Seattle to Detroit up US Highway 12!

[Tony J Case, Super Genius]

{03-13-09 Edit: The original Fall trip has morphed into an early Summer trip and the scope has changed as well. Hence the change of venue on this forum.}


Call me crazy (Yer crazy), but I have this wild notion that I want drive the length of I-90 from Boston all the way to Seattle. The tenitive plan would be: fly to Boston, rent a car, drive to Seattle.

The questions I have are: Has anyone done this before. I imagine that the east coast is pretty cool, and I know the west coast well enough that the far end is covered - but how about all the points in the middle. Is it just one long, boring stretch? Is it worth doing, or would I be better off with another route?

About how long should I plan for? Mapquest says that it's only 46 hours to physicaly get from A to B, but that's the blow through top speed, who cares about stopping way of doing it. I'm thinking 14 days - too much or not enough?

Any other suggestions or crazy ideas?

[Midwest Michael]

I think you've got a pretty great plan. 14 days should give you a nice amount of time to explore. Realistically, you'll need 6-7 days to make the trip just driving, but that gives you a whole week of time to look around.

I've never found a boring place, and there are things to do along every interstate in the US. However, just a few of the major highlights along I-90 would including Niagara Falls, Cleveland/Sandusky, Chicago, Badlands, Black Hills/Mt. Rushmore/Devils Tower, and Yellowstone.

[Tony J Case, Super Genius]

Niagara falls? I didnt think that 90 got that far north. If it does, then heck yes I'll hit that for sure. But so far my random brainstorming - and mind you, this is just the first couple of states, based on about half an hour of reading on wikitravel - has included:

Devils tower
Mount Rushmore
Wall Drug (which might be too far north - we'll see)
Continental Divide
The Last Stoplight on I-90 - Wallace, ID
Custer's Last Stand- Crow Agency
Our Lady Of The Rockies - Butte
1880 Cowboy Town - Buffalo Ridge, SD
Petrified Wood Park - Lemmon, SD
Chief Crazy Horse Memorial - Crazy Horse, SD

And I havent even gotten to the east coast yet. :)

[glc]

It's about 25 miles from I-90 to Niagara Falls, well worth the side trip. Wall, SD is right on I-90. The last stoplight was bypassed in 1991. Bring your EZ-Pass, you have a lot of tolls to deal with! You also have a traffic nightmare through Chicago.

[Midwest Michael]

I-90 doesn't go directly to Niagara Falls, but its only a short detour via I-190 from Buffalo. The same is true with Yellowstone, its not directly on I-90, but its a pretty easy detour. Wall, and of course Wall Drug, are directly on the interstate. Its hard to have something that's a pure and proud roadside tourist trap be anything but right off the highway!

I hadn't heard about the last stoplight, but after looking at it, that sounds pretty interesting. It sounds like the town of Wallace certainly had some fun "mourning" when it lost its claim to fame, as the stoplight is now on display, in a casket, in the town's museum.

[Sykotyk]

Well, From the Badlands west, you probably know most of what you can see.

From Rapid City to Chicago is quite nice. The drive through Wisconsin heavily wooded. Southern MN is quite flat, as is eastern SD.

If you're taking your time, stop at gas stations, ask locals, as well. They may tell you hidden gems. Crossing the Missouri south of Pierre is cool.

Usually, my times through there have been to just 'get through there' to the west coast.

Sykotyk

[Tony J Case, Super Genius]

The timeframe: May 22nd to the 31st
The Trip: up US Highway 12 from Seattle to Detroit (or as far as we can get)
The Trip Back: Speed run down I-90
Round Trip: 4,966
Miles per day: 496.6 (or about 8.27 hours on the road each day)

This originally started life as a trip down I-90 from Boston to Seattle, but as budgets and timeframes became more defined, I had to cut back. I also decided to go earlier in the year, just at the end of spring. We've got 10 days, from the evening of may 21st to the 31st, so plenty of time to take it nice and easy.

We'll probably head up US Highway 12 at a casual pace, and then (depending on how much time we make) fly back down I-90. And of course this list is before I really start digging into the weird and quirky tourist traps along the way.

TRIP OUT:
Teapot Dome Service Station - Zilla, WA
Continental Divide - MT (ok, not much of a stop, but I have to get a pic at least)
Custer's Last Stand - Crow Agency, MT
Statues for the Proletariat - Crow Agency, MT
Our Lady Of The Rockies - Butte, MT
Mount Rushmore SD
The Corn Palace - Mitchell, SD
1880 Cowboy Town - Buffalo Ridge, SD
Petrified Wood Park - Lemmon, SD
Chief Crazy Horse Memorial - Crazy Horse, SD
The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota - Darwin, MN
Spam museum - Austin, MN

TRIP BACK:
Wall Drug - Drug, SD
Devils tower - WY
Last Stoplight on I-90 - Wallace, ID

Like I said, that's just the rough draft list. Some of it may be too far away from 12 to be practical.


So, thoughts? Suggestions?

