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Location: Jefferson City 4 days a week, St. Louis 3 days a week
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Pretty much anywhere east of the Mississippi, south of the Ohio, and north of the Deep South is fantastic to drive. Upstate New York, New England, and Pennsylvania are all great, as is the Mountain West. I've heard I-5 and Route 101 are great trips too.
I can't really recommend I-5 through much of Oregon. Oregon itself is a very scenic state in many areas, but once I-5 hits the city of Eugene, it goes right through a flat section of the Willamette Valley for the next hundred miles until reaching some hills around Portland. It's fairly boring, and traffic volume can be irritatingly high (the freeway is mostly two lanes in each direction although it runs past Corvallis-Albany, Salem, Woodburn, and other populated areas, and is the main trunk road for everywhere between San Diego and Vancouver, BC).
Oregon's best stretches of freeway would have to include I-84 as it cuts along the Columbia River gorge east of Portland, and among non-freeway roads, the coast highway (101) and the roads in the Wallowa Mountains area are highly recommended.
I can't really recommend I-5 through much of Oregon. Oregon itself is a very scenic state in many areas, but once I-5 hits the city of Eugene, it goes right through a flat section of the Willamette Valley for the next hundred miles until reaching some hills around Portland. It's fairly boring, and traffic volume can be irritatingly high (the freeway is mostly two lanes in each direction although it runs past Corvallis-Albany, Salem, Woodburn, and other populated areas, and is the main trunk road for everywhere between San Diego and Vancouver, BC).
On the other hand, while I-5 through Oregon is pretty boring(and I've driven from Portland to Ashland plenty of times), it's not half as boring as I-5 through most of California. Except for the stretch from Siskiyou Pass at the border around Mt. Shasta and down the canyon to Shasta Lake and Redding, I-5 travels through the flattest most characterless landscape in California. Once you get south of the Sacramento River, the route doesn't even go through many towns--in fact until you go over the Grapevine and get into LA and then hit the coast in Southern Orange County, I-5 manages to avoid every cool thing about Northern California--both the coast and the Sierra Nevada mountains and San Francisco. Hell, it doesn't even go through Sacramento or the nicer valley towns like Chico. But it's just a route to shuttle truck/interstate traffic up and down--there's plenty of other scenic routes in California. Taking Highway 101 through Oregon into California with the occasional detour along Highway 1 takes through some of the most beautiful coastline in the country--and plenty of nice rolling hills, redwood covered mountains, lush green valleys or steep coastal ridges.
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Oregon's best stretches of freeway would have to include I-84 as it cuts along the Columbia River gorge east of Portland, and among non-freeway roads, the coast highway (101) and the roads in the Wallowa Mountains area are highly recommended.
I-84 through the Gorge probably ranks as one of the most scenic interstate highway stretches--especially being so close to sizable metro area. I've always appreciated the easy access to the hiking of that area from living in Portland. I like taking Highway 26 east of Prineville as well through the canyonlands and John Day Fossil Beds along with the old mining towns of the region. It feels closer to Utah or Montana in some ways in terms of geography and feel, but it's amazing scenery that's a big change from the western half of the state.
Many states have both beautiful and boring drives in them.
For example: I-40 from I-95 to Wilmington, NC is boring but the Blue Ridge Parkway is breathtaking.
Another example: Florida's Turnpike is wrist-slitting between Palm Beach County and Orlando but US-1 in the lower Keys is spectacular!
I was surprised at how wild and beautiful WV is. Those misty mountains look cool with the morning sun going up.
The highways, not interstates, can also be pretty empty and have lots of frequent sharp turns and winding. It is a blast driving down them on a well made car, like an Audi, BMW, or STI. You also get scenic views of the mountains and lots of small local places to stop at and explore.
The highways, not interstates, can also be pretty empty and have lots of frequent sharp turns and winding. It is a blast driving down them on a well made car, like an Audi, BMW, or STI. You also get scenic views of the mountains and lots of small local places to stop at and explore.
Yeah, in general if you drive through the interstates through a lot of the US, you miss out on the best scenery. Once you get onto the old state routes and older highways, you can see the old towns that still have a mix of 19th/early 20th Century architecture and the old sort of highway attractions like neon-lit motels from the 1940s and 50s, as well as the more dramatic scenery. Locations along the interstates often have the same range of truck stops, fast food, and chain motels--though once you get onto some of the older highways and places the interstate passed by it can be like going back in time 50-100 years.
I like driving through western North Carolina and Virginia--the Blue Ridge Parkway is beautiful and there's all kind of little side roads through the Appalachians. Colorado has some great driving trips through the mountains as well---the roads through the central Rockies or in the San Juans pass through all kinds of preserved mining towns and high alpine pass scenery. The road from Durango to Telluride is one of the most beautiful in the country. Likewise, western Montana is filled with all sorts of highways through high valleys and mountain passes as well.
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