I am leaving on Monday for Colorado. Has anyone driven out that way and know of any cool places to stop? I have the route mapped out-through Lexington, KY and to St. Louis, MO and then to Kansas City on to Denver-on I-70 most of the way. I haven't driven outside of NC-any advice as to stuff me and my girlfriend can stop to see along the way?

Also, does anyone live in Denver? My whole family is there and I know the area-we will live in Lakewood. It would be nice to talk to someone who is there before we left, so PM if you know of any unique stuff to do.....

8/2/2006 10:03:03 AM

Go to the top of the arch in St. Louie. it's pretty cool. The area around the arch is also a good place to stop and have lunch or what not.

8/2/2006 10:16:55 AM

the drive through Kansas and eastern CO sucks. Nothing out there. I know, I'm from KS. I have drivin from here to KS a lot, but never really bothered to stop and look at stuff. I guess you could stop at the Tamarak (sp?) in West Virginia. I hate driving through St. Louis. Always seems like the roads are in terrible condition, and of course there is a ton of traffic

8/2/2006 10:40:19 AM

how long are you planning on the drive taking - 2-3days or 1 straight shot?

8/2/2006 10:45:21 AM

I would be thouroughly impressed if you could do it one shot

8/2/2006 10:49:40 AM

sd2nc2co

8/2/2006 10:55:01 AM

^^ I Drove from Omaha to Hickory NC in a straight shot only stopped for gas (3 times)... i drove from about 11:00 in the morning to 6:00 the next morning. Needless to say it sucked.

8/2/2006 11:01:22 AM

he's also got 2 people - it's definitely doable

but in my experience with women on long car rides - they want to stop WAY TO DAMN MUCH

[Edited on August 2, 2006 at 11:02 AM. Reason : .]

8/2/2006 11:02:20 AM

ha, thats what I was getting ready to say. My wife likes to stop every two hours or so. I like to stop when the fuel light is on

8/2/2006 11:04:28 AM

^^in my experience, most everyone wants to stop way to much......or maybe i just don't want to stop enough?

[Edited on August 2, 2006 at 11:05 AM. Reason : ^]

8/2/2006 11:04:43 AM

Quote :

"ha, thats what I was getting ready to say. My wife likes to stop every two hours or so. I like to stop when the fuel light is on"

yeah that's been my experience too - the worst female i know that does this is my step-sister - i love hearing my brother-in-law's stories after they go on a long car ride about how much longer it took them than it should have - while she's just sitting there wishing he'd shut up

8/2/2006 11:06:20 AM

the farthest either one of us has driven in one shot is from raleigh to winston-salem. we will most definitly be stopping every 2 hours or so. it'll probably take 3 days and one morning....

8/2/2006 11:06:59 AM

and its almost 1700 miles to Denver from Raleigh. at 70 mph it would take almost 24 hours to drive without stopping.




I think we can do it...

8/2/2006 11:07:32 AM

I've driven out there before with a friend of mine who was moving out there, and we made a trip out of it rather than just a drive. We went 40 to Nashville, and then followed 24 to 24/57 in Kentucky to 64 to take us to St. Louis. Then we got on 70 and stayed on it the whole way.

The first night we stopped in Nashville and went to the Grand Ole Opry, and the next day drove to the Arch and did that, and continued on to about an hour past Witchita. Then we drove the remainder of the way to Vail.

I can't remember the mileage, but split up over 3 days of driving, and taking turns every 4 or 5 hours made it quite pleasant.

8/2/2006 11:11:24 AM

Oooh, oooh a bragging thread

We did LA to Raleigh in one straight shot, twice, but never again.

8/2/2006 11:12:30 AM

Quote :

"the farthest either one of us has driven in one shot is from raleigh to winston-salem."

On that note, don't even try it. Just stay here

8/2/2006 11:14:49 AM

Quote :

"the farthest either one of us has driven in one shot is from raleigh to winston-salem"

this is going to be hell for ya. if you stop more than once every 4 or 5 hours, it kills your overall time. i would say clear about 3-4 days of your schedule and take your time.

