I was just informed that my US50 Coast to Coast was approved! Did the ride E to W in mid September 2020. A very fun ride.
I'll stick to the high (low) points...
Planning.
I put a fair amount of planning into this. Lots of time spent following the route on google maps so I was familiar with the routing, particularly in the big cities. This is very important in my opinion as the sign posting is not always when and where you need it. I also made my hotel reservations in advance.
Arrived Ocean City MD the day before. Went and took the obligatory picture of the famous sign. Note: there is an ally type road on the south side of the Rt50 abutment where you can park and see the sign. There is nowhere to park on Rt50 at that location.
Used the convenient gas station at the RT50 entry point for my starting DBR in the wee hours of the first morning. First problem ocured when I missed a left turn in D.C. in the predawn rain. Luckily I was able to back track easily. Hitting D.C. at around 5am on a Saturday saved a lot of stress.
Made it through Winchester, VA where RT50 does some gymnastics in town. My advantage here is that I live near here and was familiar with the in-town route..
Enjoyed a beautiful ride across WV and OH. Did manage to miss a turn near Athens but was able to back track and document the location. That wasted about 1/2 hour.
Got through Cinncinnati OK and stopped for the night just past that point.
No other meaningful issues until I hit St. Louis. East of the city RT50 joins the interstate. But a chunk of the interstate is closed for long term reconstruction. RT50 follows the interstates around to the south of the city but the official detour wants you to go straight though the city and rejoin the interstate to the south west of the city. Good enough if you are following the interstate... but you would end up missing a good 10-ish miles of open RT50. So after a bit of detouring and backtracking I managed to document that chunk of fun. Sheesh.
No problems with with Kansas City. Luckily, another piece of the puzzle that I was familiar with. And that's it for major cities. Yeah!
Next issue was a 20-ish mile detour in eastern CO. The beginning and end of the detour were not where the road closure started and stopped. Documenting this one required a chunk of backtracking. Not complicated but not expected.
Pueblo CO has a little routing issue didn't trip me up.
Monarch Pass, High point on the route, had some snow. Beautiful stretch of road.
There was an in-town detour in Canyon City, CO. It didn't cost much time but it did involve stopping in a weird spot to take a document-picture. Did it quickly. No problems.
Western UT and Eastern NV went by quickly (wink).
Hit Tahoe during the day with lots of traffic but it went fast enough. Pretty much stayed in traffic for the rest of the trip. Got my end DBR at the first gas station past the end sign. Went to take my end photo at the sign. There is nice wide spot on the shoulder at the location that I promptly missed... Got there on the second try after a few u-turns.
I'll stick to the high (low) points...
Planning.
I put a fair amount of planning into this. Lots of time spent following the route on google maps so I was familiar with the routing, particularly in the big cities. This is very important in my opinion as the sign posting is not always when and where you need it. I also made my hotel reservations in advance.
Arrived Ocean City MD the day before. Went and took the obligatory picture of the famous sign. Note: there is an ally type road on the south side of the Rt50 abutment where you can park and see the sign. There is nowhere to park on Rt50 at that location.
Used the convenient gas station at the RT50 entry point for my starting DBR in the wee hours of the first morning. First problem ocured when I missed a left turn in D.C. in the predawn rain. Luckily I was able to back track easily. Hitting D.C. at around 5am on a Saturday saved a lot of stress.
Made it through Winchester, VA where RT50 does some gymnastics in town. My advantage here is that I live near here and was familiar with the in-town route..
Enjoyed a beautiful ride across WV and OH. Did manage to miss a turn near Athens but was able to back track and document the location. That wasted about 1/2 hour.
Got through Cinncinnati OK and stopped for the night just past that point.
No other meaningful issues until I hit St. Louis. East of the city RT50 joins the interstate. But a chunk of the interstate is closed for long term reconstruction. RT50 follows the interstates around to the south of the city but the official detour wants you to go straight though the city and rejoin the interstate to the south west of the city. Good enough if you are following the interstate... but you would end up missing a good 10-ish miles of open RT50. So after a bit of detouring and backtracking I managed to document that chunk of fun. Sheesh.
No problems with with Kansas City. Luckily, another piece of the puzzle that I was familiar with. And that's it for major cities. Yeah!
Next issue was a 20-ish mile detour in eastern CO. The beginning and end of the detour were not where the road closure started and stopped. Documenting this one required a chunk of backtracking. Not complicated but not expected.
Pueblo CO has a little routing issue didn't trip me up.
Monarch Pass, High point on the route, had some snow. Beautiful stretch of road.
There was an in-town detour in Canyon City, CO. It didn't cost much time but it did involve stopping in a weird spot to take a document-picture. Did it quickly. No problems.
Western UT and Eastern NV went by quickly (wink).
Hit Tahoe during the day with lots of traffic but it went fast enough. Pretty much stayed in traffic for the rest of the trip. Got my end DBR at the first gas station past the end sign. Went to take my end photo at the sign. There is nice wide spot on the shoulder at the location that I promptly missed... Got there on the second try after a few u-turns.
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