Virginia to Wyoming

We have enjoyed driving route 36 from Hannibal to St. Joseph MO. It's a divided highway with few trucks. Past St. Joseph route 75 goes north to join route 2 to route 34 at Lincoln NE. At Grand Island we pick up route 30 all the way to Ogallala. Route 30 parallels several miles from I80 along the North Platte River which was the route of the Oregon Trail. At Kearney is the remains of Fort Kearney (not much there). At Gothenberg is a restored Pony Express Station and in North Platte is the Bailey Yard of the Union Pacific Railroad. Begun in the 1860's as part of the original transcontinental railroad, it is now the largest rail yard in the world. The rail operations can be viewed from the Golden Spike Tower. At Ogallala we always take route 26 into WY to join I25. Along route 26 are Oregon Trail sites including Ash Hollow, Chimney Rock, Scotts Bluff, Fort Laramie (restored buildings there), plus the four ft deep Trail Ruts and Register Cliff in Guernsey. If you really want to get away from towns in WY, try route 220 from Casper to Muddy Gap and then route 287 to Lander. Independence Rock, Devils Gate and Split Rock Oregon Trail sites are along route 220.