Hi, everyone.
As has been my summer tradition for several years, I've made the lonk trek from West Virginia where some of my relatives live (and I work a summer internship in DC) back out to Utah for school in my little Honda Accord. I was hoping that I could get some recommendations from some of you seasoned "road warriors" who frequent Interstates 70 and 80.
Now typically, I just take 70 as a pretty straight shot to Southern Utah and go north from there (except for bypassing the toll portion in PA by taking I-79 for a bit), but this time, I would like to visit some relatives in Northern Utah, and so would like to end up coming in to Utah on I-80 to save some time. Now, there are a couple ways of going about this:
1.) I know that you can hop onto I-80 by I-25 off of I-70 in Denver and then going through Wyoming - I'm most familiar with this route, but according to my GPS mapping program, it takes the longest amount of time.
2.) You can take I-70 to Kansas City and then hop onto I-29, and after going through a bunch of different state highways in Nebraska, end up on I-80.
3.) You can take I-70 to I-55 in Illinois which eventually takes you to I-80. I've never gone this route before, but my GPS mapping program suggested it. I'm a little leery of it, though, because I've never gone this way before.
Now here's my question - which one should I take? I'm looking for opinions here, so feel free to give 'em. Take into consideration such things as construction, price of gasoline, condition of roads, and especially the quality of rest stops, as I usually drive for 17 hours/day and then pull over and snooze at one. Specifically, if you've taken something similar to my Choice #3 (which I've never taken), give me your impressions, as I'm curious about it, but wary of trying a new route.
Sorry about the long post. Whew! Thanks in advance!