Favorite places to stop and things to see...
 

Hey folks,
Was just wondering what some of your favorite places are to stop and check out along the way. Places that you can park a truck. Whether its a truck stop, restraunt, neat place of interest, ect.....

Mine are probably:

7 feathers TS/casino in Canyonville, OR - very clean with a bus to/from casino. The landscape and little creek are quite spectacular.

The resraunt/TS in Pollard Flats, CA - really cool place, pretty much for truckers where truckers are treated well.

Wild West in Vegas - massive truck parking off the strip (was free til a little bit ago)

The rest area outside of Moab, UT - gorgeous

These are just what I discovered in my short time out there......have a feeling there are lots and lots I don't know about.

I did a 34 at the wild west, lost $500 my first night, had a very quiet rest of my 34 in my truck as I was poor thereafter :)

I just got done hanging out at the Route 66 Casino near Albuquerque. I've never had the chance to stop there but was able to this weekend. Friday night they had their seafood buffet which I thought was pretty good. Obviously way better than a truck stop and a lot better than a few other casino buffets I've been to, real good quality. Quite a bit of truck parking but whoever laid out the lines is an idiot. Most of the isles don't have enough room to back between two trucks. Every time I went in to play some blackjack I was able to sit right down at a table with a low bet and not get stuck waiting for a seat or playing a higher table. They had Andrew Dice Clay there Saturday night and I got a pretty good seat for $28. I looked like a weirdo though there by myself. I was in a row with 5 seats and I sat in the middle and had a couple on either side of me. I caught the lunch buffet also and it was only 8 bucks. The only problem I had was they clearly stacked the deck since I didn't win any money. With my superb blackjack skills I should be loaded right now :D One thing I should have done was get in on a hold'em tournament in the poker room Saturday but didn't even think about it until it was too late. 8) 8)

Where is the Wild Wset? I've heard of the Wild Wild West, where I'm at now :lol: And....it IS free again. :wink:

And the 500 dollars lost found the majority of itself in my pocket today :shock: :lol:

My favorite place to stop is the sand dunes off I* in Cali, where I took my Yamaha Banshee for 3 days.

My lady and I like to stop at the W. Wendover, Nv. t/s. They have showers and a lounge and both are free to CDL holders (cleanest bathrooms/showers I've been to personally and they have a very friendly staff) the casinos are right across the street where we like to bet a few hands of black jack and throw the dice (my fav)!!!

that must be awesome. i've been up and down the the east coast states. my next goal is to start heading west and explore in that direction.

Going west from CO on I-70, there are several places where you can stop the truck and use your camera. The BLACK DRAGON VIEWING AREA also gives some history of the surrounding area. Archeology has already been there and has found evidence of a civilization that started out as "hunters and gatherers", then progressed from there. Then vanished a little before Columbus sailed here.

Going east on the return trip also has places where you can stop and take a good look. But... I did not find any gard-rails or safety bariers to stop you from getting too close to the edge. It's a long way down, and if you take that trip, I don't think you'll find it very comfortable at the bottom. But good camera work can defy description.

Haha I had stopped to do just that somewhere there in Utah, and I found out where I was at had a geocache, somewhere about 5 feet infront of me and 10 feet below me, so I started working my way toward it, well I hit a patch of mud and fell and slipt sliding right towards a 75 foot drop. I stopped thanks to a shrub before going over, and decided it wasn't worth the risk at that spot :)

Any of you guys get close to Area 51 8)

i have yet to be routed along the extraterrestrial highway. i think it'd be pretty neat even though i'd see nothing but dirt, dust devils, and possibly a ufo. 8)

There really arent any roads going anywhere near it, that would actually have any use for freight to be shipped on.

I went through Gettysburg off US30 the other day. I didn't get out to see anything but it looked like a pretty cool place. It looks like a sweet place to take the family on a vacation.

US30 in Gettysburg has a 53' restrication. Although no one follows it, including the local cops.

That is a nice area out that way. The wife and I spent are honeymoon in Lancaster,PA. Lots of fun and a nice drive taking US30 from Pittsburgh to Lancaster(although I don't reccomend it in a truck). Use to deliver out that way every week.

Funny yall should talk about I-70 Denver to Utah, took it last week and got to take the scenic detour up 6 over loveland pass because they were workin on the tunnel, sure is neat looking 1000ft over you and seeing a long line of semis snaking along the side of the mt over you.

WoW!
 

I took that same detour about 2 weeks ago. They were paving on the other side of the tunnel so they routed us over Loveland Pass. That was amazing. I even stopped at the top and made a snowball. Pretty neat thing to do the first week of July.

Took alot of pictures though. Very nice ride!

Also, I got the chance to take 14A east from Lovell, WY this week. That reminded me alot of Loveland Pass too. Only problem with that was I had 47,600 pounds in the box. When I went over Loveland Pass I only had 12,000 pounds in the box.

Re: WoW!
 

Top was full of tourists so I couldnt pull over. Funny part was on the way down I heard someone griping about out of state drivers slowing everthing down on the way down, since I was the second truck in line I had to bust his bubble and tell him it was a NAVAJO truck out of Denver.

As far as I was concerned he was doing the right thing, not knowing his load or experience he was getting the truck safely down the mountain.

I did pass him though as soon as I had a clear shot. :)

Devils Tower in Wyoming. Neat just to see it off in the distance.

