Author Topic: New Travels and Stats Discussion  (Read 229548 times)

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Offline mapcat

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Re: New Travels and Stats Discussion
« Reply #795 on: August 18, 2022, 11:50:23 pm »
Does anyone else name their trips? I do, sometimes. On Monday this week I completed XIT.

Although it's widely discredited now, the idea that the famously expansive XIT Ranch in the Texas panhandle was so named due to its presence in ten (X) counties In Texas stuck with me, and last year I began entertaining the idea of clinching ten US highways in Texas in a single go. Trips earlier this year sorted out what was doable, and so I put together a journey of eleven consecutive days (to enable X nights In Texas) traversing nearly all parts of the state (all but the Trans-Pecos and, ironically, the Panhandle) and bringing ten US highways to completion. Well, eleven, according to this site, although I'm not counting the oddball US 67 segment in Brashear as a completion since I still need several hundred miles of its tocayo. A few miles of re-clinching in Arkansas and a couple of short jaunts across the Red River into Oklahoma rounded out the plans and made it possible to finish each of the targeted routes within Texas's borders.

The path from Ohio to Texas is well-worn for me, so most of the way down used familiar roads. It would be nice if the NPS would finish up their work on the Natchez Trace and give me a fresh option, but I nonetheless appreciated the opportunity to fast-track to Louisiana and revisit some hyphenated routes in Harrisonburg that I'd previously missed clinching by a half-block each. After checking out what was happening at the east end of I-220 (nothing open, no signage posted), I headed to Marshall for night 1.

The next day brought my first new miles in Texas, and my first Whataburger in months shortly before noon. Tragedy struck about an hour later, as, walking, I failed to negotiate some uneven pavement at a rest area east of Greenville and landed on my chin. When the bleeding didn't stop on its own, I reluctantly headed to an urgent care facility, but not before picking up the Brashear segment, some miles of mainline 67, and scattered spurs and loops along the way. After receiving exactly one stitch, which was almost insulting, I returned to my scheduled drive, completing US 82 in the process, and made it to a tiny house at a campground just north of Denton for night 2.

After managing to not bleed all over my Airbnb host's home, I headed back up to Oklahoma and then mostly west until US 81 and US 70 were finished. From Paducah, I turned south and eventually ended up in Abilene for night 3, collecting several interstate business loops in the process.

The following morning took me on a US 283/183 loop north and south (clinching 283 along with numerous short grab-n-go routes along the way) and then sent me west on 67 and 87 toward my somewhat unkempt resting spot in Midland for night 4.

The first of three very long days took me in a mostly easterly direction, as I picked up the final miles of 183 and much of 190 and 84 on a very indirect route towards a much cleaner Airbnb on night 5 in Waco. Despite my arrival after 7:30, I still managed to do a quick tour of the city in order to nab a half-dozen short routes before bed.

An early rise the next morning let me collect the rest of the city's local routes, and set me on course to add US 84, 190, and 79 to my collection before lunch. I briefly considered leaving I-35 for the curious Texas 165 in East Austin, ultimately passing on it due to the heavy midday traffic, figuring I'd be passing by again at an early hour more conducive to city driving a couple days hence. From Austin, I headed straight west on US 290 and then took a very crooked combination of US 83, 377, and 277 through a surprising downpour down to Del Rio for some amazing tacos and a restful night 6 in an old adobe home.

Up early again, I wandered between Del Rio and San Antonio on my way to Eagle Pass, which provided me with more tacos and the end of US 57. From there, I headed to Laredo to drive two blocks of I-35 that magically appeared here a few months ago, and then turned back north to grab some business loops and finish Loop 1604 on the way to my Airbnb in Austin. The stitch was due to come out, but its placement was such that I couldn't take care of it myself, so I reluctantly visited another urgent care where no fewer than three people worked on me. I'm cautiously optimistic that TBDHIITL* won't fuss too much over this. Regardless, as I moved on from the unfortunate incident, I rested very well on night 7.

