Well, it's that time again: every couple of years I do the 5-day cross-country drive from Philly out to the West coast to visit my oldest son in the SF Bay area. Thirty years or more ago I would have flown, but that was back when flying was enjoyable and before it became such a goshawful hassle what with the TSA BS and all.
So these days I take my time and drive. Come dawn tomorrow, I'm hittin' the road.
The route out will be my usual one: Philadelphia, Wheeling, Columbus, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Kansas City, Denver and Grand Junction (all on I-70), then Salt Lake City, Reno, Sacramento and finally Sunnyvale via I-80 and I-680. If traffic over Donner Pass on I-80 is still restricted to 4WD vehicles w/ chains due to snow, I'll get off I-80 at Reno and head south on I-580 through Carson City, then take the Carson Pass Highway (CA Rt. 88) over the mountains to Stockton to pick up I-205 through Livermore to I-680. I might just do that anyway, to see something new and avoid the congestion around Sacramento and Davis.
Most of the route out to California is familiar territory to me as I've gone that way many times, and I've seen just about all there is to see along the way so this trip it'll be little more than a "thunder run" to get to the West coast as expediously as possible.
I'll be in California over the Memorial Day holiday, running around with my son and his GF doing God-know-what (museums, parks, concerts, hiking trails, etc.) and enjoying the fine Bay Area food.
After that, who knows? On the way home I'll probably just wander and sight-see.
One option is to go East to Sacramento then up I-5 through Redding, Medford and Eugene to Portland, then turn East and go up the Columbia River gorge on I-84, then to Boise. From there I'll cut over onto US Rt. 20 & US Rt. 26 and stop and see Craters Of The Moon; I've always wanted to see that place. From there it'll probably be up US Rt. 93 to Missoula, then I-90 to Butte, Bozeman, Billings and Miles City, then Bismarck and Fargo, and I-94 to Minneapolis and Madison. From there I'll probably head South to Chicago, and finally home on I-80.
That route has its pros and cons. On the plus side, I get to see a lot of pretty Pacific Northwest and Cascade Mountain scenery that I've never seen before. On the minus side, once I get out of central Montana I'll be facing 1,000+ miles of driving across flat, totally featureless prairie and I'm not sure whether my sanity (what little I have left) will survive that. It almost didn't survive driving across Texas on I-10 two years ago, so I'm a bit wary.
A second option is to head South from Silicon Valley down to Monterey and Carmel-by-the-Sea and take the Pacific Coast Highway through Big Sur to Morro Bay, then turn inland and go through San Luis Obispo and Bakersfield to Barstow and take I-40 home through Needles, Kingman, Flagstaff, Gallup, Albuquerque, Amarillo (big steaks! Yum!), Oklahoma City, Little Rock, Memphis, Nashville and Knoxville, then home via I-81 and the PA Turnpike. I've been that way a few times, love the Pacific Coast Highway, and there are a few other things I wouldn't mind seeing again along the way. But other than those things, that route is largely "been-there-done-that."
A third option starts out the same as the second, but from Bakersfield I would head northeast into new territory and go across Death Valley (which I've never seen) to Las Vegas (ca-ching!). From there I'd continue northeast on I-15 to Sulphurdale UT where I'd pick up I-70 and head back home that way, through Denver, KC, St. Louis, yaddayadda and so forth. But that would entail a lot of retracing the steps I took on the trip out to California, and I'm not sure I'm up for that.
A fourth option would be to follow Option #2 as far as Needles, then bushwhack my way southeast across Arizona to Phoenix, then home on I-10 through southern New Mexico, Houston, New Orleans and up to Memphis, then pick up Option #2 again from that point. Been there done that too, and wouldn't relish the idea of doing it again.
Which route I pick to go home on will depend on whim, weather and how road-weary I am by that point.
There are only so many ways to get across the central United States, and I've been on most of them (I-10, I-40, I-70, I-80 and I-90). I'm open to suggestions on interesting ways to go and things to do, though, and if anyone has any neat ideas I'm all ears.
