California to OCS route recommendations?

[PJ81]

I've never driven cross country before so I thought I'd post here to see if anyone had any good advice.

I start OCS December 6th, and was planning on giving myself a week to drive there, stopping at friends places along the way.
Google maps has three suggested routes, I-40, I-70 and I-80. I was thinking that I-40 would be best since I would avoid Denver in the dead of winter. Thoughts?

Edit:I'll be coming from the Los Angeles area.

 

[CUPike11]

First, its not the dead of winter....

Second, Denver has 300 days of sunshine and your chances of driving through denver in a snowstorm are pretty small.

It was 55 today and 65 yesterday and last week we had 2 feet of snow. You'd never even know it was here now.

Denver is awesome and you can always avoid it if a storm comes, but storms like the one last week are rare.

I've driven from Michigan to Pasadena and back, and then Michigan/Pennsylvania to Colorado and back and both trips were done in 2 days. Its a good trip, except for the middle part of it after colorado. I-70 and I-80 are descent drives. Good luck man....hopefully I'll be joining you.

 

[PJ81]

First, its not the dead of winter....

Yeah, I don't know much about weather having lived nearly my whole life in Southern California.

Hope to see you there, thanks for the info.

 

[helolumpy]

Made the drive from Boston to San Diego once and Norfolk to San Diego twice and I'm now stationed in Newport after leaving North Island.
My recommendation is to hit the Grand Canyon on the way out (take I-40 to Flagstaff and then take local routes north). It was a nice diversion on the way out and na quality 'check in the block'.

I'd then take I-40 to the east coast and pick up 95 and then go north. More traffic on 95 than 81, but you're less likely to get stuck in a blizzard passing over the Appalations more south than driving up the west side of them and crossing over in PA.

My recommendation is bypass NYC; traffic can be an absolute nightmare, especially if it snows!! Here's the route I've driven from Norfolk to Boston at least 20 times:

Come over the Delaware Memorail Bridge and get on the NJ Turnpike. Take that up to exit 11 and get onto the Garden State Parkway.
Take GSPkway to the NY border. (NOTE: Get gas in NJ, it cheaper and they have full service and mini-marts. A lot of NY gas stations didn't have public bathrooms!!)

Get onto I-287 EAST towards NY and TappanZee Bridge. Cross the bride and head to toward I-95. (You have just bypassed NYC.)

Take I-95 into RI. Get onto Route 138 EAST, this will take you into Newport.
You'll cross over two bridges, the second bridge has a toll.

Once you cross the second bridge you'll be funnelled down to a sweeping turn to a stop light. Take a RIGHT at the light.
You'll go downhill to a rotary (roundabout) and you'll enter at the 6 o'clock position and exit at the 12:00 posit. (second exit)
Go up the hill and through the light. Then down the hill and that will take you to the main gate for the Naval Station.
From there, you're on your own. I know where the OCS guys seem to be, but I have no idea where the check-in location is.

You'll have mucho tolls for this trip, especially once you get to the east coast.
If you have an EZ-Pass, you'll be able to go faster, but I don't know if you'll be able to get to a computer to download what tolls you paid for your travel claim.
My recommendation is (and I know this is longer) is pay cash for all your tolls and GET A RECIEPT!! This is the only way you'll get reimburshed for the tolls and you're looking at about $50 in tolls to get from CA to RI.

 

[blarged]

Yeah, I don't know much about weather having lived nearly my whole life in Southern California.

Hope to see you there, thanks for the info.

Last year I made the drive from Cincinnati to San Francisco in March and the Drive back from SF to Cincy in September, I took two different routes.

Headed west I took 80 all the way out. Some really boring midwest states, but Salt Lake City makes it all worth the drive.

Headed east I took 15 down to Vegas (because it's vegas), 40 through AZ to visit family), hop on 44 in Oklahoma City up to 70 in Illinois (where I broke down). Then you can take 70 all the way to Newport. It was a nice drive, not too much to look at, but it was fun traveling along Route 66. Some interesting exits to get off at if you have the time. It is only a few hours longer than the trip out.

If I were to do it again, I'd take 80.

 

[Uncle Fester]

When I went Newport to SD, I took I-95 down the coast to Jax, then I-10 all the way west. Looks like it's out of your way on paper, but the time diff isn't all that much. And then you get to see the big Gulf and East Coast cities.

I don't know if you've always been in Cali, but the change of coast is like going to Canada...it's mostly the same, yet everything's slightly different. And you should be able to count on good wx (or at least, no snow) for the trip.