Denver to Salina, UT is my favorite stretch of drive. I've done it couple times, and everytime I did it I had a 40,000+ load. First time I did it I was going west bound, and was very nervous about the mountains, but I found it wasn't anywhere near as bad as everyone makes it sound, just slow and steady keeps you alive :). Every time I went through those mountains I saw at least one truck smoking his brakes on the way down doing 70+, just nuts. Thanks to my weight every time I was usually only doing about 20-25 on my way up to the tunnel, and only did about 40-45 on the way down.

It is well worth it though for the scenery. Man I wish I could get back on the road again.

Hopefully you never do......

Ohh I will, even if it means waiting 3 years and going to school again.

BigD lay off his back will ya, don't act like you ain't never had an accident in your life. :roll: Stop acting like your the world's most perfect trucker because your not!

Nope....... :lol:

and The Rev is perfect.... I only aspire to be as good.

About the closest you can get is going up the US Hiway, north from Vegas. There's also a truck stop not far from the road that "is supposed to go to Area 51". But, just how many miles away you are... I don't know.

Can it be found on google maps or google earth ?

Do you have some road coordinates ?

Not hard to find, almost the size of NJ

Cool...

This area has also become a traditional pilgrimage for the many tourists in search of sensations. You can drive easily from Las Vegas to the Groom Lake surroundings

The directions are the following:

From Las Vegas take I-15 north for 22 miles.

* At exit 64 take US-93 north.
* After 85 miles, 12 miles past Alamo, you come to the intersection with Hwy. 318 on the left.
* Directly across the road, to your right, you will see the ruins of an old casino. This is where some of the workers at Area 51 park to take the white bus into Area 51.
* At the intersection turn left onto Hwy. 318
* After less than a mile turn left again onto Hwy. 375. At that intersection you will see the "Extraterrestrial Highway" signs.
* From the beginning of Hwy. 375 it is about 15 miles to the beginning of Groom Lake Road, 20 miles to the Black Mailbox and 39 miles to Rachel.

:alien:

Yeah we didn't go that way the second time. Our first stop in in Hanover, PA. We just took the turnpike to US15 to 94 and down to Hanover. All of those roundabouts were driving me nuts. There is also a bridge there in Gettysburg that is 13'9 but is much shorter than the sides. Had to take up both lanes and drive right down the middle of that bastard. :shock:

I agree with ya Double R, I don't recommend US30 in a truck west of Gettysburg.

Speaking of restrictions, I once made quite a mistake. I was Emporia, VA, trying to get over to 81, so I decided to take Us 58, BIG mistake. Snakes over the mountains, has some tough grades, and on top of it a 60 foot restriction! Well it was too late, I was on my way and no way to turn around. Luckily I did at like 12am, so there was no traffic, but my god there where some tight curves, and I was HEAVY, was only able to do 10-15mph up that mountain. Was my most white knuckling experience. Here is a nice little video of what it's like (of course I did it at night).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDsvu5CeBDw

58 in Virginia isn't restricted. From South Hill to Norfolk it's not anyway. You should have ran 460 that would have took you right to 81. :wink:

It's restricted on that mountain!

I didn't know that then again I haven't been past 58 after South Hill.

Personally I like the view off the bridge that crosses the gorge on 19 in west va. Some of the most hair raising roads i have found have been in wv.

Here is another good website pan down and find the truck section great picswww.tailofthedragon.com

Back to the topic.....

London Bridge: Take exit 9 of I-40 in AZ (by the Pilot) and drive 17 miles or so south to Lake Havasu City. Turn right where the sign says "Visitor's center" and stay to the right and find your way into that huge mall parking lot. You can walk across LONDON BRIDGE ('cuz WOT and his pals are through with it,) and then take a boat ride across the river/lake to a small Casino on the CA side. Also, from the AZ side, you can take Gondola rides if you got a woman! :wink:

Mt. Rushmore: Drop your trailer at the "hook" in Rapid City, and take US 16 down to the monument. They have parking for bobtails there. Crazy Horse monument is not too far away.

Grand Canyon: You can park in a gravel lot right across from the train depot if you wanna take the train, or you can drive up US 180 from Flag (for an enroute detour of only about 60 miles?) or AZ 64 out of Williams (drop your trailer in the lot next to the terminal) and park your rig at the IMAX theater in Tusayan. 6 mile cab ride to the south rim for about 20 bucks (I've HEARD there is a trucker discount!)

Little Big Horn: Off of I-90 between exits 510 and 514 in southeastern Montana. Room to park at small truckstops, and I'm sure you can find transportation, or bobtail.

There's SO many more! SO much to see "OUT WEST!" Lots of room to park, dropping is easy, take your pick!

Other places I've been with easy access:

Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco AND the one in Monterey, CA.

Columbia River Gorge.

Mt. Ranier National Park

Venice, CA

Countless beaches, rivers, streams, lakes, forests, parks and mountains!

Temple Square in Salt Lake City, the Space Needle, the Arch in St. Louis, and the meteor crater in Arizona! It's ALL out there!! Easy to get to and see, and only sometimes at a price!

Of course.... you have to be OUT THERE..... i.e: O-T-R!!! No "local Wusses" need apply! :lol: :lol: :lol:

I do know one thing, don't even TRY to bobtail to the mall of America, I did it, but it wasn't easy! Cool place though. That bridge in WV is cool, done that a few times.