MO to Seattle road trip 3-7 July

Here are some notes regarding my recent vacation last week. Of course,
by the roadgeek method rather than by air!

3 July 2006: The route - MO 6/US 69/I-35/US 36 to St. Joseph, I-29 to
Fargo, and I-94 to Miles City, MT. Noticed the following along the
way:
Iowa BGS has some shields with black outlines and some without them.
I-29 near Council Bluffs has a lane addition project in progress.
Saw two major reconstruction projects on I-29 in SD and four on I-94 in
ND.
Saw a sign indicating Continental Divide on I-29 near Sisseton, SD and
on I-94 west of Fargo. That's the lesser-known North-South Divide
separating flows into the Atlantic from those flowing into the Arctic.
Here is a must-see stop in western ND: I-29 Exit 32 in the Theodore
Roosevelt National Park. It features the Painted Canyon.

4 July 2006: The route - I-94 to Billings, I-90 to Seattle. Notes:
I-94 and I-90 were quite scenic to Spokane.
I-90 in Montana has several winding stretches with speed limits as low
as 50.
Had a flat tire west of Livingston, MT. Having a flat at 75 mph is not
a pleasant experience, but the stop for the tire change was amazingly
smooth. My Jeep handled it quite well. The 10-foot right shoulder on
I-90 allowed me enough room to change the tire on the rear driver's
side without having to sit in the traffic lane. I was also glad that
the Jeep came with a full-size spare; that allowed me to continue the
trip.
A must-see stop in Washington: a turnout just prior to the Columbia
River crossing about 10 miles west of George, WA (yes, there is a town
called George, Washington!) offers a nice view of the gorge.
It helps to research hotels in road trips. Upon arriving in Seattle, I
stopped at a 7-11 for information, and the clerk directed me down the
MLK Way to the airport area. The MLK is in a major construction site
from I-90 to I-5. I ended up staying about 2 miles from the SeaTac
Airport. The information was that the rates are more reasonable near
the airport than near downtown. Saw several locations along the way
where fireworks were being executed, so it was not a wasted
Independence Day.

5 July 2006: all day in Seattle. Had the flat fixed. Drove WA 99 into
downtown intending to see the Space Needle, but there's no direct
access there. Decided to continue north to access I-5 then drove WA
520 across the floating bridge. Returned to hotel. Of course, no
visit to Seattle is complete without a visit to Starbucks; this was at
the Southcenter Mall off I-5 and I-405.

6 July 2006: The route - I-90 to Ellensburg, I-82 to Hermiston, I-84 to
Echo, UT and I-80 to Rock Springs.
Made several scenic stops in Oregon and Idaho. East of Pendleton, at
Exit 228 there is a sign for a scenic view. The signs have the route
following a frontage road (possibly old US 30) for 3 miles; then
another sign points to the scenic view, which has a path to the view
that resembles an old Jeep trail. Finding the view is tricky.
Oregon is the only state west of the Mississippi that still has a
65-mph speed limit on the Interstates.
Made my lunch stop near Twin Falls right before a thunderstorm hit.
I-80/15 offers a view of the Salt Lake. However, it's tricky to take
photos at 75 mph.
An advance research of hotels would have come in handy. Upon reaching
Rock Springs, I found all hotels booked, so I continued to Rawlins. I
found the situation the same there, and with it being about 1 AM,
decided to crash at a rest stop instead.
Most of the route taken that day involved strong-wind areas. I-80 has
several winding stretches in Idaho and Wyoming.

7 July 2006: The route - I-80 to Lincoln, NE/IA 2 to I-29, then to St.
Joseph and home via reverse order of that taken on the 3rd. Notes:
Sunrise in Wyoming: nice! However, at 7,000 feet, it gets chilly at
night, even in July.
Nebraska still uses the old-style mile markers (the small green squares
for each digit) on the Interstate.
At Exit 10 for I-76, the BGS indicates I-76 South. I-76 is an
east-west route.
I experienced the "Nebraska-bahn." The speed limit is posted 75, but
the road is quite level and could have handled 80 well. I generally
drove 78. Truck drivers and motorists towing trailers generally drove
65-70. When I would pass them at 78-80, other drivers would tailgate.
I'd guess most of them were going 85-90.
I was ahead of schedule until reaching Lincoln. NE 2 is under
construction in southern Lincoln. The detour for through traffic goes
along I-80 east, then US 6 west, then 84th Street south, making this a
loss of half an hour. Add to that reaching Lincoln at evening rush on
a Friday and the drive along 84th Street is grueling.

General notes:
Under normal conditions I usually get 17 mpg in my Jeep. The worst
efficiency was on the first day going through SD and ND where I
averaged 14-15. I attribute that to strong head winds, frequent
construction zones and 75-mph speed limits. The best efficiency was in
Wyoming at over 20. I guess that the higher elevations meant less air
resistance. I only got 16 mpg going along the Nebraska-bahn due to
strong crosswinds.
Gas prices varied a lot. Most places ranged $2.75 to $2.95 per gallon.
The cheapest was $2.699 in Rock Springs, and the most expensive was
$3.179 at North Platte. In comparison, it was $2.969 in Milan when I
left and $2.819 upon return. Wyoming sells 85-octane as regular
unleaded (usually the regular is 87-octane) which performs adequately
in the 7,000-foot elevations.
The big accomplishment of this trip was confirming visits to all 50
states plus DC and Puerto Rico. The southwest states were done in 1996
on a trip to San Diego, and the eastern states were done in a trip to
Texas, Florida and Canada in 2004. This does leave two states in which
the latest visit was over 19 years ago: Ohio and Kentucky.