Although I had a light (11-hour) day planned, I nevertheless rose early to avoid Austin during the morning rush. On the way out, I discovered that, like many cemeteries, the Texas State Cemetery is officially closed between sunset and sunrise. Unlike many cemeteries, this one is also locked up tight, and so my hope of collecting the shortest State Highway in Texas had to be put on hold, since I wasn't in the mood to wait for two hours. Instead I headed to Houston on US 290, and clinched my tenth and final route in that set for the trip. However, the trip was far from over, so I headed back west to pick up more miles of both flavors of US 90 and a few miles of US 77, plus all the easy pickings along the way toward a comfortable night 8.

The next day I spent entirely in Houston and environs, mopping up lots of routes throughout a city I hadn't explored very much previously. I seem to be the first user to clinch Texas 99, a route I'd not touched on any prior visit. Greed took me north on I-45 to Conroe for Just One More Loop, an impulsive decision I regretted almost immediately as I noticed all the stopped southbound traffic I'd need to negotiate on the return trip. Avoiding it via backroads ended up taking even longer than my GPS claimed the interstate would have, so after figuring in another long wait for empanadas a few hours later, I eventually made it back to the previous night's Airbnb about three hours later than anticipated for a nonetheless peaceful night 9.

Fortunately, I had only a short journey to Longview planned for the following day, so I took it at a leisurely pace and only twice ventured off the plan to snag some nearby easy clinches. Arriving at the Airbnb for night 10 shortly after 6, I was happy to get some rest (and play with their energetic dogs) before the long haul home the next day.

That last day went according to plan, meaning it took a little more than 16 hours. Other than a few short routes adjacent to the most direct path, and a reclinch of US 412 at the Light, AR bypass, it was entirely devoted to a safe return home. That objective was achieved a few minutes before 10pm Monday. Most of the time since then I've been asleep.

Overall, the trip netted 4700 new miles and 208 clinched highways (1 interstate, 12 business interstates, 11 US highways, 37 US alternate/business/truck routes, 4 named freeways, 40 Texas spurs and 52 Texas loops, and various other routes in five states). It also brought me to 60.99% completion for the USA, based on our current active+preview systems.

Besides those, I also chose to clinch some routes not currently reportable on the site, namely the Hardy Toll Road's Airport Connector, Park Road 1836, and Loop 1910 in Andrews, plus a number of FM roads.

So XIT came through in 3 ways:
  • clinching US 82, 81, 70, 283, 183, 84, 190, 79, 57, and 290
  • ten nights at Airbnbs in Texas
  • ten tacos in Texas, and donuts from ten independent donut shops, all in Texas (neither of these was planned)
Next up is Mapkitten's return to California, although due to circumstances beyond our control, it's just a quick 3 days out/3 days back this year, so I'm not expecting much in the way of additional mileage.


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Offline vdeane

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Re: New Travels and Stats Discussion
« Reply #796 on: August 19, 2022, 09:59:47 pm »
Does anyone else name their trips? I do, sometimes. On Monday this week I completed XIT.
I usually have name tags on mine in the text file where I save the route in Google Maps, note projected drive time, meal plans, odds and ends that couldn't be mapped in Google, etc.  Then when I write it down, I'll put that in the bottom right as a label (I usually write them down on the back of old receipts).  Usually they'll be based on route(s) or region(s) heavily featured, though regions have become less common now that I've largely finished NY.  Roadmeets have been used as names, with each leg as "Day 1", "Day 2", "Meet Day", etc. (with a similar system for other multi-day trips, although I have yet to successfully go on one that wasn't tied to a roadmeet or family gathering, leaving me thinking the idea is cursed), although these days I tend to only use the meet name for the meet day itself, with the trips to/from being under the regular system (although that is likely a symptom of my travel being in a smaller radius in the past 3-4 years, resulting in meet trips that are less direct since I'm filling in gaps rather than exploring new territory; I don't think I've had the opportunity to go on a big far-flung trip since my cousin's wedding in 2018).
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position of NYSDOT or its affiliates.

Offline ntallyn

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Re: New Travels and Stats Discussion
« Reply #797 on: August 20, 2022, 08:16:30 pm »
My wife and I took a recent trip to Wisconsin for a weekend workshop, but we tacked on a couple of extra days for county (and highway) collecting.

