't want to announce anything until it happens. :D

A couple of days in Part One have changed since I blogged that route: I will cover that in the next blog later today...

ES

Flickr updates

I have finished writing captions for most of the pictures from Friday's (July 3) trip.

Route (this is slightly different from the route I had proposed):

Kilpatrick Turnpike East to I-35

I-35 North to U.S. 412

U.S. 412 East to LL Tisdale Parkway

LL Tisdale Parkway North to Gilcrease Expressway

Gilcrease Expressway East to OK 11

OK 11 East to I-244

I-244 East to I-44

I-44 East to U.S. 412

U.S. 412 East to I-540

I-540 South to U.S. 271

U.S. 271 South to OK 112

OK 112 South to Poteau

Notes:

• I drove the LL Tisdale Parkway & the Gilcrease Expressway in Tulsa, which weren't in the original plans. The first shield on the Gilcrease Expressway is a square, while the other two posted are circles (much like the LL Tisdale Parkway shields).
• I-244 in downtown Tulsa will be closed starting July 13 for construction; there are several portable VMS's & signs mentioning this. There are also orange signs with a map of the downtown Tulsa freeway system on the signs to assist motorists in bypassing I-244
• The Cimarron Turnpike is not signed at all along U.S. 412. In fact, the only reference to the turnpike name was at the maintenance headquarters for the turnpike near Morrison.
• Hallett is mis-spelled with one 't' at the toll plaza on U.S. 412 East
• Clearview has invaded the Cimarron Turnpike; there are very few non-Clearview signs remaining
• Signs on U.S. 64 & U.S. 412 between OK 48 & I-244 have been replaced since I last drove it in 2004
• The Cherokee Turnpike (U.S. 412) has no exit numbers
• U.S. 59 is not fully signed on its duplex with U.S. 412, however, the U.S. 412 & AR 59 duplex just a couple miles to the east is well signed (for Arkansas)
• The control "city" for I-540 South in Fort Smith is "Oklahoma"

I am also about to update the Picture of the Week on OKRoads.

4 days til we leave for New England!

ES

Back home (for a few days, anyway)

I have arrived back home after driving from Poteau to Oklahoma City, via U.S. 59, OK 9, OK 102, Interstate 40, Interstate 240, and Interstate 44. Pictures have been uploaded to Flickr, and can be accessed here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/okroads/sets/72157620870024579/ .

Skies were mostly cloudy but the only rain was in Shady Point (just north of Poteau) and it didn't affect any pictures.

We are home until Friday morning, when we are planning to depart for New England!

ES

More new pics

Later this afternoon, between thunderstorms, I took some more pictures around LeFlore County, including a couple pics of the old U.S. 59 Poteau River bridge. Pictures are listed on the same page as the other pictures from today: http://www.flickr.com/photos/okroads/sets/72157620955758520/ .

ES

A few new pics on Flickr

This afternoon, I took a mini-trip around LeFlore County and snapped some pictures.

Route:

Business U.S. 59 South to U.S. 59

U.S. 59 South to U.S. 270

U.S. 270 West to U.S. 271

U.S. 271 North to Bypass U.S. 59

Bypass U.S. 59 North to Business U.S. 59

Pictures page:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/okroads/sets/72157620955758520/

Skies were cloudy and toward the end of the trip, the skies darkened as a severe thunderstorm moved in within minutes after the last pictures were taken.

ES

Trip recap

Today, I drove from Oklahoma City to Poteau, OK, via Perry, Tulsa, Fayetteville, and Fort Smith. Pictures have been uploaded to Flickr, and can be accessed here. It was a perfect day for taking road pictures and I took 550 of them.

Almost six days left til the New England roadtrip!

