# Epic Road Trip



## sherylb (Oct 27, 2008)

I have been given the opportunity to go on a little adventure.  The short story is I will be driving from Jacksonville, FL to Portland, OR. My tentative route is from Jax to Nashville, then to St. Louis and on up to I-80 and take I-80 across the States to Salt Lake City where I will go North. 

My questions are:
1. Are there any places I should avoid?
2. Is there anything I should not miss?

I have a week from Sun to Sun to complete the trip.

Thanks!
Sheryl


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## Buttercup (Oct 28, 2008)

Wow, that is some trip!  I'm not sure about places to see or avoid but I will make one suggestion.  If you don't have a GPS, get one.  You will not be sorry.  And, if you're not familiar with their use always be sure to pick "shortest time" and not "shortest distance" or you'll want to throw it out the window after about the 3rd time it has you exit a freeway only to get right back on, lol.


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## Carol Hanrahan (Mar 31, 2009)

The arch in St. Louis is beautiful.  If you have time to stop and go up in it, it is amazing.  However, if you're claustrophobic, the little "egg-pod" ride up might not be to your liking....

Are you taking I-55 from St. Louis up to I-80?  Then you will go right through Springfield, Ill, my hometown.  The new Lincoln Presidential library is amazing, and Lincoln's tomb is right there too.


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## sherylb (Oct 27, 2008)

Buttercup- Yep, I do have a GPS. I would not do a trip like this without one for sure!  But you are right in that I will have to watch how I put in my route and give her waypoints otherwise I will have to listen to Becky tell me "Make a legal u-turn at the earliest opportunity" or try to reroute me through the boonies! 

It _is_ quite a trip and one I would not have thought to do for a vacation, but my Mom is moving from Jacksonville to Portland (which entails me, who lives in the Pacific Northwest, going to Jacksonville to accompany her to Portland) and the kicker is she just bought a car 2 months ago. After checking on the cost to have a transport company haul her car across the US and us fly to Portland, we came to the realization that it would be cheaper to just do the road trip. And I thought when am I ever going to get this chance again? So, it is going to be a great adventure for me as I have not seen much of US and at the same time a little out of my comfort zone,  but it should be a wonderful trip.

Thanks for the tip Carol! My plan is to take I-55 to Springfield then across to St. Joseph then up to I-80. I think we can make some free time to do some sightseeing along the way and the new Lincoln Presidential library sounds like something Mom would like to see, and Lincoln's tomb too.


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## Carol Hanrahan (Mar 31, 2009)

If you have to choose between the two, pick the Library over the tomb.


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## Meredith Sinclair (May 21, 2009)

sherylb said:


> I have been given the opportunity to go on a little adventure.  The short story is I will be driving from Jacksonville, FL to Portland, OR. My tentative route is from Jax to Nashville, then to St. Louis and on up to I-80 and take I-80 across the States to Salt Lake City where I will go North.
> My questions are:
> 1. Are there any places I should avoid?
> 2. Is there anything I should not miss?
> ...


Wow sounds fun! I was just thinking that there should be a thread where we all offer tips to anyone on a trip near where we live or where we may have knowledge kinda like my Vacation thread I started a while back. "I was hoping if someone said they are going to Hot Springs, say someone in the area would say Oh, don't forget to see the..." So it's cool that you have this one, although I PERSONALLY have nothing to offer as of yet, I will do a little research.  I LOVE trip planning.


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## Meredith Sinclair (May 21, 2009)

sherylb said:


> Buttercup- Yep, I do have a GPS. I would not do a trip like this without one for sure!  But you are right in that I will have to watch how I put in my route and give her waypoints otherwise I will have to listen to Becky tell me "Make a legal u-turn at the earliest opportunity" or try to reroute me through the boonies!
> It _is_ quite a trip and one I would not have thought to do for a vacation, but my Mom is moving from Jacksonville to Portland (which entails me, who lives in the Pacific Northwest, going to Jacksonville to accompany her to Portland) and the kicker is she just bought a car 2 months ago. After checking on the cost to have a transport company haul her car across the US and us fly to Portland, we came to the realization that it would be cheaper to just do the road trip. And I thought when am I ever going to get this chance again? So, it is going to be a great adventure for me as I have not seen much of US and at the same time a little out of my comfort zone,  but it should be a wonderful trip.
> Thanks for the tip Carol! My plan is to take I-55 to Springfield then across to St. Joseph then up to I-80. I think we can make some free time to do some sightseeing along the way and the new Lincoln Presidential library sounds like something Mom would like to see, and Lincoln's tomb too.


