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Looking For the Best Way Across the Continent

I keep bringing up Google Maps and looking at my atlas, trying to find the best route to Virginia from here. The most direct route is familiar, but it’s messy because I need to circumvent Chicagoland. The less direct route seems easier. Both routes are in tornado country. My head is telling me to go the first way. My gut is screaming “South! Go south!” I’m listening to that gut feeling. The last time I was contemplating two routes with no obviously better option, I ignored my gut feeling an number of times, and I paid dearly for it.

I will probably have to stay in Hankinson an extra night, putting my departure at Tuesday morning. This is the route I have in mind, give or take a few miles at each stop depending on overnighting opportunities. It gives me three spare days:

That’s Hankinson to Omaha to Kansas City to St. Louis to Louisville to Charleston to my destination in Virginia.

The fact that I’d be adding South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Kentucky to my visited states map (putting me at 38) has nothing to do with my decision, but is a nice bonus. 🙂

 

8 thoughts on “Looking For the Best Way Across the Continent”

  1. It looks like a good route, similar to what we would do. The only advice I can give on this route is to look far enough ahead for unsettled weather and plan to use a good weather window for the amount of time you will need. You might want to plan a few longer driving days to shorten the amount of time you are in the western part of your route if you see anything in the forecast.
    But I’m sure you are already doing all that.
    This is a good site for checking potential weather problems

    http://www.wunderground.com/severe.asp

    The drive through the Blue Ridge Mountains is beautiful but be prepared for winding hilly terrain.

  2. Thanks for that link! I’ve already planned 5 hours of driving per day; hope I won’t need to go longer than that! And thanks for the reminder about the Blue Ridge Mountains; I bet I won’t enjoy them as much in the rig as I did in the car. 🙂

  3. Trusting your gut is good but it sounds like it might be giving you mixed messages this time. If you do decide you want to go more east before heading south you can change to I-39 in Madison, Wisconsin, to go south before heading east again. We drive that road regularly because my Dad lives in Decatur, Illinois, but you’d probably head east on I-74 out of Bloomington before getting as far south as Decatur. All that lets you miss Chicago while still heading the general direction you want to go. And it would give you an opportunity to stop in Baraboo, Wisconsin, to see the circus museum!

  4. Don’t alter your route because of tornados! Ya see it on the news and think Lordy Be don’t let that happen to me, and the way they go on on on, you would think we have tornados every darn day! They happen, but not that much! I hear people from western usa say they never want to visit the south because of the tornados, I am stunned. It is like saying I don’t want to visit California because of earth quakes. SERIOUSLY?? Ya know they will happen sometime, but you don’t revolve your whole life around them. I am sad cause you are not coming through Nashville now! BOO!
    St.Louis is a great city, just got back two weeks ago. They have so many things that are FREE to do, it is Great! Zoo, Annheiser Busch tour, Grant’s Farm, they have a great museum of Holocaust, fantastic art museum, and you must go to famous Blueberry Hill, burger joint, and music place, really cool.

  5. Linda, my gut is talking loud and clear, but my head keeps butting in. Your route through Wisconsin goes too far east for me before going south again. Gina, your comment was just what I needed. 🙂

  6. I second Gina’s comments. I live in Kansas; tornadoes only effect a small piece of real estate at a time. They need to be respected but not feared. Bet you aren’t afraid of ice and snow. I know people from the South who are terrified of the stuff. If you want to come south now’s the time. Temps are decent, bugs aren’t too bad and everything is green. In a month or two it will be hotter than Hades and the bugs will eat you alive.

  8. Gina, you’re in St. Louis and you have a driveway big enough for Miranda? I will take you up on that offer. 🙂

    I don’t have much time for tourism on this trip, unfortunately, but I could probably squeeze in a day for touring St. Louis.

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