wanted: a flatlander's route from oregon to chicago

[linicx]

Originally Posted by binxtheweimer

According to your experience, would i be able to get several hours in during the morning hours before it got just intolerably hot, or is strict night driving the way to go?

At 3am the desert temperature was 95 and 98 at sunup. Daytime temperature on the desert floor can reach well in excess of 120 degrees. I have no idea whether or not a cell phone will work in the desert. 'Nuff said. Cross at night. Drive Time: 5 hours.

Stay at Barstow until midnight. Take PLENTY of water for you and car.. Don't run the A/C or anything else that will tax the car system more than headlights do as long as you are in the desert. Be conservative.

There is one area around Flagstaff that might be a little unpleasant for you, but it should be of short duration.

I lived in the Ozark mountains and played in the Boston mountains for 25 years. After giving your concerns some more thought I revised the route to keep you as flat and straight as possible. It is a mix of 2 and 4 lane roads that will give you a wide variety of boring scenery.

Beginning at Barstow, CA Take 1-40 E to Oklahoma City. OK. Do NOT take 1-44. Stay on I-40 E to US 69 N. Exit at Chetocah, OK (pronounced Show-toe). You should go through Muscogee. Gas HERE. . Continue N on US 69 to 1-44 to the OK/MO border. 1-44 is the Will Rogers Turnpike. It shouldn't cost you but a couple of bucks. Do not pick up any hitchhikers in OK. More than a few are escapees. Continuing about 15 miles east lf the MO border turn North onto 1-71 N.(this exchange is a cloverleaf design). Stay north about 150 mi to Kansas City. AT KC, take 1-35 N to US 136 E. Follow US 136 East to 1-39 or 1-55 in central Illinois. (If you do you will pass my house.) 1-39 (old route 51) cosses both 1-80 and 1-90. 1-39 is west and south of Chicao. It is a newer less traveled route whereas the mother road 1-55 (old Route 66) is bumper to bumper trucks and 1-90 is the Eisenhour Expressway.

Your only other alternative is to take 1-10 as far as Las Cruces, NM and pick up 1-25N to Albequerque to join 1-40 E. This route is
It is circuitious but there is no way to get between CA and the other 47 without crossing mountains somewhere.

All states have a Department of Transportation (DOT) that can tell you where the constructions zones are and when they work is scheduled to be finished. Trucker maps have the phone numbers printed somewhere on each state map. Most are 800 numbers, and since you will be driving more than 2100 miles, it would be a good thing to do before you start your trip.

There may be another way between Bull Head AZ and Mexico to cross into southern CA, and avoid mountians but I haven't found it yet.

[Katarina Witt]

I still don't understand this southerly route thing. I checked MapQuest and it is 2100 mi from Portland to Chicago via I-84 and 80. It is roughly 4000 miles to go down to I-40 and back up, 1200 miles to Barstow alone before you even start east. That is a lot of driving, gas and time to avoid the mountains, which AREN'T THAT BAD on I-80. I have driven that route. You have nothing to be afraid of.

[linicx]

Originally Posted by katiana

i still don't understand this southerly route thing. I checked mapquest and it is 2100 mi from portland to chicago via i-84 and 80. It is roughly 4000 miles to go down to i-40 and back up, 1200 miles to barstow alone before you even start east. That is a lot of driving, gas and time to avoid the mountains, which aren't that bad on i-80. I have driven that route. You have nothing to be afraid of.

i think ti fair to say that if riding or driving through mountains makes one physically ill, the prudent thing to do is avoid them.






T

[Katarina Witt]

I would agree. I think I-80, which the OP suggested in their first post

what i am looking for is a route with the fewest mountain passes, the most boring interstate highways and the flattest, fastest road possible.

would work. Get out a map and look at it. The early settlers discovered this route and that is the old Oregon Trail. The land is mostly flat, and it is the best northerly route through the Rockies. It is also the route MapQuest suggests as the most direct, killing two birds with one stone, so to speak.

[linicx]

I've always wanted to go through the Rockies, however, the problem here with Mountians is the horizon. My route is the long way around, to be sure, but it removes most of the obsticles that contribute to Vertigo. I did not chose these routes from Map Quest. I've driven them many times in 25 years. It is the lesser of the evils.