I heard that if you want to get to the main quest early, all you have to do is go to Smith Caseys garage right after you leave the vault and you'll find dad. Did anybody else figure it out?

You miss out on a huge part of the story though.....

Yes, but I would not recommend it for anyone on their first or maybe even second play through, like the person above me, it takes away alot of the story line, but on the other hand if you really hate the Main Quest, you can skip like half of it.