thru Denver?

When is the trip? Not much difference between east and west. Just avoid rush hours when going through Denver.

I would say it matters what day you are going, and you need to look at the stretch from I70 from/to the tunnel.

In summer, avoid eastbound on a Sunday and westbound on a Friday. Especially true on holiday weekends.

bob213 wrote:

Planning trip from Central California that will take me as far east as Tennessee.

Want to go thru Moab.

I always suggest Rt 128 along the Colorado River - Just a Beautiful Drive.

Am I better to go thru Denver going east(70) or on the return going west on 70?

We drive through all the time, if you are from Cali think of the Mountains like they are the Beach - People go on the weekends to get out of the City so you have a lot of Traffic going to on Friday evening /Saturday morning and coming home on Sunday evening. Fact is if you need to get through the City it is really pretty easy - just work around the traffic times :)

Anything else I should know about on 70 in either direction?

Another little side trip I always recommend is the drive along Clear Creek on RT 6 - Left hand exit off I-70 (Exit number 244) - avoids the steep decline into Denver and allows you to drive in, what I consider a Beautiful - Easy Drive along Clear Creek in the Mountains - Beautiful Drive.

One side note is if the timing works out - Clear Creek CG in Golden is Great

https://rec.cityofgolden.net/wbwsc/webtrac.wsc/splash.html?interfaceparameter=3

Nap Moab to Nashville


Best of Luck

X2 on using Clear Creek. Can't count how many times we have been up & down that one.

Once back on 70, get on lane #2, #3 even, & stay there keeping an eye out for signs to Limon, or whatever east. Very simple really.

Like everywhere across the country, signage is not very good. It is what it is. If you have not been in the area before how would you know where Limon is or that it is on I70?

A pet peeve. If for example the English system was used the first destination sign you would see going east on I70 would be Baltimore, MD., the major city termination point of I70. That sign would also have Kansas City on it, the next major city on I70.

Plan on leaving first week of May. Thanks for suggestions so far. Any input is appreciated as we have never traveled that part of the country.

bob213 wrote:
Plan on leaving first week of May. Thanks for suggestions so far. Any input is appreciated as we have never traveled that part of the country.

Not knowing your level of comfort on the Roads in Colorado Rockies - I'd Suggest looking at gettin off I-70 on RT 24 to Minturn/Red Cliff/Leadville as another beautiful drive off the Interstate. It will take you behind Vail and bring you back to I-70 using RT 91. Beautiful drive that will show you some more of the Sheer Beauty of Colorado. There is a short uphill section between Minturn and Red Cliff that I love and then the Green Bridge in/at Red Cliff.

If you are trying to get into the Mountains - this is a Great Drive.

Best of Luck,

Map - Minturn - Red Cliff - Leadville - Silverthorne.

If you hit leadville at dinner time might look at Quincy's for a great steak dinner - Quincy's for Dinner

also try to get a good idea of current construction. Look at https://www.cotrip.org/map.htm ahead of time. We ran into construction going up Vail Pass in the summer, and came very close to over heating due to start and stop traffic. We saw a number of trailers pulled over because of overheating.

What is your destination in East TN? I-40 is pretty beat up after this winter and all the rainfall we have had. Crews have been out in full force patching the pot holes. Lane closures have been going on at night to accommodate the work. Should be much better though by the end of May.

The west sides of the Eisenhower Tunnel approach and Vail Pass are both 7% grades (for around 7 miles each) while the east sides are 6%, So going westbound you'll test your brakes while eastbound you'll be climbing the steeper sides at high elevation.

For the first week of May you'll also want to keep an eye on the weather. I remember 2 years ago we went camping the first weekend in May. It was 80 degrees on Saturday. We left Sunday morning and 2 hours after we got home, it started rain/snowing with a lot of wind.

I think I-70 is probably the easiest interstate to use to get through the city, better than I-25 going N/S. I'd just stay in one of the middle lanes (don't use the far right since there's so many people getting on/off), and just take it easy. And agreed, don't go during rush hour or try to go up the mountain on a Saturday morning, or come back on a Sunday afternoon/evening. You can also try using I-76 if you're coming from Nebraska area, but you'll end up in I-70 anyway eventually.

Visalia native here :)