Friday, May 28, 2010

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

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

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

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

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