New Travels and Stats Discussion

[si404]

Pretty sure work was started on Central America.

https://travelmapping.net/hb/index.php?units=miles&sys=naca

Didn't seem to get far in terms of being 'online'.

[Bickendan]

Took a quick drive up to St Helens to investigate I-30's attempts to infiltrate the Pacific Northwest, and indeed, found a well-signed I-30 Business Loop here in Oregon.
Walked around St Helens' plaza for a few minutes to check out their annual Halloweentown festivities, happy to see a Spanish-style plaza here in my relative backyard.
Stopped by Fred Meyer in Scappoose on the way back to grab some caulking to plug up an ant entry in my kitchen and slogged back through traffic in Portland.

[cl94]

Took a drive out to Ely last weekend, which brought me to a hair over 30% in Nevada. Clinched NV 379, NV 439, NV 487, NV 488, UT 159, CA 158, and the roads inside Great Basin National Park over the weekend, as well as US 6, US 50, and US 395 within Nevada.

[nezinscot]

I took several day trips out to northern and western Vermont in August and was finally able to complete Vermont.  I've now clinched all the roads in the six New England states, all on day trips except for Aroostook County Maine.

In terms of scenery I'd rate the states Vermont >> Maine > New Hampshire > Connecticut > Massachusetts >> Rhode Island.

I used most of the Vermont/Quebec border crossings that month, and the Canadian authorities began wondering why I was taking so many short trips into southern Quebec.  Research about Empire Loyalist ancestors.  Which I did do.

[jayhawkco]

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?

Definitely signed well at junctions. Reassurance markers are few and far between but do exist. I'm not sure about definitions and such. I tried to log onto the transportation ministry site in Nicaragua and got denied. I know we don't necessarily want to go off of it, but everything that Google Maps had seemed accurate when I was there.

[Markkos1992]

I did a little bit of northern MD clinching before yesterday's South Central PA Meet.

Clinched: MD 550, Park Central Rd, MD 26, MD 144, MD 125

No new mileage was gained on any other routes.  I also finished the clinch of US 40 TRUCK (Baltimore, MD).

[7/8]

Canada wins on food, the USA on root beer

Huh, I find the root beer at Canadian A&W amazing (much better in store than the store-bought cans). I'll have to try it in the US at some point!


Here's my catalogue of new trips this year.

March: I took a trip to Vancouver and Whistler and got a bit more mileage on BC 99 (though the bulk of that drive I already did in 2021).

Summer: I took three trips to Montreal. Despite driving with other people on all three trips, I managed to get some clinching detours in (though a few drives were the boring direct 401...).
- Did a short detour down the 1000 Island Parkway, then up ON 137 back on to the 401. Also took a quick detour down ON 16 to the St. Lawrence and back on the 401, and similarly, clinched ON 49 and U-turned to the 401.
- From Cornwall, ON: ON 138 clinch, The 417 east, ON 34 clinch, QC 344, A-50 east, QC 148 southeast, QC A-640 to A-15. That trip got me two new QC counties (Argenteuil and Deux-Montagnes).
- From Kaladar, ON: ON north (with a stop at Bon Echo), ON 132 clinch, ON 60 east, ON 17 east, ON 417 clinch, A-40 to A-30.
- I wanted to get a ON 33 clinch and ON 62 south of Belleville, but I couldn't convince my brothers on that one. Hopefully next year.
I also got various mileage in Quebec including QC 328 and 338 at the ON border to avoid an accident, new mileage on A-40, A-440, A-15, QC 117, QC 132 and clinches of A-930, A-520, and QC 136Mon.

One day, I had to drive to Niagara Region (ON), so I took the long way via Fort Erie to get a clinch of the central and east portions of ON 3.

Edit: Also one day, from my parents trailer in Mt. Forest, I detoured to Kincardine via ON 9 for the clinch and to see the sunset on Lake Huron.

