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View Full Version : Life Interstate Road Trip Tournament, Round 1, Heat 4.


Rain Man
03-11-2020, 02:19 PM
Just a little offseason exercise. There are 80 different Interstate highways in the USA (including Puerto Rico). Which one would be best for a road trip?

I've set the rules as follows (in spoiler for those of you who've read them already]:

I'm also including highways in Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico that are essentially interstate highways, though they're not called that since they don't cross state boundaries.

It'll be a single-elimination tournament, though some will regain new life in wild-card spots to get the tournament bracket correct.

You get a minimum of 7 days on any highway, regardless of length. However, if the length requires more than 150 miles of travel per day, you'll get extra days until your daily mileage drops below 150 miles.

You may travel in either direction.

You may stop at attractions along the way, but at no point can you be more than 10 miles from the interstate.

You have the budget to stay at any hotel or dine at any restaurant within ten miles of the interstate.

You may spend multiple nights in any location but you cannot drive more than 250 miles in a single day. So you have to budget your driving time.

You may use any criteria you wish to make your vote. You can consider the driving lengths and conditions, scenery, attractions along the way, any outstanding warrants you have in that state, the likelihood of a Christie Brinkley clone waving at your from a Ferrari, or anything else you might wish to consider.

You can pick the time of year.

You can pick the vehicle that you drive. Assume that you're renting any vehicle that you could purchase for $50,000 or less (new or used). It can be different vehicles on different road trips, so you can customize to fit.

I'll post the basics of each route, but I don't see any specific website that provides a good description of the attractions that one would see along the route. You're on your own for that. Of course, you can do a google map view to see what your scenery is.

Your next two competitors are:

Option 1 - I-94 from Billings, MT, to Port Huron, MI
12 Day Trip
1,585 Miles, 132 miles per day on average
Passes through Bismarck, Fargo, Minneapolis, Madison, and Chicago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_94

Option 2 - H2 (Hawaii) from Pearl City to Wahiawa
8 miles, 1 miles per day on average
Passes through central Oahu

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_H-2

Rain Man
03-11-2020, 02:22 PM
Now, here's the interesting thing about the H2 trip. Since it's only 8 miles long, it's not much of a road trip. You're just staying in Oahu for a week. But per the rules, you can't go more than 10 miles from the highway, and nearest ocean beach appears to be about 10.5 miles away. So you're going to be in Hawaii, but you have to stay inland. You can go to Pearl Harbor, which is big and is technically ocean, but you can't get to the far end of the harbor to go to the beach, and you also can't get into Honolulu proper. Very interesting.

Coochie liquor
03-11-2020, 02:47 PM
I’d rather be dead than cold. And I feel like no matter the month it’s gonna be cold at some point during the option 1 trip. So send me to Hawaii please!

Rain Man
03-11-2020, 02:49 PM
I'm really torn on this one. I like Chicago, and I'd like to spend more time in ND, MN, and MI as I've never spent much time there. Hawaii would be great, though, and even if I can't go to the beach I'd spend a week at Pearl Harbor and enjoy myself.

In the end, I think I've got to pick Hawaii. I actually don't really enjoy driving all that much.

displacedinMN
03-11-2020, 03:19 PM
If you pick #1, stop in and say Hi. We will have drinks.

Hydrae
03-11-2020, 03:39 PM
If you pick #1, stop in and say Hi. We will have drinks.

You're on!

Glad I took the shorter trip in Illinois so I could have some time in Chicago. This trip won't leave much for that but there looks to be a number of interesting sites through ND along this route. And I have never been to Minneapolis before (the airport does not count).

displacedinMN
03-11-2020, 03:52 PM
You're on!

Glad I took the shorter trip in Illinois so I could have some time in Chicago. This trip won't leave much for that but there looks to be a number of interesting sites through ND along this route. And I have never been to Minneapolis before (the airport does not count).

Just off I-94


http://www.pantherdistillery.com/

Dartgod
03-11-2020, 04:52 PM
I'm trying to decide if the drive across North Dakota is worth it to see some of the cool stuff the rest of the way.

displacedinMN
03-11-2020, 05:10 PM
I'm trying to decide if the drive across North Dakota is worth it to see some of the cool stuff the rest of the way.

no.