ES

Updates + New England trip route

I have just finished writing captions from the June 21, 2009, trip in the OKC & Norman areas. Pictures are included on the following pages:

Interstate 35 South - Oklahoma

H.E. Bailey Turnpike Spur West

Kilpatrick Turnpike East

U.S. 77 North - Oklahoma

U.S. 77 South - Oklahoma

OK 4 North

OK 9 West

In other news, the ESKS New England Extravaganza Roadtrip 2K9 will begin in 9 days (almost 8 now). Here is the route that we are planning to take during the first half of the trip (July 10-15); the route for the rest of the trip will be announced later this week.

Friday, July 10:

Kilpatrick Turnpike East to Interstate 44

Interstate 44 East to Interstate 70

Interstate 70 East to Terre Haute or Indianapolis

Saturday, July 11:

Interstate 70 East to Interstate 670

Interstate 670 East to Interstate 71

Interstate 71 North to Interstate 271

Interstate 271 North to Interstate 77

Interstate 77 North to Interstate 90

Interstate 90 East to Buffalo or Rochester, with a sidetrip to Niagara Falls via Interstate 290, Interstate 190, and U.S. 62

Sunday, July 12:

Interstate 90 East to Worcester, MA, with sidetrips to the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, MA, and Webster Lake (also known as Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg)

Monday, July 13:

Sidetrip to Providence, RI & Boston

MA/RI 146 South

I-95 South

I-195 East

MA/RI 24 South

RI 138 West

U.S. 1 South

RI 78 North

I-95 North

I-93 North

I-90 West

We may go to Plymouth if time permits

Tuesday, July 14:

Sidetrip to New Hampshire & Vermont

I-290 East

I-495 North

I-93 North

I-91 North

U.S. 2 West

I-89 South

I-93 South

I-293 South

U.S. 3 South

I-495 South

MA 2 West

I-190 South

Wednesday, July 15:

Interstate 90 East to Interstate 495

Interstate 495 North to Interstate 95

Interstate 95 North to Bangor

Of course, these routes are subject to change as the trip goes along, but this gives an idea of the highways we will be covering on the trip.

ES

Roadtrip this weekend

I am happy to officially announce a roadtrip this weekend! This trip will take us to Poteau, OK, via Perry, Tulsa, Fayetteville, and Fort Smith on Friday, and then back home on Sunday via U.S. 59, OK 9, and OK 102.

Planned trip route from OK City to Poteau: (map)
Kilpatrick Turnpike East to Interstate 35
Interstate 35 North to U.S. 412
U.S. 412 East to Interstate 540
Interstate 540 South to U.S. 271
U.S. 271 South to OK 112
OK 112 South to Poteau

Planned trip route from Poteau to OK City: (map)
U.S. 59 North to OK 9
OK 9 West to OK 102
OK 102 North to Interstate 40
Interstate 40 West to Interstate 240
Interstate 240 West to Interstate 44
Interstate 44 East to OK 3

This trip will allow us to get new pictures of Interstate 540 Arkansas and several highways in Oklahoma that OKRoads last photographed in 2003 & 2004, which was 5-6 years & 2 cameras ago. (ie. U.S. 412 from I-35 to U.S. 59) There are also some stretches of highway to be traveled on this trip that have never been photographed by OKRoads. (ie. U.S. 412 from U.S. 59 to I-540) Other highways to be driven on this trip have been covered before, but in the opposite direction (ie. I-540 from U.S. 412 to U.S. 271, OK 112) In other words, there will be plenty of new pictures from this trip.

ES

May 25, 2009 roadtrip pages complete

I have completed the separate highway pages from the May 25, 2009 roadtrip from McAlester to Davis to Oklahoma City. Note: some of these pages have pictures from other dates, but there are pics from May 25 on the page.

Recap of the trip: http://okroads.blogspot.com/2009/06/flickr-update.html

All pictures
Interstate 44 East
U.S. 62 East
U.S. 69 North
U.S. 69 South
U.S. 77 North
U.S. 77 South
U.S. 377 North
OK 7 West
OK 48 South
OK 48A West
OK 76 North
OK 77D North
OK 77D South
OK 78 North

10 days to go til the ESKS New England Extravaganza Roadtrip 2K9! I will post the trip route in a separate blog today.

