Never drive interstate

I use Interstates if I trying to get from A to B as quick as possible, no Stoplights/Signs, no kids on bicycles, no manure spreaders at 5 mph, no school busses, or crossing guards, although there are times I like the back roads too. ;)

I just use use the roads necessary to get to where I'm going. 2 lane, 3, lane, 4 lane, 8 lane. Don't matter to me.

Well to each their own... I really appreciate that Fedex Truck I was following on the 40 Last Friday when the gates of water came falling down from the sky... and you could barely see the road... I just dropped backed and followed him from a safe distance.... we both turned on our flashers as we drove through 20 minutes of Heck but thanks to my friend in the big rig it was allot easier... But I like the pretty scenery too on the back roads....

Mike C.

sdianel wrote:
... a semi truck passed us in the left lane when a tire blew on the semi truck as it was right beside us.... Another reason to stay off the interstate!!

Would that have been better if it happened on a two lane highway in the middle of Iowa?

A significant memory from childhood was riding in a car on an Iowa 2 lane highway, and the buffeting we got when an 18 wheeler passed by going the other direction. Or what of passing slow vehicles on a 2 lane highway - or being passed when you are the slow one? Is that fun or safe? Is it fun to slow down to 30 mph every 10 miles when you pass through a little town?

I like to get off on to lesser, more scenic roads. But I also like to use a good highway, or interstate, when it is safer or faster. The higher speed road might even be more relaxing - smoother, straighter, more level, more smoothly flowing traffic, etc.

Jim Shoe wrote:
I respectfully disagree. There are reasons to hit the interstates. If you're constrained by the length of your vacation. If you've been to your destination (like Yellowstone) so many times, starting back when interstates had not yet been invented.
That being said, on one of my trips to YNP from Cincinnati, I was headed west on I-80 when I approached exit 201 in Iowa. The sign said "What Cheer". I couldn't resist. 20 miles south, I got my answer - not much. Didn't see another vehicle moving on the entire 40 mile round trip. I apologize to any "What Cheerians" I may have offended.

What a hoot!!! What Cheer, IA has always been my barometer for oddly named towns. It is not very far from my Dad's home town of Sigourney, IA ... just no interstate sign like What Cheer!!!

Other oddly named towns in Iowa are Beebeetown, Oskaloosa, Correctionville, Gravity, and Doubleday.

No offense meant to anyone :)

We take the back roads as much as we can, on our trip this last spring we did 3,000 mi. and did less than 200 mi. on the interstate and that was in the middle of now were.
We will take take the long way around big cities to get were we are going, hate big cities. We even did this when we were working and on vacation, just didn't go as far. ( good planning )

Thanks for doing your best to keep the interstates clear for me!

Until I get to retire 12 years from now, I'm a "get to my destination ASAP" kind of guy. Once I have all the time in the world to smell the flowers, then I might get off the interstates.

gbopp wrote:

TucsonJim wrote:

workhardplayharder wrote:
It is near impossible to text while going through cities and towns. Long straight roads with minimal grades make it easy to eat, read, text, smoke and/or talk on the phone.

Just remember, it's probably safer to pull your rig on the interstate while doing those things if you stay in the fast lane and keep your speed at 53mph.

Don't forget to leave your right turn signal on. :)

Here in the Sunshine State many like to turn on the hazards and drive in the left lane as soon as it starts raining. Makes it hard to tell who is broke down and who is driving.

We were on the interstate this week which had a left lane barrier. We were in the right lane near our exit and a semi truck passed us in the left lane when a tire blew on the semi truck as it was right beside us. Scared the******out of us!! Fortunately no damage to our rig. Another reason to stay off the interstate!!

Blue highways for me.

-Tom

Blue Highways is an autobiographical book by William Least Heat-Moon, born William Trogdon.

In 1978, after separating from his wife and losing his job as a teacher, Heat-Moon, 38 at the time, decided to take an extended road trip around the United States, sticking to only the "Blue Highways". He had coined the term to refer to small, forgotten, out-of-the-way roads connecting rural America (which were drawn in blue on the old style Rand McNally road atlas).

He outfits a green van with a bunk, a camping stove, a portable toilet and a copy of Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass and John Neihardt's Black Elk Speaks. Referring to the Native American resurrection ritual, he christens the van "Ghost Dancing", and embarks on a three-month soul-searching tour of the United States, wandering from small town to small town, often just because they have interesting names. The book chronicles the 13,000-mile journey and the people he meets along the way, as he steers clear of cities and interstates, avoiding fast food and exploring local American culture.

Stories that arose from Least Heat-Moon's research as well as historical facts are included about each area visited, as well as conversations with characters such as a born-again Christian hitchhiker, a teenage runaway, a boat builder, an Appalachian log cabin restorer, a Nevada prostitute, fishermen, a Hopi Native American medical student, owners of western saloons and remote country stores, a maple syrup farmer, and Chesapeake Bay island dwellers. Blue Highways also inspired the name of the Cocteau Twins seventh recording, Four-Calendar Café. (In his book, Least Heat-Moon makes up a rule for judging the quality of the food being served in roadside cafés by counting the number of calendars affixed behind the counter—the number of calendars registered the amount of traveling salesmen who frequented the establishment, and an establishment with at least four calendars meant good, but not great food.)