Reddit reviews Rand Mcnally 2015 Road Atlas (Rand Mcnally Road Atlas: United States, Canada, Mexico)
We found 2 Reddit comments about Rand Mcnally 2015 Road Atlas (Rand Mcnally Road Atlas: United States, Canada, Mexico). Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
It is not illegal in most states as long as you are not out on the freeway. Stay at the BOTTOM of the entrance ramp and out of the roadway and you're legal. Stay on the shouler of the entrance ramp and most cops will leave you alone. Don't go out on to the highway unless you're in Oregon, Iowa, or Wyoming. In Wyoming, don't fly a sign, stick out your thumb, or stop walking and you're legal. Staying all the way at the bottom of the ramp is much more likely to be enforeced on a toll road.
In Utah, it's just plain illegal, possibly unconstitutionally so. In Nevada, Idaho, Delaware, New Jersey, and possibly Hawaii, you can't be on the Highway (including the shoulder). I don't remember what the deal is with standing on the sidewalk or private property in view of the highway is.
Whoever told you hitchhiking in New York is illegal doesn't know what they're talking about. Exception is on the toll roads, that thing I wrote about toll roads above? You need to stay entirely off the toll road authority's property in New York.
As far as route goes, New York to Chicago sounds like a TERRIBLE first hitch in the states. To successfully complete this route, I would consider having a good book map of the USA that clearly marks toll roads to be essential. I personally like the ones from Rand McNally. You don't necissarily need the super thick one with the spiral binding, though if you want to dedicate the pack space to it, it's not a bad decision. When I was doing this full time, I used an older edition of this one, which can be found at most truck stops.
With that said, if I had to do it, this is what I'd do:
Take Metro North Railroad from New York City to Port Jarvis. It doesn't cost that much, and it gets you out of the city. Don't even bother trying to hitch out of NYC -- there's nowhere safe to do it because there's no room for a shoulder.
Take I-84 west to I-80 south to I-80 east.
If your ride west on I-84 is eventually going to I-80 east, they're probably taking a different route, and that's great. Your twisting and turning is surving two purposes here.
Do be aware that getting a ride along I-380 can be a little bit rough because there's a prison in the area that some otherwise reasonable people will be scared you've escaped from. You're also dispoportionately likely to get picked up by people who are or associate with sketchballs, because they're returning from visiting said sketchball in prison. Once you get to I-80, this stops being true. Normally I don't recommend taking short rides, but in this case, the further down I-380 you can get, the less this affects you, so I'd say take whatever rides you can get. Do whatever you can to not look like an escaped prisoner. This is not the time to break out that styling orange onsie you're packing.
This is where the route gets really stupid. Hopefully by now you've caught a ride all the way to Chicago, because if you haven't you're taking a stupid route to avoid the Ohio Turnpike (see my discussion of toll roads above). This means that none of the cars are going where you are, so the chances of catching that great ride that's going exactly where you are are slim to none for awhile.
With that disclaimer aside, there are several places to cut south to I-70. Consult your map to see them all, but the thing to be aware of is that your LAST real opportunity before getting dumped onto the turnpike is I-71.
Take I-70 west to Indianapolis. From here, the route I take would likely depend on the ride I had. If I could get to the far side of Indianapolis in my current ride out on to either I-65 or I-74, I'd take it. If you don't, you're going to have a hard time getting through Indanapolis. I would probably just take the city bus from wherever I was to somewhere along one of those two highways.
From I-65, by the time you're past Lafayette, most of the rides will be going all the way to Chicago. I'd find a truck stop and hitch from the entrance there, and turn down any rides that aren't taking you all the way to Chicago -- if you take a series of short rides, you run the risk of winding up on the tollway.
From I-74, I would head to Champaign-Urbana and get on I-57 north. This route has the downside of being slightly longer, but the upside of being culturally better. If my ride was turning up I-57, but not going more than an exit or two, I would have them drop me off at exit 238 in order to catch the folks headed out from Champaign. If they're going at least as far as exit 250 on I-57, I'd have them drop me there, because that's wher you're going to get the traffic from Urbana, which is culturally better. If your ride isn't going up I-57, I would get off of I-74 at exit 184 and hitch north on US-45 until you get to US-136 AKA Champaign Ave in Rantoul. I'd ask my ride to take me to I-57 from there, but if they won't, I wouldn'tbother hitching through Rantoul, I would just walk the mile to the highway entrance. That entrance is exit 250 on I-87, which I mentioned above. Again, I wouldn't take a series of short rides, I'd wait for someone headed all the way to Chicago for fear of somehow winding up along the side of a toll road.
Alternatively, pick basically any other two cities for your first hitch. That's a particularly bad route.
And this would be right on its heels:
http://www.amazon.com/Rand-Mcnally-2015-Road-Atlas/dp/052801143X/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1416181742&sr=1-2&keywords=rand+mcnally+road+atlas+2015
I have regularly read both books annually for at least the last 55 years.