ES

POTW & Flickr updates

The Picture of the Week has just been updated on OKRoads.com.

Also, I have finished writing picture captions for the May 25, 2009, roadtrip. I am still in the process of creating separate pages for each individual highway covered during that day; I will post the links tomorrow.

Also, Mrs. OKRoads & I may be taking a roadtrip this weekend. Stay tuned for more details...

Almost 10 days until we leave for New England!

OKC Road Meet pictures

I had the opportunity to participate in the OKC Road Meet on Friday night & Saturday afternoon. Due to work, I missed the Friday afternoon & Saturday morning/early afternoon activities.

I have just finished uploading the pictures I took from the meet. Most of the pictures are of old bridges in the area, including the old U.S. 62 bridge over the Canadian River, the old OK 24 bridge over Walnut Creek, and the old U.S. 66 bridge over the North Canadian River near Lake Overholser. Also included in the album is a picture of a yellow(!) Yield sign, near Lake Overholser.

Link to the Flickr album:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/okroads/sets/72157620680283402/

On another note; just 12 days remain until the start of the ESKS New England Extravaganza Roadtrip 2K9! The roadtrip itself will be 12 days long; so there are just as many days left until the trip as the days the trip will be.

ES

Flickr update

On this rare non-holiday-related Monday off work, I have started writing picture captions for my trip on May 25, 2009. The route is as follows:

U.S. 69 North to Arrowhead State Park (OK 113 South)

U.S. 69 South to OK 7

OK 7 West to OK 48

OK 48 South to OK 48A*

OK 48A West to OK 78*

OK 78 North to U.S. 377/OK 99*

U.S. 377/OK 99 North to OK 7*

OK 7 West to U.S. 77

U.S. 77 South to OK 77D

OK 77D South to Falls Creek

OK 77D North to U.S. 77

U.S. 77 North to OK 7

OK 7 West to OK 76

OK 76 North to U.S. 62/U.S. 277

U.S. 62 East/U.S. 277 North to Interstate 44

Interstate 44 East to OK 74

OK 74 North to OK 3

*indicates detour route taken due to bridge construction which closed OK 7 between U.S. 377/OK 99 and OK 48

Skies were cloudy for the first and last parts of the day, but cleared up for the middle of the trip. A total of 336 pictures were taken on this day.

Main picture page:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/okroads/sets/72157618712978871/

In other news, I have changed the picture of the week on OKRoads for the second consecutive week. Wow!

ES

OK 74A Decommissioned

Something I forgot to report from my roadtrip earlier today...

OK 74A has been decommissioned in Norman. The highway ran along Lindsey Street from Interstate 35, through the University of Oklahoma campus, to U.S. 77 (Classen Blvd.). With the rerouting of U.S. 77 along Tecumseh Road & 12th Avenue N.E., OK 74A has been removed from the state highway system. Signs along Interstate 35 reflect this decommissioning.

This comes as no surprise to me; I think OK 74A should've been decommissioned long ago IMHO. Especially considering that its parent highway was decommissioned in Cleveland County in the mid-1980s. OK 74 once ran near what present-day Interstate 35 from OK 9 to Robinson Street, then took westbound Robinson Street to 60th Avenue N.W., then followed that into Oklahoma City (where it becomes Western Avenue) until S.W. 29th Street (U.S. 62 & U.S. 277).

U.S. 77 Norman Reroute Map

us77
Originally uploaded by okroads

Here is a map that shows the old & new routes of U.S. 77 through Norman. Blue line is the new route; red line is the old route.