We flew in to MKE, and took a mostly CCW route primarily along I-43, WI 57, WI 32, WI 29, WI 55, US 8, WI 13, WI 80, WI 73, US 151, US 14, US 61, WI 81, and I-43. The wife got 48 new counties (I got 40), and we left most of the western portion for a similar trip to MSP some day (along with a couple easy touches adjacent to MI when we go get the UP). We had several closed bridges so some route changes on the fly.

In total, the following routes were claimed in part:
Interstates: 41, 43, 94, 794, 894
US highways: 8, 10, 12, 14, 18, 41, 45, 61, 141, 151, 151Bus (Columbia)
WI routes: 11, 13, 17, 19, 21, 22, 23, 28, 29, 30, 32, 44, 47, 49, 52, 54, 55, 57, 60, 67, 69, 73, 78, 80, 81, 89, 91, 96, 119, 129, 131, 133, 144, 156, 171, 173, 213, 241

Offline clong

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Re: New Travels and Stats Discussion
« Reply #798 on: August 21, 2022, 02:10:47 pm »
Had a chance to add on to my AL State Routes this weekend.

Clinched AL 46 and 48 along with a re- clinch of AL 77.

Also added mileage and filled in gaps on AL 9,21 and 49.

Offline Markkos1992

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Re: New Travels and Stats Discussion
« Reply #799 on: August 21, 2022, 05:09:26 pm »
Yesterday morning, I got into NJ to get a few state routes before the Philly Day 1 Pre-Meet.

Clinched:  NJ 47, NJ 147, NJ 83, NJ 347, NJ 55
New Mileage:  US 9 (NJ)


Offline cl94

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Re: New Travels and Stats Discussion
« Reply #800 on: August 26, 2022, 06:50:16 pm »
So, I just took a cross-country drive to move to the west coast. Clinches weren't the priority, but I did get several, while several other long routes had major sections driven.

New clinches: I-215 UT, I-180 WY, I-129 NE, I-75 BL Findlay OH, I-80 BL Laramie WY, OH 330, MI 216, IN 249, WY 273, WY 318, WY 70, WY 414, UT 44, UT 140, UT 154, several Nebraska spurs
Routes completed in a state: I-80 in NV and UT, US 20 in NE and IA, I-94 in IN
"Almost-clinches" of longer routes: WY 130

I-80 is over 2/3 complete, with most of the missing mileage in WY and NE. Most of US 20's missing mileage is in WY and west, with small sections missing around Chicago, Toledo, and Cleveland. I got around 3,000 new miles over the past 8 days.

Offline mapmikey

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Re: New Travels and Stats Discussion
« Reply #801 on: August 28, 2022, 09:52:46 am »
Took an 18-hr U-turn yesterday:

New routes clinched in order: 
WV 26, WV 100, WV 69, WV 180, WV 39, WV 61 ALT, WV 211

New mileage:
WV 92 (Belington to US 50)
WV 7 (WV 2 to Kingswood)
WV 2 (St Marys to WV 18; WV 180 to WV 7)
WV 16 (Beckley to St Marys)

I also picked up the last 2 counties I hadn't been to in West Virginia

Offline mapmikey

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Re: New Travels and Stats Discussion
« Reply #802 on: September 01, 2022, 08:11:18 pm »
Took an overnight trip to Athens OH-Point Pleasant WV as my wife wanted to see the Mothman Museum and the Silver Bridge exhibit.

Got some more new mileage out of that...

New clinches in order:  WV 807, OH 807, OH 833, US 35 WV (reclinch - new segment), WV 817, WV 612, US 19 Byp Beckley

New mileage:  OH 7 (US 50 to OH 807); WV 62 (Mason to Henderson); WV 61 (US 60 to WV 94)

Offline ntallyn

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Re: New Travels and Stats Discussion
« Reply #803 on: September 07, 2022, 06:34:10 pm »
A recent work trip to St. Pete gave me the opportunity to grab a few missing ends and things in Florida.

