Hwy 80 from Idaho to east coast?

lakeside013104 wrote:
Anyone have experience they would be willing to share about I-80 from Idaho to the east coast?
Lakeside

I-80 in Wyoming, headed east, is a breeze, in more ways than one. Mostly flat, with hardly any real climbs until a short one around Laramie that you find out is the high point on I-80. But it's nothing to worry about. Leaving the summit area, it's a slow downhiller pretty much all the way to Omaha. Then Iowa is fairly flat. As suggested, many people take I-74 out of the Quad Cities to slide south-east down towards Indianapolis, where they hitch up with I-70 eastwards for a bit. You can take I-70 all the way in to PA, where it connects with the PA turnpike around New Stanton. From there, the PA Turnpike is Not That Bad, unless it got severely damaged this winter, as I was just on it last August from there all the way east to Downingtown. Outside of Philly, you can slide up the northeast Extension of the Turnpike to I-80 again, or slide up I-81 to Binghampton, NY, then I-88 to Albany and you're almost home.

But overall, I-80 between Evanston and the Quad Cities is pretty much flat, straight and un-exciting. Great for making time, not so much for scenery and/or interest-keeping.

I-80, Wyoming

I-80 In Iowa & Nebraska

Split the difference between I-70 and I-80 and take highway 36 across Missouri, Kansas and Colorado as an alternative. Nice road and not much traffic.

Thom02099 wrote:

4runnerguy wrote:
Often you will have a tail wind through Wyoming and find you get great gas mileage!

We have found we prefer I-70 to I-80 across the mid-west as I-80 goes through and near some major cities. Seems to be much more truck traffic on I-80. We've cut from I-80 to I-70 using either I-29 out of Omaha or I-74 out of the Quad Cities. Depending on where your east coast destination is, you can head back to I-80 on I-81 to avoid the greater traffic on the interstates nearer the coast.

Agree with 4runnerguy on this. Much has to do with your destination on the "east coast"...which is pretty broad. Going to New England? To NYC? To Jersey or PA? To DC and points south into Virginia? Can make a difference as to recommendations once you get through the Midwest.

Also definitely agree with avoiding Chicagoland unless you have a specific destination in that area.

Depending on if speed is of the essence, or if you're willing to take your time, there's also some pretty good alternatives to the interstates...again depending on your destination. Going across the plains states, US 34 or US 36 could be viable alternatives.

OPer here. I should have been more specific, we are headed home to Maine. I think I-70 is too far south for us. We do not wish to travel through Canada. We have certain items in our possession that our Canadian friends would not welcome into their country. We are not in any hurry, but would like to get home before planting season, which comes right after mud season and during black fly season.

Thanks all.

Lakeside

lakeside013104 wrote:
Anyone have experience they would be willing to share about I-80 from Idaho to the east coast?

Lakeside

Ho hum until you get into Illinois. The entire Chicago area is a nightmare. Indiana and Parts of Ohio are toll...decent road for the most part, just pricey. After the I-80/I-76 split, you bump, hop and shutter your way thru Youngstown and Pennsylvania. The first 30 miles of New Jersey are tolerable, but then you start hitting the east coast traffic....

Lots and lots of truck traffic. It is the most direct route across the top of the US.

And be prepared for Tolls from Chicago east. Pulling a trailer, it's worth a little research on what the tolls are and if it makes sense in time/gas to go around. It's not a given that is makes sense to go around but the East Coast sure likes toll roads - and yes on the interstates.

Anyone who does I80 in PA will have absolutely no problem dealing with the worst of the roads that Alaska has.

Give me Alaska anyday.

80 in eastern PA into 84 to CT is misery.

4runnerguy wrote:
Often you will have a tail wind through Wyoming and find you get great gas mileage!

We have found we prefer I-70 to I-80 across the mid-west as I-80 goes through and near some major cities. Seems to be much more truck traffic on I-80. We've cut from I-80 to I-70 using either I-29 out of Omaha or I-74 out of the Quad Cities. Depending on where your east coast destination is, you can head back to I-80 on I-81 to avoid the greater traffic on the interstates nearer the coast.

Agree with 4runnerguy on this. Much has to do with your destination on the "east coast"...which is pretty broad. Going to New England? To NYC? To Jersey or PA? To DC and points south into Virginia? Can make a difference as to recommendations once you get through the Midwest.

Also definitely agree with avoiding Chicagoland unless you have a specific destination in that area.

Depending on if speed is of the essence, or if you're willing to take your time, there's also some pretty good alternatives to the interstates...again depending on your destination. Going across the plains states, US 34 or US 36 could be viable alternatives.

4runnerguy wrote:

We have found we prefer I-70 to I-80 across the mid-west as I-80 goes through and near some major cities.

I think I70 is too far south, especially if you cut down through St. Louis....unless you want to stop there for something.

I74 south/east from the Quad Cities is a much better choice in my opinion. You can sneak back up to 80 over in Ohio if desired.

In my (somewhat limited) experience, Oregon is nowhere near as boring as the plains of the midwest.

True story: I was driving across somewhere, I think possibly Kansas, listening to the radio when the station faded out of range. I hit the "seek" button on the radio to find another station, and it zipped through the frequencies, found nothing, started over, found nothing, and so on...

...until about fifteen or so minutes later when I, having completely forgotten about the radio being on, finally came in range of another radio station, and it suddenly started blaring, and startled me so badly I nearly made a new road slantwise through the fields.

Ozlander wrote:

donn0128 wrote:
BORING! That is the best description I can give you.

Kind of like parts of Ore-re-gon.

What parts would that be?