Fall: I took a trip with my brother down to Lexington, KY for a concert. On the way down, we did the mostly direct route, though got a clinch of the EC Row in Windsor, ON, some new mileage on M-39, I-75 in Cincinnati and I-75 south of the I-71 split (with three new KY counties), and some US routes in Lexington. On the way up, we detoured from Dayton to Findlay for five new OH counties by going OH 4 (with a stop at the US Air Force Museum), US 68 north to Bellefontaine (with a short detour of OH 540 and US 33 for high point Campbell Hill), and then US 68 north again to Findlay. We also took the Ohio Turnpike between I-75 and I-280 to get to my hotel, but more importantly to try my EZ Pass, which I haven't used once in my three years of owning it (thanks Covid! ). The next day, we clinched M-85 into Detroit, and got mileage on M-1, M-3, and M-5 in downtown on foot. We also clinched the western portion of ON 3 and ON 77 with a trip to Point Pelee (the southernmost mainland point of Canada). All in all, a very successful route clinch and county collecting trip considering I wasn't alone!

Lastly, this weekend, I got ON 62 from Belleville to its north terminus, a clinch of ON 127, and new mileage on ON 28 (from Bancroft to ON 118). I've now surpassed 70% mileage of Ontario, and I'm exactly 15.00% behind Oscar (I'd need a trip or two to Northern Ontario to surpass him ). Also, this year I've now completed both canonf Ontario Provincial Freeways and cannf Canada Select Named Freeways (within Ontario).

[dave1693]

My journeys for this summer were as expected: July trips between northern VA and eastern PA, the August trip to western PA (which for $REASONS, started in eastern PA but the return trip was a triangle going south first), August trips between the Lehigh Valley and Philly airport picking up and dropping off family around my parents' 60th anniversary, and September trips both between northern VA and eastern PA and between northern VA and the Northern Neck of VA. There was also one trip to New England in July for my cousin's memorial service.

New clinches, decidedly not in the order driven:
US 206 in NJ *and* in its entirety (my third nationwide unbannered US highway clinch?), US 30 Business (Everett PA), US 422 Business (Kittanning PA), US 422 Business (Indiana PA), PA 286 Truck (Indiana PA), PA 472, PA 611, PA 896, Betsy Ross Bridge *AT THE TIME I DROVE IT* (PA side) and NJ 90 (NJ side) all in one go, NJ 31, DE 286, MD 136, MD 268, MD 274, MD 277, MD 281, MD 284, MD 285, MD 286, MD 290, MD 781, VA 204, VA 235

New UNclinches:
PA 147 (with PA 147 being rerouted, there is one new segment I have not yet driven)
Betsy Ross Bridge (due to new extension being added)

New segments without clinching:
US 6 in PA, US 19 in PA, US 20 in MA, US 30 in PA, US 119 in PA, US 130 in NJ, US 322 in PA, US 522 in PA
MA 9, MA 12, MA 16, MA 27, MA 30, MA 135, CT 12, CT 171
PA 68, PA 108, PA 144, PA 153, PA 233, PA 258, PA 286, PA 388, PA 405, PA 949, PA 954
NY 52, DE 15, MD 7 (Baltimore-Harford Counties), MD 7 (Cecil County, Elkton east), MD 279, MD 299, MD 302, MD 313, Taconic State Parkway (NY)

Autumn trips are likely to be limited to the Mid-Atlantic thanks to family medical stuff.

[jayhawkco]

Drove to Kansas City and back via southern Nebraska to get all of the counties south of I-80. Clinched a bunch of links and spurs, and got a bunch of mileage on many different highways (especially due to concurrencies), but the main NE routes I clinched were:

NE4
US159
NE128
NE41
NE23

[oscar]

I just got back from an impromptu road trip to Kentucky and Indiana. This was inspired largely by my freezing my ass off at home, in a cold snap before my condo complex had planned to turn the heat on (it's now on, but in the meantime the cold snap went away). 

