Los Angeles to Minneapolis MN - Leaving Today!

[DOC JOHNSON]

Hi,

Long story short, I bought a car in Los Angelas Area California and am flying in from Minneapolis, MN and driving home right when I land today.

Question:

Do I take the 15 to the 80 or should I take the 15 to the 70, In other words what is the faster route to go up and over through utah and wyoming or head straight through denver. I need the fastest route to be home early Friday. I keep using different map sites and they have different ways.

Any help would be appreciated also any thing to watch out for expect would be great. Weather seems to be fine.

[Robert Schaller]

The routes are almost identical in terms of time -- I-70 is :20 longer. Take your pick! You'll like the I-70 route better for scenery, if you hit Colorado between Grand Junction and Denver in daylight. If not, it doesn't make much difference.

[Mark Sedenquist]

Well, they would be that close in time, if one could hover-craft around the Denver traffic. Depending upon when in the commute cycle you pass through Denver, the delay could be over an hour or more.

If the roads and clear and dry, I would factor a two hour savings using the I-80 route.

[ew]

Well I made it!

I left los angeles around 630pm Wed and made it to St George Utah at 1:00 am due to L.A. traffic.

Left St. George Utah at 7am Thur and stopped in North Platte NE about 8pm.

Left North Platte about 3am Fri and drove about 6 hours home to Minnesota.

I tried msn mapping, map quest and yahoo and they all came up with different routes.

In actuality it said going I80 was longer in hours and also long in miles by almost 100 miles?

So why are people saying it would of been 2 hours shorter?

Anyhow I took the 15 to the 70 to the 76 to the 80 to 35 the scenery was amazing and I have great pictures, I eneded up in vail co and denver between the hours of around 1pm and 3pm. There was 0 traffic through denver which was nice an no road hazards along the way.

I couldn't of asked for a better drive considering it was a split second decision to make the trip. I work for hilton so I stayed for 29.00 at a couple places to rest and thats it. Two meals later (sonic burger and quizno's) and I was home.

I have great pics even of a gas station in CO called Gay Johnsons! It was awesome!

Total trip miles was about 1970 figure I drove about 20 miles off route when i stopped for hotels, dilly dally around ect.

if i took I80 it said it was appox 2030

[Robert Schaller]

The difference was the possibility of heavy Denver traffic, which could be avoided by taking the I-80 route. So, with light traffic through Denver, and the great scenery, you got the best of EVERYTHING!

Was the wind blowing in Nebraska? The wind ALWAYS blows in Nebraska...

Glad you had a great trip, and thanks for telling us about it!

Bob

[Quebec Gen]

"Was the wind blowing in Nebraska? The wind ALWAYS blows in Nebraska..."

Yep, and that same wind helped me escape a speeding ticket last summer in Nebraska. I pleaded the tornado warning (there was one but 2-3 hours east of where I was) and it actually worked very well.:-) shhh don't tell. Seriously, I think the winds contributes to the trip, it helps you feel liberated, it's healing even when you can't see a darn thing because your hair is all over your face:o) when I think of Nebraska, I automatically remember the wind and the roaring sound it makes.

[ew]

i noticed no wind through NE

[Robert Schaller]

It's the first time in history! :)

For sure, wind on the Great Plains is a near constant. It's great if you're traveling with it, not so great if you're heading INTO it! Bob

[skyedog]

i'm getting ready to pull a uhaul from grand marais, mn to los angeles and have heard so many different opinions on this.
i have posted about this on here before and was advised no problem.
but others say go to the south to avoid the mountains and go through arizona etc instead of either denver or the more northern way.
any thoughts on this? wouldn't the wind be a factor with the trailer?
thanks everyone- this is a great site by the way!

[Midwest Michael]

EW hasn't been on the forum in 2.5 years, so I don't think you'll get much help from him.

I already responded to your thread, but I'll just point out that taking I-40 through Arizona really isn't any better than I-80 when it comes to dealing with/avoiding Mountains. The grades end up being about the same, and you should really be fine with either option. Its unlikely you'd have any problems with I-70 over the Colorado Rockies either, but since its your own car doing the pulling, I would probably avoid it for this trip to save a little bit of wear and tear on your truck.