Today's Norman roadtrip

I took a mini-roadtrip today to Norman to see the new routing of U.S. 77 through the northern part of Oklahoma's 3rd largest city. Previously, U.S. 77 ran along (from south to north) Classen Blvd./Porter Blvd. from 12th Avenue S.E. to Robinson Avenue; Robinson Avenue from Porter to Flood Avenue; and Flood Avenue between Robinson and Interstate 35 at Exit 113. Now, it runs along 12th Avenue S.E. from Classen Blvd. until a newly extended Tecumseh Road, then takes Tecumseh Road west to Flood Avenue, then heads north on Flood Avenue to Interstate 35 at Exit 113.

Route:

I-44 West to I-40

I-40 East to I-35

I-35 South to Tecumseh Road

Tecumseh Road (new U.S. 77) East to 12th Ave. N.E. (new U.S. 77)

U.S. 77 South to just past the former southern terminus of OK 77H

U.S. 77 North to Flood Avenue (old U.S. 77)

Various streets in Norman

OK 9 West to H.E. Bailey Turnpike Spur

H.E. Bailey Turnpike Spur West to OK 4

OK 4 North to S.W. 15th St.

S.W. 15th St. East to Kilpatrick Turnpike

Kilpatrick Turnpike East to OK 3

Pictures have been uploaded to Flickr, and can be accessed here. I apologize for some pictures having the camera strap visible in the windshield; I didn't realize it until I got home. But the pictures are still of good quality. You may also notice that the pictures are larger than usual; I experimented with a larger picture size for all pictures taken today. (1024 x 768 instead of 640 x 480)

Flickr updates

I just finished writing captions for pictures from the May 23, 2009 OKC-Warwick-Calvin roadtrip. I am about to start writing captions for pictures from May 24, 2009. This trip was only about 35 miles, though, and went from Calvin to McAlester, via U.S. 270 East & U.S. 69 South. Since the trip was so short, I will have the picture captions from that day completed shortly. These pictures were taken about 7:30-8:15 PM, so the camera flash was used for most of the pictures.

Pictures from 5/23 & 5/24 have been split up into the following pages:

U.S. 77 North - Oklahoma:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/okroads/sets/72157619694493390/

OK 66 East - Oklahoma:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/okroads/sets/72157619944456851/

OK 66 West - Oklahoma:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/okroads/sets/72157619944479965/

U.S. 177 South - Oklahoma:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/okroads/sets/72157620030076362/

U.S. 270 East - Oklahoma:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/okroads/sets/72157611531864996/

Some of my favorite pictures from May 23 (click on the photo for the description):

ES

Car & Camera Stuff

I went to Midas last Saturday to have them check my "check engine" light which has been on and off for thousands of miles, and they told me that it could be just a glitch, and they reset the check engine light and told me to come back when it came back on. Well, on my way to work Monday morning, as soon as I passed the same Midas, the light came back on!

So today I finally got back to Midas, they checked it again, and it was just what they thought it was; the OKRoad-mobile (2002 Mitsubishi Lancer) needs a new front catalytic converter. Yay. That's several hundred dollars down the drain. I'll get an actual estimate on the cost on Monday, but since it has 166,000 miles on it & has been to 41 states since I got it 6 years ago, I think it's about time for a new OKRoad-mobile. So, after the New England roadtrip in July, I will begin car shopping! Yay! (hope you sense my sarcasm there) Thankfully I am taking a rental car on the trip, so my wife & I don't have to worry about how the OKRoad-mobile will do.

In other news, last month, I bought a new 12.1 megapixel Sony CyberShot camera (quite an upgrade from the 5.1 megapixel camera I bought in February 2005). I had a 1 GB memory stick already, but today I ordered a 4 GB memory stick for it. I ordered this so I can do a couple things:

1. take more pictures in a larger size than 640x480 like every other road scholar I know does, and
2. so I can take some longer road videos

Yes, I am hoping to take some road videos with my camera in addition to road sign pictures. I have yet to make a video but will probably start out with some of the local highways in Oklahoma City.

I am still working on captions for pictures from 5/23/09's trip from Oklahoma City to Warwick to Calvin. I have made it to Tecumseh so far, so not too far to go. Hopefully I will finish the captions tonight or tomorrow.

