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 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

Texas County-Collecting Roadtrip & A New Car!

Later today, I will be leaving for Fort Worth, where I will be spending the night before heading out tomorrow for some county collecting in East Texas. The planned route is as follows:

Saturday:

I-30 East -> I-35E North -> Spur 366 East -> U.S. 75 North -> SMU -> U.S. 75 South -> I-45 South -> U.S. 175 East -> U.S. 69 South -> U.S. 59 South -> U.S. 190 West -> TX 19 North to Palestine

New counties: Henderson, Anderson, Cherokee, Angelina, Polk, San Jacinto, Trinity, Houston

Sunday:

TX 19 North -> TX 154 West -> TX 24 South -> I-30 West -> U.S. 380 West -> U.S. 75 North -> U.S. 70 West -> I-35 North to OKC

New counties: Rains, Delta

On this trip, I will collect 10 new counties and will clinch U.S. 175 in its entirety.

This will also be my first trip out-of-state in my brand new 2010 Mitsubishi Lancer ES! I bought it on Wednesday. I do still have the old Lancer (with 176,450 miles on it and counting) but I will be selling it to someone.

And here is the new official car of OKRoads...

ES

Upcoming Short Trips

Today's blog will cover 2 trips I plan to take the next 2 weekends (1 short trip & 1 medium-length trip by OKRoads standards). In my next blog, I will announce a Memorial Day Weekend roadtrip!

Tomorrow night, I will be leaving OKC on a 3-day trip to the Lubbock, TX area for a concert & for county collecting. I will be driving to Weatherford, OK tomorrow night, and then on to Lubbock & Post on Saturday, and then home on Sunday. This will be my 3rd time to be in Lubbock but the first time I have been there since April 2006, when I was there on two consecutive days. (On a related note, it seems like I only go to Lubbock every 4 years because the 1st time I went there was in July 2002)

Route:
Friday & Saturday:
I-40 West to I-27
I-27 South to Loop 289
Loop 289 East to U.S. 84
U.S. 84 East to Post
U.S. 84 West to Lubbock

Sunday:
U.S. 82 East to TX 6 (including Marsha Sharp Freeway)
TX 6 North to U.S. 287
U.S. 287 South to U.S. 283
U.S. 283 North to OK 6
OK 6 North to I-40
I-40 East to OKC

The new counties that will be collected this weekend are all in Texas, and they are Lynn, Garza, Dickens, King, and Foard counties.

On Sunday 2/28, I plan on taking a trip to Clinton, OK for another concert. This trip will just be along I-40, but if I have time, I may cover other roads in the area. Of course, this is weather permitting.

Next blog: Wyoming Trip announcement!

ES

Odds & ends & winter weather

Hello all,

It has been almost a month since I last blogged. Not too much has gone on in that month. I did finish writing picture captions from the San Antonio Trip. I had a trip to Tulsa & Tahlequah planned for this past weekend, but due to the winter weather, I had to cancel it. That makes 2 trips in the past 6 weeks that I have had to cancel due to winter weather! Of course, in the weeks between the cancelled trips, the weather was nice. But I can't control the weather, so all I can do is move on.

I am planning on making a trip to Lubbock on February 20 for a Southern Gospel concert. Hopefully the weather will cooperate so I can make this trip. I will also be making a trip to Clinton, OK, on February 28 for another concert.

This past Sunday, I compiled a map of all counties I have been in. You can access that map by clicking here. I have been in 37.1% (or 1166 of 3141) of the counties in the United States. Not too bad for a 26-year-old.

I have also created a Facebook fan page for OKRoads. That page can be accessed here.

That is all I have for today. See y'all later, and drive safely.

ES