Cross country drive - possible rocket theme/destinations?

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75Grandville

75Grandville

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Edit: My original intent was to identify quick stops I can make along the way. Visiting eRockets, LOC, etc would be ~1/2 hour visits. I can't stop for very long with the dogs.

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At the end of January(ish) I will be driving from Northern Virginia to Salt Lake City. The biggest reason involves our three dogs (aka The Hounds of Sloth). 6yo beagle mix that gets carsick, 5yo pit bull mix (Delta, only airline with direct flights, won't take him), 12-14yo black lab (age varies depending on which records we consult). There doesn't seem to be a good way to get them to our new home, but this seems the least bad.

I think I probably only need one album to listen to on the drive - just need to pick a really good one...

This also lets me transport my rocket motors, my collection of rattle-can paints, compressed gas cylinders, etc. Oh, and some stuff my wife thinks is too important for the movers to take. (I've already got the rocket motors, so I'm not sure what she's talking about...)

I'm planning to do this in three days if I can. We'll see how my energy levels hold up. I've got a northern route (https://goo.gl/maps/EssPx, via Chicago, Des Moines, Omaha & Cheyenne), and a more southern route (https://goo.gl/maps/uVxr5, via Dayton, St. Louis, Kansas City and Denver - southern is relative) depending on weather.

To make things slightly more fun, I was thinking about adding a rocketry theme. For example, I know eRockets.biz has a storefront in Dayton. Missleworks is in Lyons, just north of Denver. Wildman is past Chicago on the northern route.

So, anyone have any ideas about stops I could make to spice up my trip? Keep in mind I'm already planning 10-11 hours of driving per day with three dogs, so I'm looking for stops that are already close to my route.

Any tips for travelling with dogs, long cross country drives, etc. also appreciated.

All requests to transport rocket motors will be considered.
 
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Of course the USAF Museum is in Dayton, but you could easily spend three days there so it's not a quick stop (although it *is* free). Off of your northern route (it would take some rearranging) is the Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, KS which is definitely worth considering. We stopped last year on the way to NARAM. We made it there for an overnight stop, got up, went to the museum first thing and were back on the road by lunch.

Also LOC is in Barberton (next to Akron, OH) which is pretty close to one of your routes.
 
75Grandville said:
Any tips for travelling with dogs, long cross country drives, etc. also appreciated.

All requests to transport rocket motors will be considered.
Click to expand...
WATER! Doggy Breath mints ,Doggie bags (poop). Cleaning wipes,towels,hand sanitizer stuff.
And remember , as bad as it may get for you , its even tougher on the dogs. For one thing, they don't get what's going on.
Ask your vet about stomach meds for the beagle, nerve pills for the Pit and the lab,well , he/she is along for the ride.
All of you will need more breaks than lets say... a normal drive across the states.
We love"pics" and maybe some youtube material,,, ah ah aha ha ha.

Good luck.
 
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Ashland, NE (Just west of Omaha) is the Strategic Air and Space Museum. A bit light on the rockets, but there are some interesting things to see. You could whirlwind it in an hour or so and spend more time if you wanted. https://www.sasmuseum.com

Hutchinson, KS is the Kansas Cosmosphere. I haven't been there, yet. But it's on the list. A bit of a detour from your southern route, but not unimaginable if you don't think you'll head to Argonia any time soon. https://www.cosmo.org

St. Louis Science Center is pretty good too. History of space display and some capsules (Mercury and Gemini IIRC) you can get a good peek in. Again, could be an hour, could be an afternoon. https://www.slsc.org
 
Peartree said:
Of course the USAF Museum is in Dayton, but you could easily spend three days there so it's not a quick stop (although it *is* free). Off of your northern route (it would take some rearranging) is the Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, KS which is definitely worth considering. We stopped last year on the way to NARAM. We made it there for an overnight stop, got up, went to the museum first thing and were back on the road by lunch.

Also LOC is in Barberton (next to Akron, OH) which is pretty close to one of your routes.
Click to expand...

I'd second these recommendations...

You CAN do the USAF museum in a day-- but you have to basically take pics and keep moving. Recommend arriving early and signing up for the X-planes hangar and AF-1 hangar tour... they fill up quickly and it's first-come first serve. Don't forget the stuff displayed outside (nuclear missile train car, road mobile ICBM carrier, and a plethora of planes they didn't have room for. Be sure you see the missiles on the far end.