So is your mom riding with you or are you just driving her car? That would be nice to ride across the country with her, at least part of the drive, anyway.


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## sherylb (Oct 27, 2008)

It's Mom and I (or is it me?) for the whole trip! It will be a great opportunity to spend some quality time with her and she can also do some relief driving as long as it is not around any big cities.


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## koolmnbv (Mar 25, 2009)

Meredith Sinclair said:


> Wow sounds fun! I was just thinking that there should be a thread where we all offer tips to anyone on a trip near where we live or where we may have knowledge kinda like my Vacation thread I started a while back. "I was hoping if someone said they are going to Hot Springs, say someone in the area would say Oh, don't forget to see the..." So it's cool that you have this one, although I PERSONALLY have nothing to offer as of yet, I will do a little research.  I LOVE trip planning.


Oh Like mini stay-cations. You stay in your hometown and do new fun activitys around home that you never knew or never tried before.


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## Tippy (Dec 8, 2008)

What a great trip with your Mother!  Have fun -- sounds like a great Mother's Day week.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

There is a thread about what to see in our hometowns, I'll try to dig it out.

I just came from Springfield yesterday.  The Lincoln Museum (and that's separate from the Library) is the best museum of its kind that I've ever been to.  I HIGHLY recommend it.  The Library has exhibits but is not meant to visit in the same way the Museum is.  See BOTH movies at the museum; they are both wonderful in their own way; I unexpectedly liked the one on the Ghosts in the Library better than the one on the life of Lincoln.

My husband and I have driven cross country round trip 2 1/2 times.  It's been a great adventure each and every time.  For every well known tourist site, all worthy, we found a hundred fascinating places.  Be open to the small towns, talk to people, eat where the locals eat.  We find the things we remember most are the ones on the less beaten path.  If you can, plan a couple of extra days into the trip to allow for side trips.  We've never planned the trip in advance, just let the driving take us where it will.  We use the GPS to find hotels in towns we're approaching so we can see how much farther we want to go.

Betsy


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Here's the thread about what to see in your hometown:

http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,5667.msg145233.html#msg145233

Get off the Interstates occasionally and drive the "US" highways. You'll frequently make almost as good time and you'll see more. We learned that driving our RV to Alaska, we didn't want to drive it on the Interstate all the time, and now we do it occasionally with our cars.

We try to do about 400-450 miles a day which gives us time to look at stuff that seems interesting. For us, it's the journey not the destination.

Betsy


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## Meredith Sinclair (May 21, 2009)

koolmnbv said:


> Oh Like mini stay-cations. You stay in your hometown and do new fun activitys around home that you never knew or never tried before.


Well, yea, kinda Kool, but more like offering up things others who are traveling near US would maybe want to see, like the Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, say. YOu know I will surely be hitting you up for advice on stuff next time I come to town!  Because, everything just is NOT listed in travel books, heck some small towns don't even make it at all. Take Goldthwaite Texas/ Lampasas (sp?) area. They have some cute willt wineries, where in Sept. you could maybe let the kids stomp some grapes or maybe try the BEST Coconut Creme pie in TEXAS at a little Mom & Pop eatery. Which did make it to Texas MOnthly, I believe, but when you are traveling cross-country, or Road Trippin' it you aren't necessarily goin to pick up onee of those magazines for your trip. But, now I see Betsy has posted that there is a HOmetown thread! Awesome! I shall go check THAT out... I never knew about it.


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## Meredith Sinclair (May 21, 2009)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> Here's the thread about what to see in your hometown:
> 
> http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,5667.msg145233.html#msg145233
> 
> ...


Thanks Betsy! I was about to start one of those had you not pointed it out... wish some of these threads would get Bumped more so that us "relatively new comers" could navigate better, and not start so many duplicate threads...


