Unscenic drives

I love the trees and the fact that there are no billboards anywhere. I wouldn’t call it “unscenic.”

We peel off at Waterville to go northwest to our cabin. We don’t take the highway to Bangor often. We like the back road route to Acadia.

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I’ve been on 90% of the roads described here. You all really need to drive between Memphis and the Rock to see ugly.

Boring doesn’t equal toilet bowl.

Gary is a beauty queen compared to that drive.

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Atlantic Ave. from just past Barclay Center to the Queens line. Then Conduit Ave/Blvd to JFK Airport. Just the ugliest!.

A close second is I95/NJ Turnpike anywhere within 10 miles of Newark Airport, including the ride from the Holland Tunnel.

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A toilet bowl would be nice as bathrooms seemed to be few and far between on this route through Arkansas to Memphis.

We drive through the Ohio and PA turnpike quite a bit. At least the turnpike in Ohio is shorter.

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Can one of y’all that thinks this drive is ugly post your ugliest screen shot? Because I’m just not seeing it. Been a long time since I’ve driven it myself but the Google streetview imagery just looks like trees and fields and the occasional billboard and lots of big trucks.

I wouldn’t call it ugly though unless you just don’t like trees and fields. To me it is a lot better than I-95 between DC and Boston.

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Omg - nothing wrong with I 95 NY to Boston. Yes, the NY metro area is rough.

I will say Forest City Ark has a great BBQ place. It’s on the route at least.

You gotta drive this one to see it. The other side of the Rock - to Ft Smith is ok - and the I49 up to Bentonville really nice.

But it’s all opinion of course !!

Yeah, I think I 40 from OKC to ABQ is a lot worse. Unless you like antelopes. The climate is more arid past that point and the scenery goes loses greenness.

Boring. Ahd the worlds biggest steak in Amarillo. Free if you can eat it. Boring. Yes. Hideous. Ehhhh :slight_smile:

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It’s a horrible stretch of road.

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ok - not mentioned here yet cuz its not traveled much - but I-90 which runs east/west in the northern part of our country is my choice of unscenic drives.

it is REALLY desolate and dull in certain areas; especially through the middle part of south dakota, then further on in the middle part of wyoming – then in the middle part of washington state. BUT there are some gorgeous sections as well that make up for it. weve made that trip to seattle many times from the midwest. (with a few yellowstone stops along the way which is totally totally worth it)

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I like the wide open spaces of the American West. Boring? Nah, just vast. I don’t like the eastern highways that are bordered by trees the whole way so you can’t see out. And I really don’t like driving on highways that are several lanes of packed traffic all going 70+ without much space between cars. I-5 between the Grapevine and Sacramento on a Thanksgiving weekend comes to mind. Or I-81 between Harrisonburg VA and Harrisburg PA also on Thanksgiving weekend.

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On very rare occasions on a clear winter day after a storm, the views of snow-covered Sierra peaks can be spectacular.

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I love driving in Texas and Maine. Lots of trees in Maine and vast expanses in Texas. Apples and oranges to me, both magnificent.

For many, many years I travelled from NoVa to NC via 29 to visit my mom. Beautiful drive, IMO. I was able to avoid traffic lights up here pretty much as I started in an outer 'burb and bypassed Warrenton. Charlottesville was a beast to get through. They need a by-pass there but I doubt a secondary road warrants that. Otherwise, I didn’t encounter very many lights, just a couple outside Lynchburg and I enjoyed the drive way more than I-95 and I-85 to I-40. As much as one can enjoy a six hour drive. Audio books. The key for me. And yeah, two of our sons went to Va Tech and I HATE I-81 even as the scenery is beautiful. Semis. The bane of that road.

You made me cry just to think of it. My dh is from MA and we have done it nearly every summer for 45 years from NoVa. Last year’s drive made me swear we wouldn’t do it ever again. We shall see. It’s one of the levels of he**, IMO.

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I do admit appreciating the wide open spaces, “big sky”. Yes. I’m sure you do think the endless trees are boring, LOL.

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This. I can handle vast and boring as long as I can see that horizon. We drove some long straight highway in southern Illinois between Omaha and Elizabethtown, KY once many years ago and it was nothing but trees on either side for hours. The only thing we could get on the radio was local reports of who had died or given birth recently.

I recently drove the stretch of I-10/I-20 between El Paso and Dallas. We felt like we were breathing in toxic fumes the entire time, and part of that road surface is incredibly noisy. We did the entire drive from Phoenix to Dallas in one day just so we wouldn’t have to get up and face a second day on that stretch of road.

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It depends. When driving across Texas, the road is so straight and flat, that when you look in front of you, it comes to a V, and when you look behind you…it comes to a V. And there is nothing around great expanses of it except the horizon…and it all looks the same for hundreds of miles.

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Years ago, we drove from Shreveport, Louisiana to Dallas. I recall it being miles and miles of nothing … although I do recall a lot of Dairy Queens off the exits. It was a trip I have never wanted to repeat.

3 hours - not bad. Drive past the outskirts of Tyler.

The Shreve - I used to go but wanted to fly Southwest so did that drive often.’

The Shreve is a bit unsightly as a city.