Cosmosphere in Kansas is also first-rate. Not too big, you could spend a day in there taking your time but can do it in a couple three hours or so without rushing much. Very neat stuff, especially a lot of Russian space program stuff...

There's the Thomas Stafford astronaut museum in Weatherford, Oklahoma, too, if you're in that vicinity... pretty cool. Not a big museum (at the local airport) but pretty cool nonetheless...

Later! OL JR :)
 
I'll also recommend the Cosmosphere in Hutchinson. It was fantastic. The SR-71 is very dramatic, and the collection of Soviet space items is terrific. Liberty Bell 7 and Apollo 13 capsule as well. Great stuff.
 
Just a heads up on the USAF museum in Dayton. My brothers were just there earlier in the week and the rocket/missile area was closed and will be for most if not the rest of the year. The museum is awesome regardless, but if that was the main reason you wanted to go it will not be doable. The experimental/presidential hanger is still open however and as already mentioned you want to get there early and sign up for a bus before they are full.
 
Thanks all!

Did the USAF museum a few years back when my brother-in-law was stationed at Wright Patterson. Of course, had my (at the time) 18 month old niece with us, which meant no stopping/looking at anything! Don't think I can do it justice in the short amount of time I have available. Plus, just not sure what I'd do with the dogs while I was in the museum.

@stealth6: Stephen Wright joke. "Last year we drove across the country... We switched on the driving... every half mile... We had one cassette tape to listen to on the entire trip........... I don't remember what it was..."

@Scotty Dog: Thanks. Water and their usual doggy meds are on the list already, as are the bags. Checking with the vet to see what sort of anti-nausea meds the beagle can take. Pit mix doesn't need anti-anxiety. Seriously, he can fall asleep sitting up. If you want the most comfortable spot in the house, you need to move him off of it!
 
75Grandville said:
I think I probably only need one album to listen to on the drive - just need to pick a really good one...
Click to expand...

You might want to supply your wife with good ear plugs. That album is going to get real old real fast. I can listen to several albums and still be in the same county.
 
If the dogs aren't tagged yet, get them tagged. As a kid, we were moving from Oregon to Louisiana, along the way, we lost my pet cat on one of our pit stops somewhere in Texas. I cried for days.
 
There's no way you're going to make that trip in 3 days at the end of January. It's about 2100 miles and ~32 hours of driving, and the chance of have no storms is improbable. Realistically 4 days with no sightseeing stops if the weather cooperates, and 5 to 6 days if you want to see anything, and if there's snow watch out on I-80 in Wyoming going over the Rockies.....it's really dangerous and I-80 can become impassable and will shut down after several trucks get blown over.....

https://www.wyoroad.info/Highway/webcameras/I80Cameras.html

https://www.roadsideamerica.com/map/trip/favorite

If you see one museum on the way, the USAF Museum at WPAFB in Dayton is a must see. I can be done in 4 hours but you need track shoes....

Once you get moved in, make sure to visit Hill Aerospace Museum at Hill AFB off I-15 just North of Salt Lake City. Really great missile and rocket exhibits and they also have a SR-71C. https://www.hill.af.mil/library/museum/

Bob
 
+1 to what Bob says, 3 days is optimistic this time of year. I especially if you are only driving 10 or 11 hours per day. Your average speed will be less than most people think, and mos likely you will encounter at least one storm crossing. I've made the journey from Ft. Belvoir to Salt Lake City myself in three days but it took driving about 16 hours a day.

FWIW: Im a truck driver by profession, though no longer OTR.
 
Once you get settled in, you should go to Park City for Whisky Tasting and a meal at the High West distillery. It's the world's only ski-in gastro-distillery.
 
I moved to Brigham City, UT about thirty years ago from the Chicago area. It's been 30 years since I made the trip by car. As I recall it took me about one and a half days and I did not do any sight seeing.
 
I've done lots of cross-country drives - many of which involved 18 hour stretches of driving with only quick pee & gas stops along the way (had food and water in the van with me). Then I would grab 3 or 4 hours of sleep (in the back of the van) and do another 16-18 stretch. Doing this mileage in 3 days (or even 2) is certainly doable.

