Traveling America by Interstate Highway, do you drive into the actual towns? (cycle, hotels)

[snooper]

I have taken tons of cross country trips via America's Interstate Highway and rarely do we get more than 2-3 miles off the Interstate unless it is required to get to a specific attraction. How about you?

Think of the typical Interstate off ramp. Just off the highway is everything you need. Cracker Barrel, TGIF, Ruby Tuesday, Denny's, Bob Evans, the list of chain restaurants go on and on. And pretty much every chain of motels too. While the address of these chains may link to a specific town along the road, the actual community itself and it's downtown is maybe a fifteen minute drive and 99% of the places to eat and stay are right on the highway. The few times I attempted to see the actual town I was discouraged because the town itself was run down and ugly.

Can you relate, or do you make an effort to see the actual town in the place you are staying right off the Interstate Highway?

[StealthRabbit]

I see the world by engaging with locals (including the USA).
I like to go to libaries, repair shops, lumber yards, craft stores and TALK to the locals. I stay in private guest homes, offer to work on farms, and volunteer in communities that I pass through. It is very fun and enriching.

my mode is;
1) 50 mpg Passat Wagon (that can burn free cooking oil). I have a small 'teardrop camper' I am making to go with this vehicle.
2) Fly / drive (free miles or $87 SWA with a 'priceline car' ~ $12 / day) (off to San Antonio today, San Diego last week)
3) 18-20 mpg FSC RV Rialta Heaven - Welcome - Rialta Eurovan Camper, VW Rialta Camper, Used Camper Van
4) Vintage motorcycle ~ 100 MPG
5) StealthRabbit... 50 mpg since 1976, no OPEC or Dinosaurs required.

More ways to get you off the Interstates... (or find your own hobby / exploration quest)
http://byways.org/
http://www.splendidtable.org/collection/where-we-eat
http://www.roadfood.com/

[flyonpa]

If I'm going from A to C and need to stop at B for gas/food. I use the ramp rule, If I can't see the X (food/gas) from the ramp, I get back on the Interstate.

If I'm stopping for the night (even if I'm @ a chain on the exit) I will ask the desk clerk, if there is a 'local' place for dinner.

[MrRational]

Originally Posted by snooper

I have taken tons of cross country trips via America's Interstate Highway
and rarely do we get more than 2-3 miles off the Interstate... How about you?

I've traveled the US roads like this for work reasons.
"Gotta be somewhere 500 miles away by Noon..."

I hated it.
Try to avoid it if you possibly can.

Can you relate, or do you make an effort to see the actual town in the place
you are staying right off the Interstate Highway?

I make an effort to stay on the old roads and see the country side along the way.
My interest in the towns... varies.

[Ol' Wanderer]

Depends on the trip. We took a 16 years old Italian with us on a seven-week road trip as an introduction to the States, during which we stopped in many small towns along the way. Some towns had one gas station, some had no stoplight, some had only half a dozen streets. The boy saw more of America in that one trip than most Americans ever did. We also took annual road trips by ourselves as vacations, and we stopped anywhere and anytime we felt like doing so. During the many road trips we made this last decades, I usually talked husband into visiting as many yarn shops as I could, and that meant seeing the heart of many towns, or at least, the neighbourhoods where the shops were located.

Whenever possible, husband also stopped the car for me to take pics, and in my experience, the opportunity for eye-catching photos are often more abundant in rundown towns than in popular tourist attractions.

[annerk]

I've seen enough of this country to not really care to see just another small town off the interstate that looks like the last small town off the Interstate 40 miles back except this one has a bottle museum instead of a jar museum.

If there's a reason to go into town, I will. Otherwise, I keep driving.

That said, when I stop for the night I do prefer to find a local place to eat when possible. Harder in some areas than others.

[Ghengis]

Originally Posted by snooper

I have taken tons of cross country trips via America's Interstate Highway and rarely do we get more than 2-3 miles off the Interstate unless it is required to get to a specific attraction. How about you?

Think of the typical Interstate off ramp. Just off the highway is everything you need. Cracker Barrel, TGIF, Ruby Tuesday, Denny's, Bob Evans, the list of chain restaurants go on and on. And pretty much every chain of motels too. While the address of these chains may link to a specific town along the road, the actual community itself and it's downtown is maybe a fifteen minute drive and 99% of the places to eat and stay are right on the highway. The few times I attempted to see the actual town I was discouraged because the town itself was run down and ugly.

