- Wow, so uh, you all really liked my post on foot travel between Fallout 3 and Fallout 4 locations, so buckle up and get ready for round two. Hello again, and welcome to my second absurdly niche TED talk on realistic travel in the Fallout universe (for fanfiction and tabletop RP purposes)
- Today we will be covering a topic that I have seen several people ask/post about: travel between Eastern and Western US locations in the Fallout universe, i.e., “how do I get my Courier to interact with my east coasters/how do I travel across the US when my last name isn’t Maxson”
- Good news, everyone: I have questionable and way-overthought answers for you – this time with maps
- I’m limiting this to FO:NV for western US areas because this is already a MONSTER post
- There are actually many good routes for this (I’ve driven some of them) but the simplest route takes your party from downtown DC to Las Vegas, NV – a distance of 2,421 miles – while only changing roads four to five times
- Most of that distance is on two highways: one you might know (I-70), and another we all know WAY too well (I-15, or the “Long 15” from FONV – yes it’s real and yes God help me I’ve driven long parts of it in rental cars)
- SO for starters I’d like to introduce those of you who may be unfamiliar to Interstate 70 (I-70), a highway that is the bane of my existence near and dear to my heart
- I-70 is long. VERY long. The “Long 15” in Fallout: NV is an impostor. IRL, the I-15 is 1,433.52 miles long. I-70 is 2,151 miles long. The US Federal Highway Administration gave us a great infographic for how stupidly long I-70 is when they tested new sign fonts in the early 2000s (there’s one of these at either end of I-70)
- This sign shows approximate distances in miles from I-70’s eastern end at the Baltimore Beltway (I-695) to Columbus, Ohio; St. Louis, Missouri; Denver, Colorado and Cove Fort, Utah
- That’s right – you can get most of the way across the mid-latitude continental US via one road (or by following a single post-apocalyptic rubble-and-tarmac pile). Map below (the mileage in the map is actually 30mi. off because Google Maps)
- Good news for your party: it is easy to get to I-70 from FO3 locations
- I-70 is either on, or just north of, the FO3 base game map based upon the locations you can travel to in-game. Why do I say “on or north of”? Well, Todd Howard & co. seem to have combined Raven Rock Mountain (in PA, way north of I-70) with the government facility called Mount Weather (in Virginia and way south of I-70) to give us the Enclave base “Raven Rock.” So, it’s possible that I-70 is on the FO3 map and unmarked, or it’s alternatively possible that it falls a very short distance north of the map. Here is a map showing Raven Rock (pink icon north of I-70) and Mt. Weather (pink icon south of I-70) to illustrate the confusion. (Those of you who play FO76 will see some very familiar location names on this map as well)
- All of that said here are suggested routes from the Krispy Kreme outside the Dupont Circle metro stop in DC to the western end of I-70 in Cove Fort, UT -
Be adventurous and follow the Metro tunnels (uhhhh if MacCready isn’t in your party, anyway; please spare him) from Dupont Circle to Shady Grove Station; from there follow the I-370 spur to I-270 northbound to I-70 westbound; continue west until you hit Cove Fort, UT
Follow Connecticut Ave. NW north out of DC until you hit I-495 (DC Beltway); take this to I-270 northbound to I-70; continue westbound
- If coming from points on the Fallout 4 map and heading to points on the Fallout NV map, and you have followed I-95 south to Baltimore, MD – from I-95 southbound, follow the Baltimore beltway (I-695) to I-70. If taking this route use the Baltimore Beltway’s outer loop/head westbound – if you take the inner loop/go eastbound around the Baltimore beltway you’re risking the Key Bridge being washed out. Also don’t be tempted to just barrel down I-95 south and then take the Beltway’s inner loop north to I-70. You’d have to get on I-895 to go through the Harbor Tunnel which probably would have flooded in the intervening 200-210 years – but hey, if you do hit up Baltimore’s Inner Harbor and survive, you can go see the USS Constellation, sister ship to the USS Constitution (the rocket-powered tall ship crewed by robots in Fallout 4), so that’s fun
- Once you get to Cove Fort, UT, your party will discover the best part about I-70: the road it dead-ends into. Everyone please welcome back the highway you spent half your #$!*ing life on as Courier 6 in Fallout NV
- That’s right: I-70 takes you all the way across the US from the Fallout 3 map and plunks you directly onto the I-15, FONV’s main north-south thoroughfare
- Bonus: I-15 takes you from Cove Fort, UT to Las Vegas, NV by way of Mount Zion National Park, UT (Honest Hearts map area in NV) – that area of the NV map is just a slight detour from I-15 onto State Roads 17 and 9
- Second Bonus: guess what else I-15 runs past? Big Mountain. Abbreviation: Big Mt. Bastardization: The Big Empty
- The takeaway here is that you literally only have to change which road your party follows four (4) times to get from Dupont Circle’s Metro stop to Las Vegas. I have to imagine that any cross-country caravans might follow old I-15 and old I-70 for this reason
- I headcanon Kellogg got to Boston from NCR territory by following a portion of this route as well
- Here’s the travel itinerary/mileage breakdown:
Provided you are able to vaguely follow these routes, it’s 2,421 miles from the Dupont Circle Metro Station in DC to the Strip in Las Vegas
Traveling at a rate of 2.5 mph on foot for 8hrs./day (with no breaks) the absolute MINIMUM foot distance travel time is 121.05 days
That’s about FOUR MONTHS one-way with no breaks
And that is very optimistic: this route crosses through BOTH the Appalachian AND (more relevantly) the Rocky Mountains. I have driven the Rockies. Those grades are STEEP
There are forest fires and plains fires and tornados and dust devils and, uh, just deserts, as well as heavy snowfall areas, plus rockfall/mudslide/avalanche risk areas, on this route
God help your party if you go past Nevada into FO1 and FO2 territory – then you’re also liable to get tule fog, Santa Ana winds, more forest and brush fires (on a HUGE scale) and earthquakes - I have driven in/through these in the southwest and central Cali and they were not super fun, definitely would not appreciate on foot nope nope nope
Your party will also have to rest/fight/hunt/gather/maintain weapons/heal from injuries in addition to avoiding all the natural disaster risks and weather issues
My estimation? Leave five to six months just for foot travel between DC and NV, and figure that a caravan is only going to do this round trip MAXIMUM once per year
- Also as an FYI in some parts of the US people put “the” in front of interstate names. In others, you will be looked at as An Outsider if you do this. Don’t ask me why. In the words of Drew Carey, “the rules are made up and the points don’t matter.” So - it’s sometimes “the I-15” when you’re talking about the Long 15 and pretty much always “the I-5” when you’re in California but it’s definitely NOT “the I-70” or “the I-695.” There is no logic here welcome to America
- Thank you for coming to my TED talk
