Our 5th Leg Home

Where Are We Today

Effingham & Wapakoneta

Leaving Grove Ok. Wednesday morning to started the 5th leg of our trek home, driven over two days.

The first day we travelled on U.S. 59N to Hwy 125N to U.S. 60E to I-49N to I-44 E to I-70E.

U.S. 59N and Hwy 125N are two lane roadways in good condition that I will rate  8.5 out of ten for both them.

Entering St. Louis

This brings us to U.S. 60E, also a two lane roadway, you turn onto U.S.-60E at Fairland Ok. Right off the bat, I thought this was not going to be a smooth ride. Once we cleared the town, the road smoothed out and we had a nice ride to I-49N. Having said that, my rating for U.S.-60E is a 8 out of ten.

That was the extent of the two lane roadways, the rest of our 5th leg trek is on interstate highways. Beginning with I-49N and I-44E. Both of these highways I am going to rate at 8.5 out of ten except for the last section of I-44E from St. Claire to St. Louis, Missouri. This section got a little worse, so I will rate it as a 8 out of ten.

The famous Arch

Entering the city of St. Louis, we merged onto I-55N/I-70E, driving thru the city close to the famous Arch, finally merging onto I-70E. I wanted to rate this road at a 8 to 8.5, but sadly the bridges are in rough shape so my overall rating is down to a 7.5 from here into Effingham, Illinois, where we stopped for the night at a Cracker Barrel.

Hard to read the signs until you were up close. This was our second day.

There has been some rain today but only intermittent wiper use.

Day two of our trek is a whole other story. Starting out with rain that continued all day to our destination in Wapakoneta Ohio.

Travelling on I-70 E through the rest of Illinois and then through Indiana, taking the I-465 S then I-465 N bypass around Indianapolis to I-70 E, this highway continued to be a seat retching, vehicle jarring  road. The worst are the bridges along with some stretches of the roadway,  it comes close to I-69 that we travelled last winter.

Most of the day was this.

Once we entered Ohio, I-70 E became much smoother that I will rate the rest of the travel on it as a 8 out of ten.

At Dayton Ohio, we merged onto I-75 N. You want to make sure you are in the right lane for this, as it is only a single lane exit and you must slow down to 20 MPH as it is a sharp right hand curve down onto I-75.

I-75 N to Wapakoneta, Ohio is a smooth ride that I will rate as an 8.5 out of ten.

I-70 above, we just came off of it, now on I-75N

This has been a long day compared to yesterday, the constant rain and mist from the passing vehicles, trying to read the road signs in the rain and watch for the right lanes has been tiring. I like to drive, and even though it was less miles today, I was ready to get off the road for day when we did.

Arrowhead Campground, Wapakoneta, Ohio

Thanks for following along, hope these reports help if you happen to be coming this way. There are only two more legs of our trek until we are back in Ontario Canada that I will report on. Stay tune for them.

Until the next time, stay well and travel safe.

 

Our Third Leg Home

Where Are We Today

Lucky Star Casino

El Reno, Oklahoma

Yesterday, March 11th, we left Bottomless Lake State Park and travelled to El Reno Oklahoma, a total of 460 miles.

Starting out on Bottomless Lake Rd. to US 383 to Roswell on nice  smooth paved roads that I will rate as 9 out of 10.

US-70

Next, we turned east onto US-70E to Portales where we joined up with US-60E. US-70, I am rating as a 7 out of 10, it did have some nice smooth sections but there were rough sections that brought my rating down. US-60 is another story, I rate it at a 6.5 to 7 until it joined I-27N at Canyon.

Now heading north towards Amarillo on US-60E, US-87N and I-27N. The road conditions are improving and I will rate this section as a 7.5 to 8 out of 10.

US-60

At Amarillo we entered onto I-40E to I-40BL E/ Rte. 66/ Sunset Dr. onto US-81 arriving at The Lucky Star Casino. This last section of travel, is rated at an 8 out of 10.

Convoy of 6 army vehicles.

This has been a great travel day, cool and windy at times, it was still an easy drive. Would we take this route again, probably not, but never say never. Even though there are low ratings on some of these roads, remember that they are averages. The biggest drawback for us, is that from Roswell to Canyon, there are few places to eat that we could pull into with our rig, and one place to get fuel,  also in this section, there were no rest areas, only one picnic area.

I-40 E in Oklahoma

So, here we sit at the Lucky Star Casino in El Reno OK. until Wednesday when we will head off to our next destination of Grove Ok. Stay tune for road updates to there. Until the next time, take care and be safe. Feel free to comment and I will answer.

Lucky Star Casino, El Reno OK.

Bottomless Lake State Park

Where Are We Today

Bottomless Lake State Park

Roswell New Mexico

Tonight's post is a short one about the route we took today after leaving Elephant Butte State Park.

The route took us on I-25 north, US-380 East, US-70/US-380 East, US-380 to Bottomless Lake Road.

My rating for these roads is, !-25 a 9 out of 10. US-380 a 7 to 7.5 average out of 10. US-70/US-380 is a 9 out of 10. The last stretch of US-380 I rate as a 8.5 out of 10. And finally, Bottomless Lake Road, a 9 out of 10.

 This is a very nice scenic drive, I-25 & I-70 are four lane roads and the other two are two lane. We thoroughly enjoyed the route we took today.

That's it for now, until the next time, take care and be safe. Comment if you wish. 

 

Road Ratings

Where Are We Today

Road Rating

Awhile back, I said I would write a post on how I rated the roads we travelled. It is by no means scientific, but a " GUT " feeling, so here is a list of what I look for and sense/feel as we travel along the road. Keep in mind that we are in a pick-up truck with dual wheels and pulling a heavy 5th wheel trailer.

Rated at  6 out of 10

Rated at a 8 out of 10

!. How smooth is the pavement.

2. How many pot holes are there.

3. Does it have that washboard effect. Where it sounds like a bump -      bump and you are jigging back and forth/up and down.

4. Is the road covered in cracks and have they been filled or not, with tar to try and smooth them out.

5. When crossing a bridge or overpass, how smooth is the transition between the two surfaces.

6. When travelling on roads of concrete, there are expansion joints that can cause uneven travel if those joints are heaving.

7. If a road is under construction, I take that into consideration as to how I give my rating.

My rating of a number out of 10, 1 being the worst and 10 being the best, is given based on all of the above. As I think about it, anything between 1& 3 is absolutely horrible and would avoid it no matter what. Example is I 69 from Lansing Mi. down to Indianapolis, Ind. The next group, I would say is in the 4 to 8 range, and that brings us to  the 8 to 10 rating.  Most of our travel so far has been in the 8 to 10 range rating, with a few down as low as 7 to 7.5. We have not travelled on what I would call a perfect 10 except in the National Parks, the roads in the parks we have been through get a 10.

I find the northern states have the worst roads, and that is understandable because of frost heave, where the southern states have the better roads. Now saying that, where a state, like California, that has budget/financial problems, their roads tend to suffer.

For the rest of the winter, I will not rate the roads we are travelling, unless one falls below a rating of 7 out of 10. Like I said, it's not scientific, but I can look back and see what I rated a road when we are planning our routes and be wary, do we try it again in the event that it has been fixed or stay away altogether.

Thanks for reading, your comments are welcome.