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Route Description

This map from Microsoft Streets and Trips shows the loop from Nashville, TN. Our route took us North on I-24, I-57, and I-64 to St Louis. Then heading west we used I-60, US-63, US-36,  I-29 and I-80 to Salt Lake City.and on to Wendover passing the Great Salt Lake.  To get to Yosemite National Park we headed south on two lane sparsely used US-93, and US-6 to the California border. CA-120 took us through Yosemite National Park. A series of other state roads took us to our primary objective, Carmel, CA. The it was north along the coast on US-101 and CA-1 to Ilwaco, WA. As it was a holiday weekend we stayed in Ilwaco for 3 day and took side trips to Long Beach and as far North as Raymond. Our original plan was to tour Olympic National Park but we ran out of time to do that. However, there was a bonus as we headed back east via the Columbia River Gorge, Lewis and Clark country. We had seen the volcanos on our 2008 trip to Vancouver Island.  US-30, I-5, I-84, and I-90 were the highways used to get to Billings, MT. A few miles east we switched to I-94 all the way to Fargo, ND.  US-10 took us to St Cloud MN where we got back on I-94 for a visit to family in Woodbury, MN.  I-94, I-90, and I-39 then took us to Champaign, IL where we changed to I-57 and crossed our wake (as boaters say) or completed the loop on I-57 at its junction with I-64.

Trip Statistics

The Pacific Coast loop was 6,225 miles. We filled up with diesel 21 times using 386 gallons at a cost of $1,575 The average cost per gallon was $4.08. We averaged 16.1 mpg,  mostly on Interstates at 62 mph. Our mpg between fillups ranged from a low of 12.9 to a high of 18.9. Compared to our 4,000 mile trip to the Four Corners area one year ago the price of diesel was up 7.7%

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