½mv²

In 9 days I will be driving from Houston, Texas to Cincinatti, Ohio. It's an 18 hour drive, shared between myself and one other friend.

Now, I love driving, but I hate highways after a while. Caffiene, loud music, and road games only keep me awake for so long; I need some good old fasioned twisties to keep me awake after a while.


So here's where you guys come in...
Can anyone who lives near the big red line on this map:
http://www.mapquest.com/directions/m...2s=oh&2z=45152

...recommend any alternative routes with a few more exciting turns?


- I have no problem adding more time to my journey to have a little fun on the way there, so alternative routes that are slightly out of the way are perfectly acceptable.
- I would, however, like to keep the delays from "fun stops" to a minimum, so please don't recommend any roads that are either littered with stop signs, have low speed limits, or are currently undergoing construction.
- Speaking of construction, if that big red line happens to pass through any areas that seem to have stand-still traffic on them 24/7, I would greatly appreciate the warning.



Thanks in advance,
2 fellow spirited drivers

Steakboy42

rent a hooker and make her give the driver road head every time they start to feel tired.

-Steakboy

Rems31

^^ Just make sure you don't finish or else that would defeat the purpose of trying to stay awake

Gimlet

Unfortunatley, you're going through some relatively flat land there. you could alter your route to hit more of the Smoky Mtns in E. TN that would help. You can also take a quick detour off the highway in Bowling Green, KY to hit the Vette plant & Museum.

Ghadrack

You are going to spend some time coming thrugh Tennessee and that drive from Memphis to Nashville is a real snoozer, if you were coming further southeast there are some fun and really pretty scenic routes between Chattanooga and nashville and Knoxille, but that is coming several hours out of your way. There aren't many good alternate routes for making that trip either. 70/79 connects to a pretty nice scenic drive up North but it is stoplights and 45 mile an hour speed limits off and on for a long time.

Shini

I say just go 140 the entire way. It'll keep the adrenaline pumping, and if you have cops chasing you, even more the reason to stay wide awake

I would most def check out the vette museum though.

mmats69

+1. Very interesting place whether you like Corvettes or not

½mv²

As much as I would love to see the Vette museum, I really can't make any stops other than gas & pee. We plan on being at Kings Island (theme park) all day Friday & Saturday, and then coming back Sunday. If we're going to have enough energy to last the whole day, we're going to have to arrive in Ohio at a reasonable time (22:00ish), which means that if we started our journey at 4:00AM Thursday, driving the speed limit (LOL) we'd only have 30 minutes to spare for bathroom & gas breaks.
I have time to enjoy a few roads along the way. Not so much for scenery and tourist stops.

laythor

Pick up tall hitchhickers and make them sit in the back seat. Then you and your friend go on and on about how your mother really really really needs a kidney soon.

7 minute abs!

moete87

iTrader: (1)

I live in the nati! (cincinnati)

Haze

The trip through that part of Tennessee is pretty flat, long and uninteresting as well as 40 through OK, AR.

If it were me, I would consider going up 67 through what looks to be the Ozarks, which is or should be a little more geographically challenging than a man-made hill every twenty miles on Rte 40. Then take a right onto 86[?] through or close to Paducah Kentucky, which has a few hills around it and the Land Between the Lakes National Park [interesting historically and scenically, but I wouldn't advise necessarily going there].

That could be a little more interesting than the drive that mapquest gave you, but none of this is as cool as driving 81 through the mountains of Virginia.

Best of luck and have a good trip.

½mv²

OK - how about this (sorry, can't post a map because the multiple waypoint feature on mapquest doesn't let you link straight to the driving directions or the map.)


We take I-10 from Houston heading East, go through Batton Rouge, and then take 59/20 Northeast through Birmingham & Chattanooga to Knoxville, veering slightly east towards Smokey Mountain National Park. From the Smokeys, we'll get on 75 North and take that all the way to "the Nati", passing right through Lexington.
It only adds 1 hour to the trip, and some of the roads along the way look plesantly squiggily



If you'd like a visual, use the "add points" feature as follows:
A - Houston, TX
B - Knoxville, TN
C - Cincinnati, OH

Shini

Is there a certain reason you guys didn't want to just take a flight up there?

Considering the milage put on your car and current gas prices annnnd this being an RX-8, it might have been cheaper?

NoTears316

You're going to Ohio for an amusement park and NOT going to CEDAR POINT???!!!! You fail!

NoTears316

You can always read the "NoTears316 Tour" thread for ideas.

https://www.rx8club.com/lounge-4/notears316-tour-114199/

Haze

It's probably way too much time for you, but you could do the Natchez Trace from Jackson to Nashville.

mgh

i said the same thing... but.... he has his reasons.

alnielsen

iTrader: (4)

I would have to agree. It would be better if you could get a Southwest flight out of Hobby to Indy or Columbus and rent a car.
I drove down to Daytona in January and I figure it would have been a better plan for me. Anything over 8 hours, fly.
BTW, I've never been to Kings Island. But, Cedar Point is great.

