From Here to There

I thought I was the only one that wondered where roads began and where they ended. And of course what was in between. I've spent hours over the years turning page after page following various highways from state to state.

I was reading the travel section of the paper this morning. Steve Stephens was relating that he too often wonders where highways go and end. Link

I've been at the begining of I-75 and at it's end in south Florida. Same for I-10 which begins in Jacksonville, Florida and ends in Los Angeles. Or I-80 as it begins just shy of the George Washington Bridge in New Jersey and crosses the country to San Francisco. I-71 is much easier as it begins in Cleveland and ends in Louisville. And of course I-4 from Daytona to Tampa is a simple and relatively short drive.

Of course there are the standard highways too. I don't know how many highways I've come across through the years that I've traced from beginning to end in an atlas and envisioned the sights and sounds along the way.

In my area, as an example, US Route 62 starts in Niagara Falls, New York and ends in El Paso, Texas. While the highway travels through Columbus, I would never use that route to get to either city. It would simply take too long.

Or US Route 40. It starts near the casinos and boardwalk of Atlantic City, New Jersey and continues west to Park City, Utah. Yet at one time, it made it all the way to San Francisco. The now truncated highway at one time did go from coast to coast.

Route 23 starts way up north at the Mackinac Bridge and ends in usually warm (and sometimes humidly hot) downtown Jacksonville, Florida. I been to both extremes of this highway, but never the entire length of it. It is at it's most beautiful in Eastern Kentucky, Eastern Tennessee and Eastern, North Carolina just north of Asheville.

Or the other major US Highway, Route 33 which begins in Elkhart, Indiana and ends in Richmond, VA. I've followed US 33 from I-81 in Virginia to Columbus. It passes through some of the most scenic areas along the Virginia/West Virginia border.

But in the end, wouldn't it be fun to be able to simply pick up and explore all the places along the roads that pass through your neighborhood?

But in the end, I guess it's nice to know I'm not the only one who traces the origins and endings of highways.