ES

Road Enthusiast Meets

For the first time in my life, I get to go to a road meet next weekend! There will be one in my hometown. Unforunately, due to my work schedule, I am going to miss almost all of it. :(

Then, there is a road meet in Indianapolis on the same day that I am planning to drive through there on the way to New England. Go figure. :D

ES

Roadtrip announcement

Tonight's blog contains a big announcement; the next OKRoads roadtrip!

The ESKS* New England Extravaganza Roadtrip 2K9!!

*ESKS is my initials & my wife's initials

Planned to take place July 10-22, the trip will have a couple of firsts for OKRoads:

• It will be the first time we have been to two states, Maine & Rhode Island, which will be the 42nd and 43rd states OKRoads has covered
• It will be the first time that we have not taken the official OKRoad-mobile on a roadtrip, as we are planning on renting a car. Reason being: the OKRoad-mobile (2002 Mitsubishi Lancer) has almost 166,000 miles on it, and we just don't think it's prudent to take it to New England

The plan is to depart on Friday, July 10, take 3 days to get to Worcester, MA, spend 3 nights there, then depart for Bangor, ME, where we plan to spend 3 nights, before taking 3-4 days to travel back to Oklahoma City. The trip route & side trips have been planned out, but I'll save that for future blogs. :)

Updates on Flickr & Trip Recap

My current project on the OKRoads Flickr page is writing pic captions from the first day of a 3-day trip over Memorial Day weekend. The trip stayed entirely in Oklahoma. Here is a short recap of Day One:

Route:

Kilpatrick Turnpike East

U.S. 77 North

OK 66 East

U.S. 177 South

U.S. 270 East

On this day, my wife & I drove from Oklahoma City to Warwick (east of Wellston) for a wedding, then we went to Calvin (west of McAlester) to spend the night with friends. The weather was good for most of the trip, except for a brief downpour in Seminole. A total of 151 pictures were taken on this day.

Main page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/okroads/sets/72157618741434450/

ES

New Picture of the Week on OKRoads

For the first time since July 2007, OKRoads.com has an updated Picture of the Week! The picture is from my roadtrip to Florida in December 2008. Check it out at www.okroads.com!

Welcome!

Welcome to the new blog of OKRoads.com, OKHighways.com, and the OKRoads Flickr page!

I will be using this blog to post roadtrip recaps, announce new uploads to my Flickr page, and also for the occassional rant (much like the Road Rant on OKRoads.com was).

Let me first get started with the reasons why OKRoads.com & OKHighways.com have not really seen any updates in the last two years:

• Laptop issues: About two years ago, my laptop's monitor stopped working, and it would've cost more to replace it than to get a new laptop. So I got a new laptop. Problem is; all my road pics and webpages up to that time were saved on the old laptop. I did backup some of the site but not all of it.
• Time constraints: Two years ago my life started to become much busier and tiring than it had been. Thus, updating the website wasn't my top priority.
• Marriage: Part of the reason my life became busier was because in the past two years, the Good Lord blessed me with a wonderful young lady who, since 10/25/08, has been my wife. :) Thankfully, she is a "road scholar" also and enjoys tagging along with me on my roadtrips.

The good news in all this is that I never really stopped taking road sign pictures, and pictures taken since May 2007 are all on my Flickr page (http://www.flickr.com/okroads). Most pictures are from Oklahoma (go figure) but I also have pics from trips to Memphis in May 2007, Arlington & Dallas, TX in August 2007, and my honeymoon roadtrip from Oklahoma City to Key West, FL, and back, in December 2008 & January 2009. There are over 10,000 pictures on my Flickr page, with more to come from trips in 2006 (yes, I am 3 years behind on road pictures!).

This may be the longest blog post I ever write (that's why I'm not on Twitter because I type too much LOL) but I look forward to updating this blog frequently, Lord willing.

ES