My main goals were to try to clinch US 421 overall, and reclinch US 127 which had been rerouted in southern Kentucky. I got the latter, but am still missing a few segments of 421 in Indiana, due to bridge closures and also highway reconstruction through one downtown. Indiana seems to have lots of bridge closures, complicated by its DOT's general reluctance to use county roads as signed detours around the closures.

I also re-clinched several counties in Kentucky for my "round 2" count (for which I try to visit the county seats, rather than just crossing the plane of the county line like I often did for "round 1"). These included one that is among the least-visited lower-48 counties by mob-rule.com users.

I would have taken only four days, except for a deer colliding with my car on the Indiana Toll Road (I-80/90) the evening of day 3. No injuries, and my car was still drive-able once my rear bumper was remounted the following morning. But lots of other body damage on the driver's side of my car, including both doors and the front fender, which will undoubtedly take a fair amount of money (mostly my insurance company's) and time to fix.

[Markkos1992]

I would have taken only four days, except for a deer colliding with my car on the Indiana Toll Road (I-80/90) the evening of day 3. No injuries, and my car was still drive-able once my rear bumper was remounted the following morning. But lots of other body damage on the driver's side of my car, including both doors and the front fender, which will undoubtedly take a fair amount of money (mostly my insurance company's) and time to fix.

Sorry about that. 

[dave1693]

I would have taken only four days, except for a deer colliding with my car on the Indiana Toll Road (I-80/90) the evening of day 3. No injuries, and my car was still drive-able once my rear bumper was remounted the following morning. But lots of other body damage on the driver's side of my car, including both doors and the front fender, which will undoubtedly take a fair amount of money (mostly my insurance company's) and time to fix.

Yikes! I hate collisions with deer. Glad you are okay, but sorry about your car.

[Jim]

I was able to pick up about 140 new miles by taking the slow route to the Allentown area today.  Along the way, I finished off NY 17, driving the 11 miles I was missing between East Branch and Hancock.  It's now my 12th-longest clinched connected route in TM.  I don't think I'll have time on Saturday's drive home to get as much new mileage, but the fact that I'm closing in on 99,000 is a motivation to see what I can do.  I'm thinking PA 611 to NJ 94 but by the time I do those, I'll probably want to hop over to the Thruway for the rest of the ride.  Any thoughts on how slow NJ 94 would be on a late Saturday afternoon in October?

[Markkos1992]

From my drive on NJ 94 SB on a Sunday Afternoon in August, I would think you would be fine.  I would be more concerned about traffic on NY 94 than NJ 94. (This is one of those times that we all wish Alps was involved in TM.)

[Jim]

I did take NJ and NY 94 and yes, in NJ the ride was pleasant and pretty quick.  Into NY, it was a mess, mostly getting through Warwick.  No idea what was going on there, but the number of pedestrians and people trying to make left turns and trying to find parking meant several light cycles to get through.  The pumpkin patches, haunted hay rides, corn mazes, and apple picking places in the area were packed and causing some traffic problems.

So on the day, I picked up the last chunk of PA 33 between I-78 and US 22, took PA 611 up to catch NJ/NY 94.  I didn't stay on 94 past Florida, instead 17A up to Goshen, then 207 to 747 then onto I-84 and the Thruway.

I ended the day 10 miles short of 99,000 in active+preview.  Not sure when I'll be able to pick up those 10 miles.  There's not much close to home that I could add.

On the whole trip, I picked up almost 250 new miles: 14 usaus (US 6), 42 usanj (NJ 94, now clinched), 87 usany (NY 10, NY 206, NY 17, now clinched, NY 94, first mileage, NY 17A first mileage, NY 207 first mileage, NY 208 first mileage, NY 747 first mileage), 106 usapa (PA 33, now clinched, PA 191, PA 309, PA 378, first mileage now clinched, PA 309Trk, now clinched, PA 402, first mileage, now clinched, PA 412, first mileage, PA 590, first mileage, PA 611).