But......"doable", and "doable with dogs while maintaining sanity, seeing sites, and being safe" are completely different things.

However, I still maintain that doing this trip WITH ONLY ONE ALBUM is in no way possible! That just ain't right.

s6
 
Do you have a cat you could also bring on the trip? I think that would really increase the fun factor.
 
bobkrech said:
There's no way you're going to make that trip in 3 days at the end of January. It's about 2100 miles and ~32 hours of driving, and the chance of have no storms is improbable. Realistically 4 days with no sightseeing stops if the weather cooperates, and 5 to 6 days if you want to see anything, and if there's snow watch out on I-80 in Wyoming going over the Rockies.....it's really dangerous and I-80 can become impassable and will shut down after several trucks get blown over.....

https://www.wyoroad.info/Highway/webcameras/I80Cameras.html

https://www.roadsideamerica.com/map/trip/favorite

If you see one museum on the way, the USAF Museum at WPAFB in Dayton is a must see. I can be done in 4 hours but you need track shoes....

Once you get moved in, make sure to visit Hill Aerospace Museum at Hill AFB off I-15 just North of Salt Lake City. Really great missile and rocket exhibits and they also have a SR-71C. https://www.hill.af.mil/library/museum/

Bob
Click to expand...

Bob,

Thanks much for the tips on I-80. That is some _seriously_ helpful information! Snow is my biggest concern. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be much I can do about that particular section of the trip. I can drop down onto I-70, but I don't have a feeling for whether shifting that 100 or some miles to the south will do me any good.
 
rharshberger said:
+1 to what Bob says, 3 days is optimistic this time of year. I especially if you are only driving 10 or 11 hours per day. Your average speed will be less than most people think, and mos likely you will encounter at least one storm crossing. I've made the journey from Ft. Belvoir to Salt Lake City myself in three days but it took driving about 16 hours a day.

FWIW: Im a truck driver by profession, though no longer OTR.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the tips. I will clarify that I meant 10-11 hours of actual driving, assuming that I can maintain about 70 +/- while I am actually driving. I'm anticipating ~30 minute stops every couple of hours to let the dogs stretch and to answer calls of nature. I figure actual time in the car/on the road is going to be more like 12-14+ hours per day.

If this doesn't seem reasonable, please chime in. The most I've done in a day is about 500 miles (best time was about 7 hours). It doesn't seem like that much of a stretch to go another couple hundred, although doing it for three days straight may be another story.
 
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And thanks to all for the tips for driving cross country. I'm thinking that, depending on what time the movers finish up, I will probably try to make this into a 3-1/2 day trip, or at least go 250 miles and then sleep on the day I depart.
 
stealth6 said:
One album for that whole drive? Are you serious?

s6
Click to expand...

Yeah, just read that... wow! I hope it's a record you NEVER want to listen to again, because after a trip like that, you probably WON'T! I have a collection of movie soundtracks that I listen to on cross-country trips (I travel from just SW of Houston to north-central Indiana 4 times a year, which is a 2 day trip since I don't drive straight through anymore (22 hours on the road). I also sometimes flip through the radio stations on the drive, if I can find anything worth listening to (depending on my tastes of the moment, either AM or FM). I usually go through most of my collection during a 2 day trip, and I have a BOX full of CD's between the seats.

