On Tue, April 25, 2006 5:55 pm, Josh Battles said:
>
> Well, Tom had oodles of stuff to check and his truck took 20+ gallons of fuel
> every stop. I'd say we probably took about 20mins per stop, averaged. When
> I drive alone I make the stops for fuel and nothing else so they're
> considerably shorter, probably less than 30 minutes total for all stops.
We probably won't take quite that long, although some stops are naturally
longer than others. Although everything takes longer when you're driving a
building, so we'll see.
> I'd definately pick up that directory. I've never seen anything parked
> overnight at the one here.
Might not be a bad thing to have on board, just in case.
> Wow, that's wild. I'd have thought the difference would be more than that.
> I guess if it's only a 10 mile difference...
That's what Google says. Well, it gives me kms from here, but when I convert
that to miles it's only 10 less than what it says from Jon's place. We're
almost straight north of him, the only reason it even takes two hours to get
down there is that someone put a couple of huge lakes right in the way.
> Indiana is great for groceries, the sales tax is like 5%. I actually do a
> fairly decent amount of shopping there because of it.
Not bad. NY isn't too bad either. IIRC, they don't charge sales tax on food
items, similar to Ontario. Jon, is that right? (Note that in Ontario, things
like Coke and potato chips don't count as food, it's just basic stuff like
bread and water that isn't taxed.)
> It's too far for
> anything perishable (but since you've got a fridge in the camper...) but it's
> fantastic for dry goods.
We do have a fridge, but that raises another issue. I've recently become
convinced that it's a Very Bad Idea (tm) to drive with the propane turned on,
which is what powers the fridge when not plugged in to an outlet. Our fridge
can't run off of 12V DC. I'm probably going to just put a block of ice in
there and take advantage of the natural insulating properties to keep things
cool. It won't be much better than a cooler, but it'll work. Or, I might
just use the cooler instead (or maybe even in addition). We will be able to
turn it on at night when we're parked, so keeping the ice in the fridge will
also make it easier to get the fridge cooled down at that point. During the
day it's going to be block ice, so no mayonnaise or other volatile
perishables.
> That's quite a trip you've got planned. How long are you off work?
Three full weeks (yee-haw!)
> Looks like you've got your loophole as Mike has already volunteered.
Indeed, I just saw that. Now all we need is an inventory of what Jon is
planning on loading in to our trailer.
> LOL are you sure? Is it really that easy? I-80 goes all the way? I've
> never driven west of IL before. Well, not along I-80 anyway.
I-80 will take you clear to San Francisco if you're so inclined. In your
case, you'll stay on I-80 until a bit past Ogallala, Nebraska, where I-76
splits off and heads south to Denver. It's pretty difficult to miss, there's
a huge sign that tells you "DENVER IS THIS WAY". If you see a sign that reads
"Welcome to Wyoming" you've gone too far, but even if you find yourself in
Wyoming there's an alternate route that isn't too bad (I-25 south from
Cheyenne). Once you're in Colorado, Jim Ward has specific information here:
http://meet.dakota-truck.net/LoneDuckDirections.html
You do have to navigate around Davenport, Des Moines and Omaha, but as long as
you follow the signs for I-80 west you'll be fine. It's fairly idiot proof.
There might be a shortcut or two that would shave off a few miles, but I
haven't figured them out yet, and I don't think it's worth the hassle.
This assumes you decide to take I-80. Yesterday I was pretty convinced that
it's the best route, but I decided to check it out to make sure. Turns out
that heading south from Davenport to Kansas City and taking I-70 from there
only adds about 45 miles. For you, I'm not sure if it would buy you anything.
Des Moines and Omaha aren't too bad to drive through. It would save the
hassle of going through Denver, but it would add the hassle of going through
KC (unless you really wanted to head straight down to St. Louis and pick up
I-70 from there, but I can't imagine why you'd want to).
However, in our case, it might work out better. We'd have to go through
Columbus, Indianapolis, St. Louis and Kansas City, but we'd avoid part of
Cleveland, Toledo, Chicago, Denver and the huge toll stretch of I-80/90
through northern Ohio and Indiana. I dunno... we went I-70 one year, and I
thought St. Louis was a pretty big mess. Maybe because we got a hotel in the
area, and picked part of town that was under heavy construction. I'm more
familiar with the I-80 route, so I'll probably stick with that. Depends on
how bad the Ohio tolls are. Plus, it's slightly further north, so I can hope
that it might be a bit cooler. :-)
> Is there anything worth seeing? World's largest ball of twine or non-stick
> frying pan?
I've always wanted to check out the birthplace of Ronald Reagan in Tampico, IL
(maybe you've already seen that sign). Other than that, nothing really sticks
out in my mind. A few local agricultural museums and the like. I'd guess
there are probably information centers where you cross the Missouri and
Mississippi rivers, but I've never paid much attention. Both of those
crossings are in urban areas, so I'm usually watching traffic more than
roadside attractions at those points. I think if you want twine balls you
might be better off getting off the interstate and exploring the smaller
highways.
This is out of the way, but there is a Pony Express museum in Wyoming. Also,
Kansas has some huge monument to The Wizard of Oz. I don't remember exactly,
it was something like a series of 50-foot-tall statues of the main characters
or something. I read about it and decided a 50-foot-tall Tinman would just be
disturbing, so we didn't stop to see it.
We've really never stopped for these things unless we needed a stretch break
at that point anyway. We're usually trying to make the time as fast as
possible, plus there's not much fun to be had standing outside looking at a
ball of twine in December. This is actually another argument in favor of
adding an extra day to our drive out there, it'll give us a chance to stop and
check out some of the things we've been missing. (Of course, if we're driving
through at 4:00 AM to avoid the daytime heat, it's a moot point.)
> I'm sure I will. I wonder how poor my mileage will be.
I'll bet ours will be worse. Maybe if we tied a big parachute to your
truck... :-)
-- Jason Bleazard http://drazaelb.blogspot.com Burlington, Ontario his: '95 Dakota Sport 4x4, 3.9 V6, 5spd, Reg. Cab, white hers: '01 Dakota Sport 4x4, 4.7 V8, Auto, Quad Cab, black. . .------------------------------------------------------------------. | Make your plans NOW to attend the National DML Meet in Colorado! | | Date: July 15-23, 2006 - More info: http://meet.dakota-truck.net | `------------------------------------------------------------------'
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