Followed FL 23 (clinched, finally), FL 21, FL 20, US 301, FL 464 (clinched), FL 35, US 301 (new mileage), FL 582 (new mileage), I-75, FL 60 (new mileage), FL 618 (new mileage), and FL 686 on the outbound route, and FL 688 (clinched), I-275, I-75, FL 326, US 301, and FL 228 on the return. Also was able to take a loop around the St. Pete area one evening and get new mileage on FL 688, FL 699 (clinched), FL 682 (clinched), US 19, US 19 Alt, US 92 (and concurrent FL 687), FL 694 (clinched), and FL 693. Probably one more trip to St. Pete will allow me to clinch the remaining routes.

Offline Jim

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Re: New Travels and Stats Discussion
« Reply #804 on: September 11, 2022, 12:03:15 am »
A second round trip this year to Ithaca for another conference planning meeting gave me the chance to pick up a little over 200 new miles in usany.  Friday afternoon, I started by filling a NY 7 gap between Richmondville and Oneonta.  I might have traveled some or all of it long ago, possibly before all of I-88 way open, but I was never sure so never claimed it.  At Oneonta, I cut down to NY 357, which I hadn't ever traveled, and clinched all of that.  It was all new miles from Bainbridge almost all the way to Ithaca, as I took NY 206 to Whitney Point, then NY 26 to NY 38B (new clinch), NY 38, NY 96, and NY 96B (new clinch).  Today, I drove up the west side of Cayuga on NY 89 (which I'd only traveled the southernmost block previously), NY 31 for new miles across almost to Baldwinsville, then NY 631 around the north side of Baldwinsville (not quite clinched), then back to NY 31 to fill in my gap between Baldwinsville and Cicero.

This trip pushes me over 50% for all routes (across all active systems) in NY.

Offline mapcat

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Re: New Travels and Stats Discussion
« Reply #805 on: September 12, 2022, 09:44:45 pm »
Couple of recent trips:

Taking Mapkitten back to California took a week (3 days out, 3 days back). Added just shy of 600 miles and clinched 55 routes total, including 2 usaus (90 & 285), 8 usausb, and 13 usaib. Reached 100% of usaib in Arizona & Oklahoma and 100% of usaush in Kansas & Texas. Not much time for sightseeing on the way there. Plenty of tacos to make up for it.

Then for the ensuing 4-day holiday weekend (I have Fridays off) I fit in a solo trip originally planned for July that was designed to make up for what went awry with my May trip (due to flooding, mechanical problems, and border crossings with bankers' hours). First day took me to the former border crossing at the north end of US 75 (clinch #199 in the set) and eventually to Winnipeg for the night (but not before taking a spin around the Perimeter). Next day took me back across the border to ND, then back across the border to MB, then back to ND again, then across to SK, then finally back to ND for good around 2pm, headed for Bismarck. On the way I clinched US 83, the 200th US route for me according to TM classification. Sunday took me to the other Dakota and allowed me to finish off the US and AuxUS highways in the Black Hills, among other things. Labor Day was pretty much a straight shot home, timed to coincide perfectly with when everyone was leaving their hotels in Wisconsin Dells. However, the lack of normal traffic in Chicago more than made up for the delays in the Dells, so I pulled into my driveway several minutes before 10pm. Total new mileage this time was a bit over 1000, to go along with 30 more clinches, including the remaining US routes in MN, ND, and SD and remaining Business Interstates and Auxiliary US routes in SD as well.

