I 65 & I 71 experiences

[CountryGuy]

On the hard drive home, we had to get on the I roads and make time. We were already on the Natchez Trail when it became evident that we needed to get a move on. So, when we got to Nashville we jumped on I 65 to Louiville and the I 71 north to Cincinnati, I 75 home.

For those of you who are lucky enough to never see a I road, you can go read another thread!

But for those, that might get stuck on these roads, here are a couple of experiences. Remember, we are driving NORTH!

I 65, rough, rough, rough, specially around Louisville. YIKES! This is one of those times when we ask ourselves, what would the cabinets look like without Isolator??? We never hit 70 MPH, and a good part, but not all, of the rough stuff was construction zone. We never exceeded the speed limit in construction zones. We hit a couple of bone and teeth jarring spots. Nuff said.

I 71 north, exit 28. There are two Pilot stations there, lots of trucks parked at both, one is on the east side, one on the west side of the I road. We chose the west side, cause, OK, I wanted McD's for lunch. Cannot remember the other choice, but neither was particularly wonderful, fast food stuff, and McD's won a poor race. ANYWAY, we picked this exit from the Exit Authority, cause it sounded like it had a TON of stuff, compared to exits before and after it. We like the truck stops, usually can get around pretty good in them, lots of big open parking, etc.

WELL, I don't want to start the diesel/gas engine war, but, if you have a gas engine, you might not want to stop here! Or at least not at the Pilot to the west of I 71. You cannot get a rig in there to get gas. Lots of diesel pumps around back, VERY easy to get into, basically they are pull throughs. But, out front, where they sell gas, they only want cars or trucks with NO trailer of any kind (or maybe a short trailer, no big rigs wanted here). They have driveways placed such that you cannot get into a pump and then get out. There is no backing up. I am talking driveways with curbs. Hard to describe, so I am gonna let it go at my heavy suggestion that if you are driving a gas engine, and you need gas, you might want to consider the Pilot at the east side. We did NOT look at it, we were told it was a bit easier to get into??? Best suggestion if you are driving a gas and need gas, don't stop here at all! Find another station up the road somewhere. Luckily, we were able to do just that, we were not on fumes!

Got to say, that is the first time we have seen such a set up and first question that came to my mind, was, "What rocket scientist designed this???" My apologies to any MOC member that might be a rocket scientist, it is just a saying!

Carol

[sreigle]

Carol, thanks for the update, particularly the interstate updates. You already know I tend to avoid them but there are times we need to make miles quickly and interstates are often the best way to do that. When we leave Gatlinburg we're currently thinking of spending some time in and around Chattanooga, leaving just enough time to hightail it up to Goshen. If we do it that way I was thinking I24 to Nashville, then I65 to Indianapolis, and US 31 north from there.

I may have to rethink our route, at least between Nashville and Louisville.

Thanks for the headsup.

[CountryGuy]

Nashville to Louisville was a bit rough, you might want to jump to a US road for that stretch. They have been working on I 69 around Fort Wayne Indiana for a couple of years, have no idea where that work might be, maybe done?? There were some nasty backups on that one, I was lucky, every time I got near there I was able to duck around it!

Going into Louisville on 65 was BAD, in our opinion! We stayed at the Louisville KOA South, believe me, we were ready to get off the road and stop moving by that time! Did not seem quite as bad the next morning, but, an avoid technique might be called for.

[Montana_2730]

Just drove to Kalamazoo, MI on Thursday and left Kalamazoo back to San Antonio, on Sunday. Here is my two cents on Interstates.

Between Temple, TX and Dallas on IH35 to much road construction.
IH20 South of Dallas to IH635 Loop going east good roads (Diesel 2.05 per gallon at Pilot).
IH 30 east of Dallas to Texarkana, TX good roads.
IH30 to IH 40 to Memphis good roads.
Turn north on IH55 to IH57 - the left lane SUCKS. Right lane is good.
IH57 to IH70 thru to Indianpolis left lane SUCKS right lane is good. Do not gas up here the country boys were charging 2.40 per gallon of diesel.
IH465 to IH69 to Michigan both lanes good
IH 94 to Kalamazoo hold on to your teeth

We came back IH94 to IH294 in Chicago to IH 80 to IH57 south

Total trip time 23 Hour 30 minutes each way. Average speed 70 miles per hour. Condidtion of Monty upon return.

