roadtripers seeking advice
 

we are 4 guys ages 21-24 planning a cross country roadtrip (ny-ca) for mid may. we plan on arriving in st louis at night to sleep. we dont really want to spend much time here as our next point of interest is colorado. but st. louis-colorado is a really long drive and we were hoping for some advice on how to split that up. for example if we can leave st. louis in the morning 9 ish and find something small to do around the early afternoon till late noon-early evening then finish the drive that would be great. any ideas would be greatly appreciated

i forgot to mention-any roadside attractions or funny sites that we can stop to look at even though its not any real activity for the day would help in splitting up that drive

That's a looong way with a lot of agriculture. President Eisenhower's library/museum is in Abilene.

Better get some books on tape or a couple of DVDs to play on the way out if you need to be entertained. Stop every couple of hours at the rest areas and jog for 10/15 minutes.

If you leave at 9 ish you won't be to Denver until 11 ish without a long stop, and there is a lot of flat in Colorado before you get to Denver.

Have a fantastic trip.

thanx alot emalloy.if anybody has any more suggestions we'd really appreciate it so we can have a variety of options

Since your in St. Louis, it would be a shame to not at least stop and see the Arch. Even better take an hour or two out of your time and ride to the top.

Well, the good news is you can take turn driving and sleeping and those that are sleeping won't miss much! Once you hit Topeka, KS...it's all going to look the same till Denver!

Colorado though Utah and Nevada are another whole story!

Utahtea

Lawrence, Kansas is a neat college town that still has a real main street with a variety of shopping, great locally owned restaurants and entertainment. There are some good museums at the University of Kansas.

I don't think that Topeka has much from the interesting restaurant standpoint, but there are many interesting museums. Kansas Museum of History, Combat Air Museum, Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site and Great Overland Station are just a sampling

Just before you reach Manhattan, turn off I-70 about 7 miles to Deep Creek Waterfall at Pillsbury Crossing. http://www.kansastravel.org/pillsburycrossing.htm

Junction City has some great Korean restaurants and free museums such as the U. S. Cavalry Museum and the "Custer" House Museum on the beautiful grounds of Fort Riley, just off I-70.

In addition to the Presidential Library and Museum, Abilene has a bunch of other museums and some cool local restaurants.

I could keep going, but that is probably the stretch of I-70, that you are talking about.

"Once you hit Topeka, KS...it's all going to look the same till Denver!" I would say that is true from about Russell west, but going through the Flint Hills west of Topeka is beautiful, hilly, and nothing like the stereotype of Kansas.

For restaurants in those towns, check http://www.kansastravel.org/kansasrestaurants.htm

Let me add one stop farther west that is a real treat. The Castle Rock Badlands are about 15 miles, but has very few visitors, but is really something special! http://www.kansastravel.org/castlerock.htm

Keith

thank you all so much for your help, its much appreciated!!
we decided that since it seems like kansas doesnt have much to offer that really catches our interest we'll just push straight on into colorado and from there to utah/arizona where we'd really like as much time as possible. we have 4 drivers so hopefully that wont be a problem. again thank you very much

you made a good choice- take turns sleeping and driving and get through it as quickly as you can. It was a happy day the first time I got to fly over Kansas instead of driving through it!

You will need to push a long way. Eastern Colorado is the same as western Kansas. There are about the same number of flat miles of I-70 in both Colorado and Kansas.

A much more interesting trip would be to stop in KC for Lunch,
then head down I-35 and take US 50 through Southern Colorado and on to Utah. Royal Gorge, Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Telluride,
4 Corners and so forth. I 70 is boring for sure.

I-70 from Denver driving west is NOT boring. It's one of the most beautiful stretches of Interstate that I've ever seen. Now I-70 east of Denver is boring!

Utahtea

If you're looking for unusual sites, be sure to visit www.roadsideamerica.com

Lee Ann