[AZBuck]

This will clearly be a trip that is mostly about the driving, but your pacing is about right at 500 miles/day and most of your stops are of the sort that can be done in an hour or two, thus giving needed physical and mental breaks from behind the wheel. All in all, it looks like fun.

AZBuck

[Tony J Case, Super Genius]

Hey guys -

So I was planning to do some driving over Memorial Day, and I thought I'd bounce my itinerary off you and get some ideas. The plan goes like this - Seattle to Detroit up US Highway 12 and then back. I've got 10 days and roughly 5,000 miles to cover - so a nice steady 500 miles a day should be about enough and still give me plenty of sightseeing time.

Here's the day by day breakdown:

DAY 00, 4/21)
I get a head start on Thursday evening right after work, getting from Seattle to Kennewick/Pasco. Yeah, it's a bit of a cheat, but I'm not too concerned about seeing stuff in Washington. Anything that's in easy driving distance I can get later.

DAY 01, 4/22)
Hook up with Highway 12, if I can get through to the other side of Helena (like about Winston), then I'm doing good.

DAY 02 4/23)
Continuing along US 12 up to White Butte, SD

DAY 03, 4/24)
Follow along 12 until I get to Darwin, which puts me a bit short of the 500 miles a day that I'd need, but much past that and I hit the Twin Cities and lose that small town Americana feeling that I'm going for. Besides, sleeping across the street from the Biggest Ball of Twine has a certain charm about it.

DAY 04, 4/25)
Since I don't really have the time to explore Minneapolis or Chicago, I might briefly drive through them, but for the most part, I'll skip them. So it'll be a long haul day, where I try and get to White Pigeon or Sturgis MI, making up some of the shortfall from the Ball of Twine.

Huzzah! Detroit and the end of Highway 12! Now, here's where things get interesting. Since I don't really want to double back and cover the ground that I just drove, I was going to and try to avoid Highway 12. I was thinking of following US Highway 14 (but I'm certainly open to suggestions and ideas if someone has a better idea).

However from Detroit, as a side trip I'll drop down to Ohio quickly (I'm on a mission to get pictures of me with all 50 "welcome to . . . " state signs - and it's only a couple of extra miles). From the Toledo-ish area, I'll probably hook up with I-90 and powerbomb back to Madison (or thereabouts) and crash for the evening.

DAY 06, 4/26) Continue down Highway 14 (with perhaps a brief sidestep to Iowa to get another state sign picture, driving through Harper's Ferry) stopping at Lake Preston, SD

DAY 07, 4/27) A shorter haul today, since there's a bunch I want to see in this neck of the woods: I want to swing down to the Corn Palace in Mitchell, I have to stop by Wall Drug of course and Mount Rushmore. So if I get to Keystone, SD, I'm golden.

DAY 08, 4/28) Probably another shorter jump today, I wouldn't mind seeing a bit of the Badlands and Devils Tower, so if I get to Billings I should be good.

DAY 09, 4/30) Saturday 4/30 - Powerbomb down I-90 back to Seattle

DAY 10) Since I dont have to be back until Sunday the 31st, This would be a floater day, in case I fall short of the drive, I find something cool that I must see or otherwise have the schedule thrown off.

So - a couple of questions:
* What'll the weather be like? We're still a month away from summer, so I expect that the national parks will all still be quiet, right? Would places like Rushmore and Devils Tower even be open yet?
* Does that sound like a reasonable schedule? 500 miles a day, with about 8 hours of driving - that should leave plenty of time for sleep, sightseeing and whatnot.
* Alternate routes? I think I'm pretty good with the route to Detroit, but back I'm flexible on. If someone says "You need to do THIS!", I'm open to suggestion
* Rent a car? That's a hell of a lot of miles to put on my aging Saturn. Sure it'll cost me a couple hundred bucks, but that'll save a lot of wear on my ride. Am I just being paranoid, or do you think this is a good idea?
* Any Must-See that I need to be aware of? Here's the short (and growing) list of what I'd like to see

TRIP OUT:
Nez Perce National Historical Park - ID
Fort Missoula Museum MT
Old Montana Prison Complex, Deer Lodge, MT
Continental Divide - MT
The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota - Darwin, MN

TRIP BACK:
Spam museum - Austin, MN
The old 1880 Cowboy Town in Buffalo Ridge, SD
The Corn Palace - Mitchell, SD
Mount Rushmore SD
Wall Drug - Drug, SD
Devils tower - WY
Custers Last Root Beer Stand, Three Forks, MT
Last Stoplight on I-90 - Wallace, ID

[glc]

I think you may be overlooking an important issue - taking a non-Interstate such as US-12 or US-14 can be a LOT slower than taking an interstate. What smacked me in the face is you saying you will drive from near the Twin Cities to Michigan in one day? This is a long haul on the Interstates - on 12 it's impossible. It's going to take you 2 to 3 hours just to get from the WI-IL line to the IL-IN line, and you will be going through some of the worst traffic on the face of the earth. 500 miles a day is not realistic for a large portion of your trip. You need to adjust your expectations or get onto the Interstates more.