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