Going to Casper, WY

I ended up playing with the settings on my GPS and I-80 to I-25 was the fastest. Still a long drive, when you are just driving all day.

Uncle Grumpy wrote:
20 is a big improvement over I 80 with knuckle grip dodging trucks. And the scenery is awesome. Through the sandhills, Niobrara river floating. Each small town has fuel. Our town, Hay Springs has a full hookup campground in the park next to the swimming pool. The road is very good. Check out Museum of the mountain man east of Chadron. Ft Robinson has a very interesting history. Good travels to ya..

Uncle Grumpy, we spent the night in O'Neill for free, nice little park. Wish we would've known about your Hay Springs ahead of time. (maybe next time)

HWY 20 was awesome IMHO. I'd like to go out that way at least once more. Guernsey State Park and them wagon wheel ruts was on the bucket list last fall. Guernsey reservoir was great and while we were there we had the whole campground to ourselves! BTW, they had the nicest 4-place dump station I ever saw! LOL

Dan

20 is a big improvement over I 80 with knuckle grip dodging trucks. And the scenery is awesome. Through the sandhills, Niobrara river floating. Each small town has fuel. Our town, Hay Springs has a full hookup campground in the park next to the swimming pool. The road is very good. Check out Museum of the mountain man east of Chadron. Ft Robinson has a very interesting history. Good travels to ya..

Is your GPS set to choose shortest route, or non-interstate?

How does it route you to Rockford? I90 through Chicago? You probably don't want to do that. Sticking with I80 through Illinois is a better choice.

When I lived in Chicago I sometimes took US20 west from Rockford, but that was because I wanted to see the hilly part of the state (places like Apple River Canyon State Park, Galena, and Palisades State Park).

Play around the options on your GPS (and mapping programs) so you have an idea of why they choose various routes (do that around home). Usually the choose the 'shortest' or 'fastest', not some vague 'best' (as a human with infinite knowledge would define it). 'fastest' usually means interstates because the estimated speed is higher.

Last September we picked up HWY 20 at Dubuque Iowa from Milwaukee and took that west all the way through Iowa. All the way through Nebraska and as far as Lusk Wyoming then south to Guernsey State park.

It was a very easy, relaxing drive and throughly enjoyed the route. Saw a lot of "americana" if you know what I mean. The road was actually in very good shape. Very little traffic and rest stops were easy to make.

I'd do it again in a heart beat. On the way back (from Reno) we took I80 all the way back. The trip out was way better than the ride home! Hope this helps.

Dan

I think you'll enjoy taking 20 if you're not in a big hurry.
Give Ft. Robinson State Park at Crawford NE a night or two if you can.
There's a Walmart at Chadron if you need restocking on anything.

Might want to consider fueling options once you get out to Nebraska, assuming you'll stay on US 20. From Valentine through Chadron and on to Lusk WY and Casper WY, it's a whole big empty there. Last time I was through Lusk, for example, there was only one gas station open. Granted it's been a few years but I can't imagine much changing there. Valentine and Chadron are good sized towns by Nebraska standards. Some of the other "towns" that show up on the maps are little more than a collection of a few houses, with very limited services to be found.

If you're going to take I-80 through Nebraska and on to Cheyenne WY, then north on I-25 to Casper, the same advice still stands about fueling, particularly once you get to Ogallala. There's Big Springs, Sidney and Kimball to plan on for fuel, and Pine Bluffs just across the state line in WY for fuel. There's more places to stop but it's still a good idea to do a bit of planning.

Heading north on I-25 to Casper from Cheyenne, there's Chugwater, Wheatland, Glendoe and Douglas for fuel. WY fuel prices are always among the lowest in the country!

Hope you have a good, safe trip out this way!

I have never driven all of 20 across Iowa, but what sections I've done are good. We've been across NEB/Wy on 20 from Sioux City, Ia. to I-25 @ Casper several times. It's good 2 lane. You'll have no problems driving it at 60 mph but with all the small towns along the way your average speed maybe closer to 45-50 for the trip from Rockford to Casper.