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## Meredith Sinclair (May 21, 2009)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> We try to do about 400-450 miles a day which gives us time to look at stuff that seems interesting. For us, it's the journey not the destination.
> Betsy


Us too, had it not been for being me being the "social butterfly" that I am when traveling, I would not have found out about the BEST camping I have ever done... While at a rest stop in Northern Texas (heading for Colorado) we spoke with a nice retired couple in an RV... this was about seven years before our daughter was born.... who told us about Pagosa Springs Colorado, said it was not to be missed... and we completely changed our destination, just to check it out. We ended up spending the night in Cimarron Canyon New Mexico, the most beautiful place I had ever seen at that point (until Pagosa) then we headed on to Pagosa. We have since taken so many other people back with us to Pagosa because of this one tip!

And Pagosa Springs is BEAUTIFUL!!! We camped there in our Pop-up for 10 nights! NO phones for miles either! Hummingbirds galore and nature.... 

Oh, sorry, more OT... I hope you get lots of little side trips/stops on your trip to make it as wonderful as it sounds to be starting out to be.


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## Meredith Sinclair (May 21, 2009)

sherylb said:


> It's Mom and I (or is it me?) for the whole trip! It will be a great opportunity to spend some quality time with her and she can also do some relief driving as long as it is not around any big cities.


Mom & me... I think...COOL! Man you will have such nice time just being together, and if you can get some cool tips on places to stop in between YAY! If you have a video camera it would be cool to do a video journal.


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## Maxx (Feb 24, 2009)

I am originally from Omaha and if you are heading up to I-80 from St. Joe then you will pass right through.  Omaha has a fantastic zoo.  The Henry Doorley Zoo.  If you have time it is wonderful.


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## sherylb (Oct 27, 2008)

Betsy, thanks for the link! I forgot about that thread. 
Iowa sounds interesting and Mom is a quilter too, so I'm afraid if we even get near any quilting museums I won't be able to drag her away.  And I am so with you on the journey is the focus not the destination. I am one who likes to have everything planned out so just jumping in the car and going is a bit of a stretch for me, but I just have to remember it's an adventure and let things flow!

I am actually heading out this coming Friday, leaving Jax on Sunday, so does anyone know what kind of weather I might encounter along my route?

The Zoo sounds interesting, but if it is really hot, I'll have to bypass that one. Zoo smells in the heat make me want to hurl! 

I have plans to make a sort of photo journal featuring my KK in pictures of the places we stop so that will force me to find some interesting places to see too.


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## sherylb (Oct 27, 2008)

Maxx- My apologies for blowing off your zoo suggestion. Wow, I just looked at the website and that is not just a zoo!!! I think that will be on my should not miss list.


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## Maxx (Feb 24, 2009)

Yes, it seems they add something new every year!  I don't live in Omaha anymore, so I haven't been in a few years, so I haven't seen some of the newer stuff,  but my mom keeps me posted.  I really enjoy the aquarium.

Maxx


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## cheerio (May 16, 2009)

Carol Hanrahan said:


> The arch in St. Louis is beautiful. If you have time to stop and go up in it, it is amazing. However, if you're claustrophobic, the little "egg-pod" ride up might not be to your liking....
> 
> Are you taking I-55 from St. Louis up to I-80? Then you will go right through Springfield, Ill, my hometown. The new Lincoln Presidential library is amazing, and Lincoln's tomb is right there too.


If you have never been to the arch you should go. It is a nice piece of architectural history


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## sherylb (Oct 27, 2008)

I only have one problem with the Arch...I am deathly afraid of heights. The kind of afraid that has me freezing up and not being able to move at all, like cute fireman rescue kind of afraid.  So, do you think this would be something I would be able go inside and see or should I make it a drive by thing?


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Drive by.  The inside at the top is small. . . You WILL know you are high up. . . .You will NOT like it.

Have the folks you're with go up and take a picture of you waving at them from the ground.


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## geoffthomas (Feb 27, 2009)

Yeah I agree with Ann - exactly the right advice.
Go see the McDonalds on a river boat instead - just down the street from the arch.
Or go to St. Charles and see the Lewis and Clark museum.
A couple of real nice yarn shops right across the street too.

Just sayin.....


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