8/2/2006 11:14:58 AM

Quote :

"We did LA to Raleigh in one straight shot, twice, but never again."

are you for real? Why would you do that.....moving? how long did it take?

8/2/2006 11:16:18 AM

^My wife had family in California City (in the Mojave desert). On the way up we took a sweeping arc through SLC and Las Vegas both times we went out. On the way over we stopped in SLC for a few weeks. Getting to SLC takes about 36 hours. On the way back we just took turns and went straight from their house to ours.

I didn't time the first return trip, but the second was on the order of 48 hours. We did stop off at the Grand Canyon on the way home (which is a little over an hour off 40, so that excursion added a bit to our overall time).

I remember the overall gas bill (to get out there and back) was something like $225-250 Try that now.

[Edited on August 2, 2006 at 11:39 AM. Reason : -]

8/2/2006 11:26:44 AM

as far as hotels, should we just wing it and not make reservations anywhere? we will be travelling Mon-Weds so I'm guessing vacancy shouldn't be a problem....

8/2/2006 2:07:04 PM

I would say so. Especially if you're going to be stopping and looking at stuff. You might see something you want to stay and see, but if you have reservations somewhere, you might not be able to spend as much time as you would have liked.

8/2/2006 2:14:30 PM

i drove from DC to Oklahoma City in 18 hours back in January

then again i wasn't driving with a woman

8/2/2006 2:23:35 PM

damn i have to drive to San Diego... anybody done a NC to CA drive?

8/2/2006 9:17:09 PM

noen and a few others have

8/2/2006 9:29:07 PM

I drove out here from Colorado Springs when I moved, but that was many years back, took a couple of days, but also did it in a restored 1970 Barracuda which made the trip a bit more fun .

8/2/2006 9:46:02 PM

Quote :

"damn i have to drive to San Diego... anybody done a NC to CA drive?"

I just did a few weeks ago. To Contra Costa County (near San Francisco). It was a full 4 days of driving b/t 10-12 hours each day...

I'd say stay in Memphis, Amarillo, and Flagstaff as I did. Equal driving pretty much every day. The last day will only be like 7-8 hrs if you are just going to San Diego...

8/2/2006 10:00:13 PM

i live <10 miles off I-70 in Kansas

if you're taking that route stop in Wamego (where the Wizard of Oz Museum is) and eat at ToTos Tacoz (its on the main street-- you cant miss it)

best burritos evar

McDanger agrees

they're closed on sundays & mondays and open the rest of the week from 11am-7pm

worth the stop & prob the best food you're going to find out that way besides shitty ass mcdonalds etc

8/2/2006 10:43:59 PM

Quote :

"damn i have to drive to San Diego... anybody done a NC to CA drive?"

I did pretty much this exact drive so PM me if you have any questions

8/2/2006 11:16:26 PM

in denver, it's fun to go to the rockies games, it's a nice park. the aquarium is ok too i guess. i like boulder, and the pearl street mall there is pretty cool. when i go out there, i always go up to estes park in the summer with my family and bring a picnic.

8/2/2006 11:22:35 PM

OMG where have you^been?

trapezius here

8/3/2006 12:31:21 AM

ok so we went a lot farther than I thought we would on the first day. we are getting ready to leave Corydon Indiana right now- we went 575 miles. Killer rainstorm in West VA. Going to drive to Kansas City today!

8/8/2006 7:45:23 AM

kansas city has good shopping

dont let your gf out of the car or let her convince you to stop if she sees a mall

you'll never get out

kansas city is the last big thing you'll see before denver!!

8/8/2006 8:10:03 AM

if you're in Indiana, you can drive a lot further than KC today. Well, if you don't stop to look at stuff. Have fun

8/8/2006 8:10:32 AM

ive driven straight through to breckenridge before from raleigh, and that was a 26 hour trip, so yeah, it will be about 24 hours to denver

8/8/2006 8:55:39 AM

lol @ the killer rain in WV

I live in Charleston, WV and it hadn't rained here in over a week til today, and I feel sorry for ya...crazy amounts of rain

8/8/2006 9:10:24 AM

I hope you like white people.

8/8/2006 6:53:47 PM