NE+IA or KS+MO ?

[Goldie]

Hi midwest guys

since you all are more familiar with the midwest than me, thought I'd get some opinions on OR->IN routes.

taking i-80 thru Nebraska and Iowa is about a hundred miles shorter drive time than dropping down at Denver and taking I-70 thru Kansas and Missouri. BUT have heard even with the extra hundred miles, and traffic you'd go thru in KC & STL, it'd be overall a better drive than the I-80 800 miles of corn fields.

sounds like better fuel econ for the I-80 route also.

any thoughts/suggestions?

EDIT: fixed by fuel econ to say the better would be i-80 not i-70 (was what I was thinking earlier - but mixed the two up )

[Christopher J]

Having been an OTR truck driver and soon getting back into it I'd say run I-70. What time of day are you looking to make the trip?

[Goldie]

Originally Posted by Christopher J

What time of day are you looking to make the trip?

since it's 36 hrs of driving, pretty much any time I'm awake I'd say (likely something like 8a-8p each day)

[J-Man]

Well 80 after Des Moines and on isn't that bad, but west of Des Moines is a horrid drive I have heard. Absolutely nothing to look at until you get to central Iowa and beyond.

[Christopher J]

If you can hit St Louis before 4PM or after 6:30PM you won't have too much traffic to deal with. I hit St. L in the late morning and late afternoon and it sucked....1st gear, 2nd gear, 1st gear, 2nd gear....

[BigBalledOX]

Originally Posted by J-Man

Well 80 after Des Moines and on isn't that bad, but west of Des Moines is a horrid drive I have heard. Absolutely nothing to look at until you get to central Iowa and beyond.

You will want to put a bullet in your brain to stop the mind-numbing boredom. And while things have likely changed somewhat in the last seven years, I remember when I was making that drive (Quad Cities to Omaha) three times in three weeks and that stretch between Des Moines and Omaha makes you pray to the car gods you don't break down lest you become the subject of the next Children of the Corn movie.

And don't kid yourself - east of Des Moines ain't much better.

Having driven the route you would take from Omaha to Indy in seperate legs, I can absolutely say this - take the fastest route and eff everything else. I cannot possibly believe that Kansas and Misery would be that much better of a drive than the I-80 corridor.

Also, I don't know about I-70, but I was able to average about 95 MPH on the Omaha-Quad Cities run when I was making them. I swear there's like, six state troopers in the state of Iowa, three by Omaha, three by the Quad Cities, and none in between. Allegedly Iowa's speed limit is now "strictly enforced" but I'll call BS on that all day long as I made several distance drives throughout the state well in excess of the posted 70 MPH limit without so much as a sniff from a piggy pig pig.

As always your mileage may vary, but if I-80's faster AND cheaper, I'd pick it in a heartbeat.

[J-Man]

I like the drive from Des Moines to Iowa City.

[BigBalledOX]

Originally Posted by J-Man

I like the drive from Des Moines to Iowa City.

Thats like 90 minutes MAX, from the west side of Des Moines at that.

[J-Man]

What does that have to do with me liking that stretch of road?

I can make it from the north side of des moines to cedar rapids in about one hour and forty minutes. I get off at Amana and take 151, thats a good stretch of road too.

[BigBalledOX]

Because when you're only stuck on it for a short time it makes it easier to stomach. I don't know what's to like about it anyways - its all kinds of desolate.