Great Sand Dunes NP to Fort Wayne IN

For anyone reading this post later - Colorado 10 was pretty good road. Pleasant drive with very little traffic. rest of the route to Goodland KS worked out very well too.


We did take US 36 quite a ways into Illinois until picking up I-72 to I-57 to US 24 into Indiana. The route was pretty good. Only slow part was first part of US 24 in Indiana. It took a little more thought to find places to pull over because we encountered very few rest areas using this route.

Original Poster Again - Thanks for the feedback. The plan is to take
CO 10 to LaJunta
US 50 to Lamar
US 287/385 to Kit Carson
US 40 to Cheyenne Wells
US 385 to Burlington
Pick up I-70 until Goodland, KS and then spend one night at Wal-Mart to restock supplies before heading back to US 36.

Thanks again for taking the time to reply.
btw I also checked the weather forecast for Goodland and so far it looks good. We'll be sure to keep a watch.

We took 160 to 10 to 71 last year to I70. Worked out well.

2chiefsRus wrote:
Original Poster here - thanks for the suggestions. We'll definitely be using US36 for a good portion of this coming week's travel.

Hope you have a good safe trip! Keep an eye on the weather, it's been fierce recently.

Original Poster here - thanks for the suggestions. We'll definitely be using US36 for a good portion of this coming week's travel.

Thom02099 wrote:

2chiefsRus wrote:
So we are watching the news tonight and DH asks me if we are going to be near Denver (i.e. sniper shooting). I say I'm not sure yet. a little later in the same news program, they start talking about the flooding in Kansas. Again DH asks me if we are going to go that way.

So all kidding aside - any recommendations for routing? We'll be leaving Grand Sand Dunes on Saturday morning. I'm thinking we should pick up I-70 somewhere but haven't settled on whether to go a little cross country instead of I-25 north to I-70 East. We don't mind taking US routes instead of interstates.

Thanks for your time.

I have family in Fort Wayne area, so I've made that trip more than a few times from Colorado. Since you're coming from the Great Sand Dunes and the south, the suggestion above to go to Colorado Springs and then take US 24 to I-70 is a good one. But instead of taking I-70 across Kansas, I'd suggest taking US 36 across KS and MO. You could get on US 36 from I-70 in Limon by either taking CO 71 north to US 36 then east, or take I-70 eb to Burlington and take US 385 north to US 36.

Regardless of how you get to US 36, it's a good drive across KS and MO and is frequently recommended here. It's 2 lane road through most of KS, but easy wide roads to drive, lots of passing/climbing lanes when needed and easy to pass/be passed at other times. In MO, it's 4 lane all the way across to Hannibal. From there, take I-72 over to Champaign/Urbana, and then I-57 north to exit 283/US 24. From there, you can take US 24 east all the way to Fort Wayne. Only real drawback from the US 24 route is the 2 lane roads in western Indiana and the little towns to go through. You pick up 4 lane in Logansport and it's all the way in to Fort Wayne. Did that route the last time back (but not from the Great Sand Dunes) and it was a pleasant drive, in spite of the little towns on US 24.

Thom,

Gives you good advice - many of us who have made that trip back and forth have found that Rt36 is such a pleasant change of pace to the heavily trafficked I's. when coming from the southern part of the front range we usually take 70 to Colby , Kansas then head up to 36 on one of the diagonal black roads. We have found that most of the non interstate roads east of the Mississippi are just too SLOW, and we are forced to get back on the I's.


Drive safe,

BOL,

2chiefsRus wrote:
So we are watching the news tonight and DH asks me if we are going to be near Denver (i.e. sniper shooting). I say I'm not sure yet. a little later in the same news program, they start talking about the flooding in Kansas. Again DH asks me if we are going to go that way.

So all kidding aside - any recommendations for routing? We'll be leaving Grand Sand Dunes on Saturday morning. I'm thinking we should pick up I-70 somewhere but haven't settled on whether to go a little cross country instead of I-25 north to I-70 East. We don't mind taking US routes instead of interstates.

Thanks for your time.

I have family in Fort Wayne area, so I've made that trip more than a few times from Colorado. Since you're coming from the Great Sand Dunes and the south, the suggestion above to go to Colorado Springs and then take US 24 to I-70 is a good one. But instead of taking I-70 across Kansas, I'd suggest taking US 36 across KS and MO. You could get on US 36 from I-70 in Limon by either taking CO 71 north to US 36 then east, or take I-70 eb to Burlington and take US 385 north to US 36.

Regardless of how you get to US 36, it's a good drive across KS and MO and is frequently recommended here. It's 2 lane road through most of KS, but easy wide roads to drive, lots of passing/climbing lanes when needed and easy to pass/be passed at other times. In MO, it's 4 lane all the way across to Hannibal. From there, take I-72 over to Champaign/Urbana, and then I-57 north to exit 283/US 24. From there, you can take US 24 east all the way to Fort Wayne. Only real drawback from the US 24 route is the 2 lane roads in western Indiana and the little towns to go through. You pick up 4 lane in Logansport and it's all the way in to Fort Wayne. Did that route the last time back (but not from the Great Sand Dunes) and it was a pleasant drive, in spite of the little towns on US 24.

You could easily take 25 to 24 in CS, then up to 70. Don't know about current construction, but in general that's a decent drive. I would personally also consider 10 to 71 or even further east, but I haven't actually traveled those routes yet.