Can you relate, or do you make an effort to see the actual town in the place you are staying right off the Interstate Highway?

why would you bother to travel as you probably got all these things back in homerville don't you?

[stillkit]

I don't usually go down into the off-interstate towns because they all suffer from the same malady: Bypassing.

When the interstate goes in, the old downtown areas suffer and most of them do the same thing: They put up a sign which says something like "See our historic/art district downtown." In fact, they're almost universally run down and offer little more than a collection of junk shops and "art galleries."

There are exceptions, of course, but that's the general rule so far as I can tell.

However....if you get tired of the monotony of the "big box" restaurants, gas stations and tourist attractions, you DO need to get away from the interstate. It seems that just about every town has a Texaco and McDonalds at every exit, so what's the point of traveling if you're just going to stop at the same places you have back home? You really haven't seen or done or experienced anything different...have you? The true Mom and Pop cafes aren't on the interstate and neither are cheaper gas prices. The hotels and motels are mostly rag head owned and have a cleanliness problem, but the B&B's can be quite exceptional.

So..here's my personal list of places to get off the Interstate and see. It's not based upon a damn thing but MY personal preferences:

1. New Orleans. There just isn't anyplace like it.

2. New York City. It's unique.

3. Cedar Key, FL. It's about the last un-developed coastal town in Florida and is more like a New England clamming village than a Gulf Coast resort destination.

4. Santa Fe, NM. It may be New Age Chic, but it's different. Very different.

5. Gettysburg, PA. Civil war and a great collection of antique and gift shops, the offerings of which are not all made in China.

6. "South of the Border," Dillon,SC. Yes, it's on the Interstate (first SC exit south of NC on I-95), but you HAVE to stop there, if only see what a tourist attraction really can be.)

7. Greenville, OH. Great little town, but far off the Interstate. It's still "alive" in the pre-Interstate sense.

8. Biggs Junction, OR. It's just your typical Interstate town, but with a couple of great river-view restaurants and a world-class art museum across the Columbia River in Washington and the only life-sized replica of Stonehenge I know of anywhere. Worth the stop.

9. Baker, CA. Interstate gauche, but a nice gateway to Death Valley and the Mojave Desert. There are some back roads north of there which really will make you wonder if you'll get out alive.

10. West Yellowstone, ID. So far as I'm concerned, the best little off-interstate destination which offers scenic beauty, hometown charm and access to wildlife and more.

11. Sandy Hook, NJ. Not another place like it, Hurricane Sandy not withstanding. And, right above it is Mt. Mitchell, the highest point on the eastern seaboard between Maine and the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. On a clear day, the view of Long Island, Staten Island, the Verrazano Narrows Bridge and Manhattan is superlative.

That's enough for now.

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by stillkit

...8. Biggs Junction, OR. It's just your typical Interstate town, but with a couple of great river-view restaurants and a world-class art museum across the Columbia River in Washington and the only life-sized replica of Stonehenge I know of anywhere. Worth the stop.

...That's enough for now.

Don't forget Carhenge (quite a ways off the interstate (at Cabela's), but worth the drive on a summer night teeming with thunderstorms.)
The official website for Carhenge

And EnchantedHighway.net -- Enchanted Highway in Regent, North Dakota

Depends on the trip / objectives, but I love to find treasures like these. I usually average pretty HIGH mph, since I only have to stop for fuel every 1000 -1200 miles, so I can afford a few 'detours'. At night I drive BETWEEN sites. Recently from Blue mtns OR to Arches NP UT during the night. Just in tyime for breakfast.

[texdav]

Not the interstae really very often has they tried to avoid goig thru toans .That is ebcause of hazardous materials ften travel that was alos.But i some cases they went right thru thru polical pulk but now most have Loops that avoid the twons. Still one can atke many of the old state highways thru mnay of the most popualtr regions. That is evry commo here i Texas and you basic go from toen to town travelig thru many towns. It kind of like mnayb atke the old favorite rute 66. here i Teas their are mnay so called trails like the hill coutnry trails mnay travel i spring to se the wild flowrs and historcal sites.That use to be the way americans got into the family summer trpis ;seeig all the sites and entertainment venues along the way. Its i mnay areas has made a come back and some of the attractis of old doig good business.