I do not recommend crossing the US/Canada border 5 times in one day. First crossing Saturday (at 6:30 am) was smooth, with no delays or unusual questions. But going back across about 2½ hours later prompted some head-scratching on the part of the Canadians. My reason for entering Canada--donuts--was acceptable, as it should be, but my choice to go from one location in Manitoba to another location in Manitoba via another country seemed unconventional. I tried the "gas is cheaper down there" explanation, and it worked, so I was on my way. The US guy I encountered a little over an hour later accepted the same explanation with a bit of an eyeroll and a look inside my trunk. Still, I was through in a very fair 5 minutes. On to Saskatchewan! Arriving at Portal a little more than an hour and a half later, I pulled right up to the window and handed my passport to a very affable agent, who naturally asked why I was heading across. After some pleasantries, I pointed out that I had not visited the province in well over a decade, a time span when I'd found opportunities to visit every other province except Newfoundland & the Far North. She seemed to indicate that that was certainly a good reason to visit her province, but was curious about my route, which was somewhat circuitous. Of course I returned to my proven donut defense, adding "because you must be aware that Canadian donuts are superior to any in the States." She smiled and nodded knowingly, adding "Beer too," which I heartily endorsed, enthusiastically throwing the hard-working brewers and bartenders of my home country under the bus just for the opportunity to seize a few dozen miles of desolate highway in a faraway land. Anything to keep her smiling and nodding. "Okay, here's your passport," she said, finally, and along with it, the dreaded yellow card. "Pull into one of those parking spaces on the left and give this to the agent inside, who will assist you." So I dutifully parked and waited for assistance. Upon being asked, I repeated my story, and was shown to a seat in the waiting area. I watched the agent type a lot, speak to co-workers, and type some more. I looked around at the faces of the others waiting, all of whom appeared concerned, dejected, and/or regretful. Fifteen minutes passed, and finally he asked to speak with me. "You crossed the border what, four times on the way here?" I confessed to doing exactly that, and he just looked at me. "You're crossing at different locations each time, is there a reason?" Now, long ago, someone here had shared the very helpful tip that road-clinching was not a good reason for any international travel, and so I had avoided bringing it up. I teach geography, I said, and take photos to show my students. He wasn't buying it. I like changing things up, to avoid monotony. Nope. Finally, I confessed. "I like roads, and I've been on every mile of some of these roads, all the way to the border, so I wanted to finish them off while I was here." Surprisingly, his eyes lit up. THAT made total sense to him. "Oh, I see, well we didn't think of that, because we couldn't come up with any explanation why someone would do this." I asked if it was against the law, and pointed out that I intended to cross back over again after lunch. "No, it's certainly not illegal. It's unusual, but you're allowed to do it. You're free to go now." I thanked him and left quickly, appreciating my freedom to travel yet dreading what crossing number 5 would entail. After comparing Canadian A&W fare to the American version I'd had the previous day--Canada wins on food, the USA on root beer--I approached the guard south of Oungre anticipating another inquisition. Instead, there were only a couple of perfunctory questions and I was on my way. Evidently the folks at Portal had identified me as non-threatening.

So my summer ended on a high note. Nothing big planned for the fall, which looks to be busy with lots of other things. I hope the rest of you fit in something memorable in this perfect season for driving.
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Offline rickmastfan67

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Re: New Travels and Stats Discussion
« Reply #806 on: September 14, 2022, 10:54:53 am »
Should have used the Kraft Dinner excuse. LOL!

Offline mapcat

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Re: New Travels and Stats Discussion
« Reply #807 on: September 14, 2022, 12:23:13 pm »
Should have used the Kraft Dinner excuse. LOL!
I would have, except stores don't have the kind you're looking for anymore and I'm sure the border agents are aware of that unfortunate development.
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Offline jayhawkco

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Re: New Travels and Stats Discussion
« Reply #808 on: September 15, 2022, 02:58:42 pm »
I know they're not in TM yet, but I got some good mileage in Honduras and Nicaragua this past week.

Nicaragua
NIC-1, NIC-3 (clinched), NIC-4, NIC-39, and NN-222 (clinched)

Honduras
CA-3, CA-1, CA-13, and CA-5 (a beautiful drive)

Offline Jim

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Re: New Travels and Stats Discussion
« Reply #809 on: September 18, 2022, 10:58:28 am »
I know they're not in TM yet, but I got some good mileage in Honduras and Nicaragua this past week.

Nicaragua
NIC-1, NIC-3 (clinched), NIC-4, NIC-39, and NN-222 (clinched)

Honduras
CA-3, CA-1, CA-13, and CA-5 (a beautiful drive)

Interesting!  Are the highways in these two countries defined accurately enough and signed well enough to make it possible to add them to TM?