In any case, I'm on my way first thing tomorrow morning. TTFN!
So these days I take my time and drive. Come dawn tomorrow, I'm hittin' the road.
The route out will be my usual one: Philadelphia, Wheeling, Columbus, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Kansas City, Denver and Grand Junction (all on I-70), then Salt Lake City, Reno, Sacramento and finally Sunnyvale via I-80 and I-680. If traffic over Donner Pass on I-80 is still restricted to 4WD vehicles w/ chains due to snow, I'll get off I-80 at Reno and head south on I-580 through Carson City, then take the Carson Pass Highway (CA Rt. 88) over the mountains to Stockton to pick up I-205 through Livermore to I-680. I might just do that anyway, to see something new and avoid the congestion around Sacramento and Davis.
Most of the route out to California is familiar territory to me as I've gone that way many times, and I've seen just about all there is to see along the way so this trip it'll be little more than a "thunder run" to get to the West coast as expediously as possible.
I'll be in California over the Memorial Day holiday, running around with my son and his GF doing God-know-what (museums, parks, concerts, hiking trails, etc.) and enjoying the fine Bay Area food.
After that, who knows? On the way home I'll probably just wander and sight-see.
One option is to go East to Sacramento then up I-5 through Redding, Medford and Eugene to Portland, then turn East and go up the Columbia River gorge on I-84, then to Boise. From there I'll cut over onto US Rt. 20 & US Rt. 26 and stop and see Craters Of The Moon; I've always wanted to see that place. From there it'll probably be up US Rt. 93 to Missoula, then I-90 to Butte, Bozeman, Billings and Miles City, then Bismarck and Fargo, and I-94 to Minneapolis and Madison. From there I'll probably head South to Chicago, and finally home on I-80.
That route has its pros and cons. On the plus side, I get to see a lot of pretty Pacific Northwest and Cascade Mountain scenery that I've never seen before. On the minus side, once I get out of central Montana I'll be facing 1,000+ miles of driving across flat, totally featureless prairie and I'm not sure whether my sanity (what little I have left) will survive that. It almost didn't survive driving across Texas on I-10 two years ago, so I'm a bit wary.
A second option is to head South from Silicon Valley down to Monterey and Carmel-by-the-Sea and take the Pacific Coast Highway through Big Sur to Morro Bay, then turn inland and go through San Luis Obispo and Bakersfield to Barstow and take I-40 home through Needles, Kingman, Flagstaff, Gallup, Albuquerque, Amarillo (big steaks! Yum!), Oklahoma City, Little Rock, Memphis, Nashville and Knoxville, then home via I-81 and the PA Turnpike. I've been that way a few times, love the Pacific Coast Highway, and there are a few other things I wouldn't mind seeing again along the way. But other than those things, that route is largely "been-there-done-that."
A third option starts out the same as the second, but from Bakersfield I would head northeast into new territory and go across Death Valley (which I've never seen) to Las Vegas (ca-ching!). From there I'd continue northeast on I-15 to Sulphurdale UT where I'd pick up I-70 and head back home that way, through Denver, KC, St. Louis, yaddayadda and so forth. But that would entail a lot of retracing the steps I took on the trip out to California, and I'm not sure I'm up for that.
A fourth option would be to follow Option #2 as far as Needles, then bushwhack my way southeast across Arizona to Phoenix, then home on I-10 through southern New Mexico, Houston, New Orleans and up to Memphis, then pick up Option #2 again from that point. Been there done that too, and wouldn't relish the idea of doing it again.
Which route I pick to go home on will depend on whim, weather and how road-weary I am by that point.
There are only so many ways to get across the central United States, and I've been on most of them (I-10, I-40, I-70, I-80 and I-90). I'm open to suggestions on interesting ways to go and things to do, though, and if anyone has any neat ideas I'm all ears.
In any case, I'm on my way first thing tomorrow morning. TTFN!