You could not read the Montana logo because of the amount of Spring bugs on front cap.

I do not know what the people in Illinois, Indiana, and Missouri are paying for in road taxes but they need to fire the contractors who made their roads. In all of these states the roads crews were replacing 6ft sections of road every thirty to fifty feet.

[CountryGuy]

travelingman,

that is a lot of hauling in a short time frame, did you sleep at all??

that section of I 94 around Battle Creek and Kalamazoo and even points east, wowie, really bad. Better check more than your teeth, that was the section that snapped one of the screws holding our OEM TV in. Got home and found OEM TV held in only by the bottom screws! Wonder it did not end up on the floor!

I55 and I57 were bad going south as well, there was one section right around Memphis that reminded us of I 10 in Louisiana and Mississippi. NOT quite that bad, but almost. We were able to use the left lane (remember going south) and slow down and found we could JUST tolerate the ride.

No wonder my daddy, rest his soul, used to call it the "HARD ROAD"

[H. John Kohl]

GEEEEE Carol,
We have to run that way on our return from Eustis,Fla to Rochester, NY. That will be a speed run also three days of 500 miles each. Guess we need to just buckle down and take it as it comes.
Be safe.

[CountryGuy]

John,

Yea, hold on to your teeth, the steering wheel, and make frequent potty stops!

Some of the road was that rock and roll stuff, some construction zones, and some were just bad jolts, like at the end of a bridge. The jolts are most unnerving (for us, possibly a personal thing??)

Enjoy your trip home tho! You need to let us hear more about your stay in the "down under"

Carol

[Montana_2730]

We stopped for three hours going up to Kalamazoo in Illinois at rest area in national forest land just after you turn on IH57 from IH55. On the way back stayed at RV park next to airport in a little town called Warren Illinois I beleive. I just installed a Edge Products Juice with Attitude guage package. So I found the faster I went we just cleared all the bumps truck trailer and all. The dogs were riding in the trailer with the AC on all the way. In order to tell if the generators had run at of gas I monitor the trailer temp by reversing a wireless remote thermostat system by LaCross. I put the remote in the trailer and kept the atomic clock sender in the cab with us. Two EU2000's ran for 5 hours straigth between truck stops. Was getting 12.5 miles per gasllon at 70 to 80 miles per hour. I do a lot of traveling like this.

[CountryGuy]

travelingman,

Was that place in Illinois near Effingham?? Percival Springs Airport and Campground?? We stayed there on the way down in January. Nice owners, met us at the street, they had an idea about what time we would arrive. Had dinner in their restuarant, about 100 steps from Montana. Good food, great people, will stop there again. Either Warren or Water??? for the town name??

[Montana_2730]

CountryGuy, thats the place. When we took the exit for the sign on IH57 we did not know it was five miles off the highway. I hate going to far out of my way to camp but this was worth it, the owners were very nice. Besides doing the cooking at the restraunt he bought us out to our site at 9:00PM. Very quiet except for when the the medvac heliccopter takes off or lands. We put it on our map as a place to stay.

[CountryGuy]

travelingman,

We have decided it is a great place to stay too, and will most likely try to make that our first stop out when we run hard to Texas next winter (god willing and the creek don't rise).

Al commented, I don't want to drive 5 miles off and then 5 miles back tomorrow morning, I told him it was 5 miles, or maybe 80 more to the next place that fit our parameters. He said, 5 miles it will be. Next morning, he said, 5 miles ain't so bad!

Carol

[Montana_2785]

quote:Originally posted by CountryGuy

[...] Al commented, I don't want to drive 5 miles off and then 5 miles back tomorrow morning, [...]

We would MUCH rather drive 5 miles off the road to find a nice quiet place for the night than listen to the roar of a busy highway.

Eric