Mapquest routes or ???
 

I looked at mapquest to check out a route from near San Jose, CA to Denver, CO.

MQ takes you way South to, I think about Barstow then all the way back North again through Vegas and over to I70 - about 1300 miles.

It looks like I could shave 300-500 miles off by doing another more direct route, although it would be on lesser roads. Speed would be slower, but distance a lot less, and I think time would be less.

Is there any way to direct MQ or some other service to use a route that I assign?

Anyone know?

Thanks.

On both Google Maps and Yahoo Maps you can drag the route to your desired roads and they will recalc both distance and time. Not sure about Mapquest.

Just ran it on my comp.
1294.8 miles via Reno
1278.0 via Barstow
1238.6 via reno Rt50 to I70

I see people all the time being routed through mid-town Manhattan as they stare at their GPS. Stuck in traffic that is.

I like google maps!

I can build a route on my PC with my Garmin then upload it to the GPS. I do this when travelling long distances to ensure it isn't going to do something like this to me...

If you do it as several shorter trips, it works. You go from San Josie to Reno, Reno to Winnemucca(City of Paved Streets), and on to Denver. Route is forced to go direction you want that way. I would think if you went SJ to I-80, taking 680 or whatever it is past the mothball fleet, 80 to Wyoming then turn R at I 25, or whichever one goes to Denver would be fastest.

I have driven Sacto to SJ MANY times, 80 to Nebraska a lot of times too, and think that would be the best way to go,

If you have time, take Rt 50 out of Reno to Salina, Utah, then 70 to Denver.

So much better than any other route.

Thanks, I didn't think about making several end to end trips.

Seahawk, thanks, I'm not just trying to find a shorter route, but also trying to avoid 1300 miles of boring 4 lane.

What Paul said, that is definitely a pretty drive.

If you are doing it in the winter, keep in mind that US 50 between Sacramento and Tahoe is a deadly road. There are some stellar, scenic roads between here(Sacto) and Tahoe, Hwy 88 and 89, question of how much time you want to spend. You can catch Jackson Hwy(either 16 or 160, can't remember) and stay of the big slab. Be careful on some of the two lanes, there can be big ass frost heaves and potholes. On a rally was behind a guy in a TR3 who wiped out his oil pan on one, shut it down immediately and only had to buy a new oil pan. Fortunately he had a TR 250, or whatever came before the TR 6 to finish the drive.