Originally Posted by
gpsblake
Bad things about riding on interstates..
Illegal everywhere east of Texas...
Shoulders on interstates are full of debris... nails, glass etc
Traffic is always zooming by you at 70-80mph
If they are doing construction on a bridge and the shoulder disappears, you're screwed.
If they are doing construction using jersey walls with no shoulder, you're screwed.
Exit ramps are a pain... either you risk getting yourself killed by cutting across them or have to climb up them and down them again each and everytime.
So basically, yes, it's 100 times wiser not to use the interstate.
IN a few areas like trying to do the Route 66 thing in the west, you have no choice but to use the interstate. But I would avoid them at all cost.
I rode for many miles on I-94 in Montana. In my case, I had the widest lane on the whole road. Those cars and trucks at 75 mph are probably ten/fifteen feet away! I found very little debris on the shoulders, as it tends to get swept away by the breezes generated by passing traffic or washed away when it rains.
I handled exit ramps by getting off, crossing the road, and getting back on again.
The comments about construction make sense, but the same thing (or WORSE) applies to any road.
I was able to camp at the roadway rest areas, which had bathrooms, running water, shelters, picnic tables, and exquisitely mowed lawns. The right of way on interstates is so broad that I often could wild camp in bush/forest clumps without being seen, if I wasn't able to get to a rest stop.
This was the only time I rode on an interstate. Obviously rural roads are a better choice. I-94 has parallel roads down by the Missouri river that are smaller. But most of these roads were in poor condition, the land was privately owned so camping was more challenging, the floodplains were boggy and buggy. So I was tootin along on I-94 for quite a while and having a grand time of it.
roughstuff