San Antonio's a good place to stop. Nawlins can be interesting if you've got a day or two. Swing through P'cola, visit the Museum to get some Naval Aviation moto-juice and have a steak at McGuire's.

From there you can either head up through ATL or go on to jax; I recc the latter. Saint Augustine is a detour, but if you've got the time, it's interesting. Savannah and Charleston are along the way and GREAT cities to visit.

When you hit Virginia, go through Norfolk, so you can see why you don't want to be stationed there, then go across the Chx Bay Bridge and up the Eastern Shore instead of through Richmond/DC. Beautiful drive, no traffic, and time's the same. The Bay Bridge has a redonkulous toll ($15 last I was there) but it's cool enough to be worth it.

If you have extra time, the Cape May - Lewes Ferry goes from DE to Jersey across the Delaware River. Takes about three hours to cross, but nice trip and allows you to miss a big chunk of the Jersey Turnpike.

Getting through NYC sucks, though I had good luck crossing the GW Bridge at Ft Lee and then continuing up I-95. You miss pretty much all of the City traffic. From there, straight shot across CT (nothing worth stopping for; Mystic's nice if touristy) and into RI. The Kingston-Jamestown shot to Newport is back country roads.

Then go out and get shithoused if that's your thing, or at least have a great big dinner. Last fun you'll have for a while, and Newport's got some great pubs and restaurants.

 

[SWOHopeful]

I've never driven cross country before so I thought I'd post here to see if anyone had any good advice.

I start OCS December 6th, and was planning on giving myself a week to drive there, stopping at friends places along the way.
Google maps has three suggested routes, I-40, I-70 and I-80. I was thinking that I-40 would be best since I would avoid Denver in the dead of winter. Thoughts?

Edit:I'll be coming from the Los Angeles area.

Are you going to fly back during the holiday break?

 

[RHPF]

My two cents...

I took 80 across. Making diversions off of it for cities or people I wanted to see. I'm glad I did it, since you will then hit the east coast on your way to API. Then likely drive the southern routes westward for Primary/Advanced/RAG. Short of a cross country, or leave, you won't be spending any time out of the south for the foreseeable future after OCS.

 

[BACONATOR]

Life was simpler a couple years ago. I left from LA and took the 10..... ALLL THE WAY to Pcola.

 

[govols1]

I heard that the I-40 is closed in western North Carolina due to rockslide. It should be closed for a month or so. fyi

 

[tyrone]

If you do come up the east coast - be forewarned that taking the Bay-Bridge Tunnel/Route 13 north through the DelMarVa Peninsula will definitely add a significant amount of time to your trip. Some say it's scenic- yeah kindof if you like pine trees and fast food chains. Route 13 has stoplights everywhere and only one bypass (Around Salisbury, MD). At this point in the drive you're going to just want to get there. To avoid stopping just stick to Interstates and urinating in gatorade bottles.

 

[niktam]

East :d

 

[flopper]

I've never driven cross country before so I thought I'd post here to see if anyone had any good advice.

I start OCS December 6th, and was planning on giving myself a week to drive there, stopping at friends places along the way.
Google maps has three suggested routes, I-40, I-70 and I-80. I was thinking that I-40 would be best since I would avoid Denver in the dead of winter. Thoughts?

Edit:I'll be coming from the Los Angeles area.

For future trips, I suggest you take I-10 to DFW area in Texas, then start heading in a northeast direction that takes you through Arkansas, Tenn., etc. The advantage of I-10 is that you will make very good time on it; I'm talking 90+ MPH through many areas of the desert all through most of west Texas. Heading north after DFW minimizes your chances of incliment weather and avoids extreme changes in elevation.

 

[Tomodachi]

I have taken a cross country trip from Orlando, FL to Coronado, CA for BUD/s. Took several days but was mainly on I-10 the whole way. I dont know how to get to RI. Some recommendations: Check fluids and tires before heading out. Buy a bunch of gatorade and water, it will keep you hydrated and you have piss bottles to urinate in so you dont have to stop every half hour.

The Navy pays good dime to travel so take your time and dont speed too much. Stay in the nicer hotels in big cities, less risk of burglary of your gear in your truck/car and waking up in a tub of ice without a liver.

I hope you have a car phone charger, totally needed. I had a Tomtom GPS navigator that was really convenient when I wanted to search for nearby restaurants and see what they got. I wanted to use only SHELL gas stationes for refueling and the GPS could find the nearest shell down the route and keep me on track.