There's a chance I will be taking a daytrip from here in Boulder up to Laramie in a few weeks - since Ive not really ever been north of here (at least beyond Longmont!) before, I was unsure of the best way to go, so I plugged it in to MapQuest and Google Maps - they both gave me the route of I-25 North to Cheyenne and then I-80 West to Laramie - when you look at a map though, that way seems, from a strict mileage perspective, at least 30 miles longer than taking I-25 up to about Fort Collins and then cutting over to US 287 and taking 287 from Fort Collins to Laramie (the hypotenuse of the triangle formed by Fort Collins, Cheyenne, and Laramie)...is there a reason to avoid that stretch of 287 between Fort Collins and Laramie, or is sticking to the interstates the whole way much better, despite the additional 30 miles of driving in each direction?

Any advice is appreciated...thanks!