NoTears316

Not a reason on the planet good enough to miss out on Cedar Point!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cedar_Point

½mv²

I got my RX to drive it. Not to garage it, show it, baby it, or anything like that. I bought it because it's fun to drive, and driving is what I do with it. The car is eventually going to die. I would rather look at the tach in 2008 and say "and what a GREAT 150,000 miles that was!" than look at the tach in 2011 and say "man, I should have done something with that 200,000 miles other than commuting!"

As for gas - I'm one of the lucky few in this country that can still afford to guzzle it and not feel the pain in my wallet.


I'll tell you what I told mgh: as awesome as Cedar Point may be, K.I. has so much more personal value to me. I lived less than 30 minutes from K.I. for 9 years, and because I was so young when we first moved there, K.I. was like a whole new adventure every year (every year I was tall enough to ride a new ride). It's also where I met my first girlfriend and had my first kiss ^_^ And besides, it's not like K.I. is a sub-par themepark by any means...
"The Beast" was the longest wooden roller coaster in the US when it was first built, and was worthy of a mention in Discovery Channel's "modern marvels: theme parks" top 10.
"Son of Beast" was the first wooden roller coaster in the world to have a loop - also earned a mention on MM:TP.
should have done my homework on that one - the loop's been removed
Current coaster count is 14, which is more than most 6-flags parks.
And best of all, because it's been around for so damned long, and (much like here) everyone creams their jeans over Coney, the lines for the big-hit coasters are usually only 15minutes long tops!




And besides, I *love* being on the road. Driving for several hours isn't a chore for me - it's a form of entertainment

mgh

I've been to both, and while Cedar Point IS something to cream your jeans over, King's Islands is amazing. Son of beast was the only wooden looping coaster (although in my opinion painful as hell), and Beast is legendary and an amazing ride. Over a mile and a half of track, 4 full minutes that take you in and out of acres of beautiful woods. Its by far the best wooden coaster out there.

Pics to drool over:
BEAST

SON OF BEAST (old picture. loop removed after 06 season)


BUT Cedar point is by far the most amazing park ever. Every single ride there is gold. Its home to multiple firsts and record breakers, including my personal favorite coaster ever: Millennium Force. 300 foot drop and top speed over 90 mph, even with absolutely no inversions, this coaster takes my cake BY FAR. When you're in the front seat and you have 90mph wind coming straight at you, your stomachs found a happy place in your ankle, and your hands are in the air, there is nothing that beats that moment. Add in the 2 bunny hills towards the end that give you over a full second of negative G's and that makes for one happy roller coaster fanatic. And lets not forget the new Top Thrill Dragster. 400 foot drop and 120 mph in 4 seconds. When I first rode this, I seriously almost wet myself. Just when you thought the acceleration was going to stop, you're going 40 mph faster. Because of the revolutionary hydraulic launch system, Top Thrill was closed OFTEN due to one issue or another. When I went July 4th, 2004, I waited in line from the moment I entered the park in hopes it would open again after being closed a month. We had heard rumors it might. After waiting 10 hours in line, I was on the first car to be launched in over a month. It was glorious. As the car pulled out onto the track, everyone in the park stopped where they were and cheered. They were just as happy as we were to see the new ride up and running again.... ok we were probably a little bit more excited. That 10 hour wait was so worth the 30 second ride, and I'd do it again in a heart beat.

Kinetic, if you can get to cedar point, ******* do it. Pay for your friends ticket, but there is absolutely no excuse for missing this amazing park.

Millennium Force


Top Thrill Dragster




edit: I didn't know about the loop either. At least we got to ride it when it was there. You picked a good time to go. Son of Beast reopened July 4th. (God, thats my favorite day now.)

½mv²

yeah, after consulting wiki, I'm looking into how visiting Cedar point instead would change things...


...my brother was letting us stay with him because he still lives by KI...

...how far of a drive is CP from Cincy?

limepro

18 hours is nothing itll be an easy drive especially with friends, i drove from california to north carolina 49 hours all together with no stopping except to pee and get gas

mgh

4 hours.

Sandusky, Ohio, right off the coast of Lake Erie

I don't know if you'd still want to stay with him. Driving there at open and driving back at closing wouldn't leave much time for sleep.

½mv²

Yeah.

I'm leaving it up to my partner in crime to decide whether we go or not. I think King's Island is well worth the 18 hour drive, but she may not. And there's no way in hell I'd drive all the way up to Ohio and not see my brother.

I sent my friend a text message asking her if K.I. still sounded worth the drive. I'm just waiting to hear back from her now.....


Edit:
The drive from Cincy to Sandusky is actually 5 hours, which means if I wanted to be at Cedar Point from open to close both days, I would get a total of 11 hours of sleep from the 18th to the 23rd, which is doable, but he risk of crashing my car/going insane/getting fired is WAY too great, so I'm not going to do it. I'll have to see if I can convince my brother and my travel partner to split a hotel in Sandusky 3 ways for 2 nights...