Interstate Road Trip Tournament, Round 1, Heat 21.

[Rain Man]

Just a little offseason exercise. There are 80 different Interstate highways in the USA (including Puerto Rico). Which one would be best for a road trip?

I've set the rules as follows (in spoiler for those of you who've read them already]:

Spoiler!

I'm also including highways in Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico that are essentially interstate highways, though they're not called that since they don't cross state boundaries.

It'll be a single-elimination tournament, though some will regain new life in wild-card spots to get the tournament bracket correct.

You get a minimum of 7 days on any highway, regardless of length. However, if the length requires more than 150 miles of travel per day, you'll get extra days until your daily mileage drops below 150 miles.

You may travel in either direction.

You may stop at attractions along the way, but at no point can you be more than 10 miles from the interstate.

You have the budget to stay at any hotel or dine at any restaurant within ten miles of the interstate.

You may spend multiple nights in any location but you cannot drive more than 250 miles in a single day. So you have to budget your driving time.

You may use any criteria you wish to make your vote. You can consider the driving lengths and conditions, scenery, attractions along the way, any outstanding warrants you have in that state, the likelihood of a Christie Brinkley clone waving at your from a Ferrari, or anything else you might wish to consider.

You can pick the time of year.

You will not be at risk of coronavirus en route.

You can pick the vehicle that you drive. Assume that you're renting any vehicle that you could purchase for $50,000 or less (new or used). It can be different vehicles on different road trips, so you can customize to fit.

I'll post the basics of each route, but I don't see any specific website that provides a good description of the attractions that one would see along the route. You're on your own for that. Of course, you can do a google map view to see what your scenery is.

Your next competitors are:

Option 1 - I-22 from Byhalia, MS, to Birmingham, AL
7 Day Trip
202 Miles, 29 miles per day on average
Passes through Tupelo and Holly Springs National Forest

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_22

Option 2 - I-72 from Hannibal, MO, to Champaign, IL
7 Day Trip
179 miles, 26 miles per day on average
Passes through Springfield (IL)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_72

Option 3 - I-87 from New York, NY, to Champlain, NY
7 Day Trip
333 Miles, 47 miles per day on average
Passes through Albany and by Lake Champlain

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_87_(New_York)

Option 4 - I-24 from Pulley's Mill, IL, to Chattanooga, TN
7 Day Trip
316 miles, 45 miles per day on average
Passes through Paducah and Nashville, and by Land Between The Lakes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_24

[Rain Man]

My thoughts.

I-72? I like Hannibal, but I have unpleasant memories of drives through central Illinois. Hard pass.

I-22 is not uninteresting, but it's not compelling.

I-24 seems pretty interesting. I like Nashville from the little I know of it. I wouldn't mind checking out Chattanooga a bit more. I was there for a couple of days back in 2017 or so, but I didn't tour it.

However, my winner is I-87. I've heard that the Hudson River Valley is very pretty, and I'd really like to see Lake Champlain. I don't get to see Manhattan since the highway starts out of town, but I'd probably truck through it south to north in a couple of days, enjoying the scenery, and then I'd spend most of the week on the Lake.