I got back home last week from a month-long cross-country road trip. This was mainly to attend the Bakersfield road meet, but also for route clinching, and also to take photos for counties (mainly west of the Mississippi River) not covered in the US County photo challenge on the AARoads forum.
I started off with a dash to southwestern Kentucky, after Easter brunch with family in south central Pennsylvania, mainly on Interstates and parkways. This clinched new MD 219, and re-clinched US 641 after a few miles were rerouted south of Murray KY.
I then zoomed up to northern Illinois, to pick up multi-state route 92, from Illinois to Wyoming via Iowa and Nebraska. I had previously clinched NE 92, but was missing a lot of mileage on IL 92, and a little on IA 92 and WY 92. This leg took me through Nebraska, to take courthouse and other photos in some counties in the northern and western parts of the state. It was very windy in both Iowa and Nebraska, with a wind gust almost knocking me over at an Iowa rest area.
From there, I headed south to Texas, mainly via unclinched parts of US 83 and US 283. That, and traveling in early April before tornado season got going, avoided weather hazards. I got to Texas on Eclipse Day, but had already clinched US 283's south end in Brady (in the totality path), and wasn't interested in viewing the eclipse. So I left US 283 in Coleman, to head west through several counties just north of the totality path. The skies darkened as I approached Robert Lee, which got a 96% partial solar eclipse. That was the only place I saw eclipse-watchers, on the south side of the Coke County courthouse.
From there, via Sterling City, I meandered north toward Amarillo, on a mix of US and state routes. I got on I-27 just before sunset, and spent the night in Canyon.
New Mexico was next on my list. I re-visited Harding and Mora counties. Harding especially was a weak spot on my counties map, having previously made only a quick in-and-out on NM 39. This time I visited the county seat. For Mora, my previous visits were more substantial (I-25 passes though that county), but I've now visited the county seat as well.
From there, on to Bakersfield via I-25, I-40, AZ 89 (clinched), I-10, US 95, Bullhead City segment of AZ 95 (clinched), and a previously untraveled segment of historic US 66 back to I-40. Ahead of the Bakersfield road meet, I finally re-clinched CA 58 (rerouted through Bakersfield earlier this year). During the meet, I also clinched the freeway part of the county-maintained Alfred Harrell Highway. I'm inclined to add that to the usasf system, once I return home from the May 18 memorial service for my aunt in Minneapolis.
After Bakersfield, I headed north toward Sacramento, where I had my cracked windshield replaced. Along the way, I traveled a realigned segment of CA 180 east of Fresno, re-clinching usaca. Then I spent two nights in Yuba City, from which I headed west to Lakeport, and east to Downieville (small and remote for a county seat), to photograph their county courthouses. CA 49 out of Nevada City proved more of an adventure than I had remembered, both twisty and also a bit of a gas desert after hours, though I made it to Truckee on I-80 and refueled there.
From Yuba City, CA 99 north to CA 36, west to I-5, side trip on CA 299 to Weaverville and back, continuing north on I-5 and US 97 to Madras OR (middling city with a nice independent hotel where I spent the night). Then west on US 26 (terrific views of Mt. Hood as I left Madras) then north on OR 35 into Washington state. I then focused on clinching WA 14, with a side trip to clinch WA 142. Between US 97 and I-82, WA 14 goes through the middle of nowhere, but I saw freight trains on both sides of the Columbia River.
The next day started with a misadventure, when I realized that I'd left my regular eyeglasses at the hotel in Boardman I'd just checked out of. I raced to get back there from Lexington, snagging the Bombing Range Rd. segment of the Oregon Trail tourist route recently added to TM. Returning to Lexington, I continued east on OR 74 to complete my clinch of that route, then south on US 395 then east on US 20 to overnight in a Boise suburb. After some short Idaho side trips, including clinches of ID 24, ID 44, and ID 52, I took a two-night rest and resupply stop in Pocatello.
I then crossed Wyoming (two overnight stops, no new mileage) to Pierre SD. In the Badlands area of South Dakota, I decided to take SD 44 south of the national park and SD 377, instead of routes I'd already driven north of the park (I-90) or through the park (SD 240). Alas, on SD 44 a rock punctured one of my tires, with a slow leak, in an area with no cell service or tire repair shops. I managed to limp back to I-90 after reinflating the wounded tire with a portable air pump, and at a rest area replaced it with the full-size spare in my trunk. The rest of the trip into Pierre filled in the last gap in my coverage of US 83 in South Dakota. The next day, on my way out of South Dakota, I clinched the short SD 204 northwest of Pierre, and east of Mitchell clinched SD 38.
Back to I-80, I saw two 18-wheelers flipped on their sides in the I-80 median, one on each side of Omaha. Tornadoes had blown through the evening before. That was my closest encounter the entire trip with bad weather. I kept going east on I-80, clinching IA 38, IA 64, and IA 78 before I picked up I-74 in Galesburg IL.
Except for an optional detour onto IN 39 between I-74 and I-70, it was all Interstates and smooth sailing the rest of the way home.
23 states entered on trip (in order first entered): VA-MD-PA-WV-KY-TN-IL-IA-NE-WY-KS-OK-TX-NM-AZ-CA-NV-OR-WA-ID-SD-IN-OH
24 new counties where I spent the night (new U.S. total 774)
Major route clinches (lesser clinches noted above): MSR 92 (IL-WY); all of US 283 (NE-TX); US 83 in Kansas, north to the Canadian border; all of AZ 89 and AZ 95; all of CA 58, CA 180, and usaca system; all of OR 35, OR 74, WA 14, and WA 142; all of IA 38, IA 64, and IA 78.