As for travelling with dogs-- well, we transported Keira's Sheltie/Papillon mix back and forth from Indiana a couple times (before she got killed, we think by a neighbor dog) and she was quite content in her crate (one of those pet-taxi things from TSC). Keira's new dog Abbi (German shepherd/mini-pinscher mix) just finished her second trip, again, quite content in her crate. Main thing I'd recommend is that they have a good mat in the bottom of the crate for traction (Abbi would stand up in her cage a lot and when we'd go around a jug-handle entrance ramp, she'd slide down the length of the crate to the back and end up plastered against the wall) so they don't slide around in curves, turns, and stops. We've found it best to feed and water the dog well at night just before we arrive at the motel (usually about 30 minutes or so beforehand) and then take them for a walk after we get into the room, usually they'll do their business pretty quickly that way and be ready to settle in for the night. They get water free choice during the night, and are usually ready to do their business before we take off the next morning. They only get "sips" of water a couple times a day during the day, just enough so they don't get dehydrated, but not so much that they need to pee all the time. Similarly, they get a little "treat" now and then during the day, but not much food so they don't have to go doody a lot. We stop for gas usually once a day and for eats or pee breaks ourselves at least once or twice; breakfast is almost always drive thru and sometimes the evening meal is as well (we usually stop either for lunch or supper, and make the other meal drive-thru to cover more miles, but occasionally we stop for both. The dog gets walked and can do her business and goes back in her crate while we eat. They were both really good at getting into the routine... other than one "sheer fright" accident right after I took off from Indiana with Abbi the first time, (basically she went in her crate as soon as I pulled out on the road) both dogs could travel the two days without incident. Chelsi enjoyed travelling more, so Keira would allow her out of her cage in the back seat, where she could jump up in her lap or ride on the floor by Keira's feet, and occasionally climb up in the front seat with Betty... she was a good dog. It was funny because her ears really perked up when we got into the general vicinity of southwestern Indiana-- she knew those hills and hollers were close to where she was born! (She was a gift from Betty's Aunt Orma, who breeds Shelties). Abbi, OTOH, doesn't enjoy travelling as much-- she pretty much is quite content to sit in her crate and get occasional attention from Keira or Betty or me as we drive... she gets out and does her business, stretches a bit, sniffs around when we stop, and goes back to the side door of the minivan and waits for you to open it for her to get into her "house".

Rabbits are easier... put them in a pet carrier with some shavings, feed them a bowl of food at night and a bowl of water, dump whatever's left the next morning, and they bed down for the day while you drive. They'll do their business in one end of the crate and when you get where you're going, move the rabbit into something else, dump the shavings, and hose the carrier out.

Later and good luck! OL JR :)
 
75Grandville said:
Bob,

Thanks much for the tips on I-80. That is some _seriously_ helpful information! Snow is my biggest concern. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be much I can do about that particular section of the trip. I can drop down onto I-70, but I don't have a feeling for whether shifting that 100 or some miles to the south will do me any good.
Click to expand...
My old office mate drove out to Dugway, UT on business at least 8 times in the last 10 years so he really knows the routes. He also has a CDL, and says it's a 5 day trip from Boston in a decent truck with his personal limit of ~500 miles a day, so.......

A short excursion to Google Earth leads me to believe if you are ambitious and lucky, you might to it in 4 days if the weather is good, the dogs are good, and you have a dozen CD or so....(one CD is not enough). Your Day 1 would end up on I-70 somewhere between Columbus, OH and Indianapolis, IN depending on how you feel. Day 2 would bring you to somewhere near Kansas City, MO, and after Day 3 you should be near Denver, CO. That evening you can check out the weather forecast and decide if you want to head north to I-80 to go into SLC, or stay on I-70W for a while and hit SLC from the south. Each segment is 7.5 to 8.5 hours of wheel time at the speed limit (and realistically 10 to 12 hours road time minimum) which will only happened if the weather is good. Day 4 is the most difficult drive as you have to go over the Rockies, so if the weather forecast is bad, enjoy a day in Denver, as you don't want to top the Rockies in a snowstorm because mountain driving in the snow or high wind is not fun......or safe. (My office mate had his truck go up on 2 wheels due to a severe wind gust on I-80 in Wyoming. At least he did not get blown over like several of the 18 wheelers he saw on the side of the road.....)

I've driven over the mountains from SLC to Logan, UT several times, fortunately in decent weather (late summer-early fall, and early Spring with snow on the ground but not coming down). You can save 20-25 minutes by taking the pass from Brigham City to Logan in good weather, but if the weather is bad you drive the extra 20-25 minutes north to avoid the pass, and there are a several dozen YouTube videos showing why you don't want to drive over the pass in bad winter weather, plus there are billboards at either end of the road mentioning that it is illegal to drive the pass if you don't have snow tires on, and chains in the car......I can only assume that crossing the continental divide which is 2000-3000 feet higher would be worse....

FWIW - Bob
 
75Grandville said:
And finally, to ThirstyBarbarian, for his helpful suggestions, I leave not a boot to the head...but a rabid Tasmanian devil, to be placed in his trousers?!
Click to expand...

Will you drive it out to me? It's only a few hundred miles more. Thanks!
 

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