We usually are Point A to Point B kind of travelers and that mostly involves interstate highways. Occasionally we venture on to some of America's back roads, two lane highways that traverse small towns. Although when we are in the Upper Peninsula we are almost entirely on back roads. Interstate 75 runs across the Mackinac Bridge to Sault Ste. Marie at the Canadian border but that is the only interstate in the UP.
Some people view back roads like this (from Pinterest).
US Highway 54 runs 1,197 miles from Griggsville, Illinois to El Paso, Texas. Interestingly for railroad buffs, the Union Pacific Railroad's Tucumcari Line (former Southern Pacific and Rock Island Lines "Golden State Route") runs parallel to US-54 from El Paso to Pratt, Kansas, which comprises about two-thirds of the route.
Also interesting for back roads buffs is that US-54 enters and leaves Texas twice as you can see above. We were on 54 from Tucumcari, New Mexico to Wichita, Kansas.
Our leg from Tucumcari to Liberal Kansas was one of the more interesting ones in our years of fulltiming, we experienced 4 States in one trip; New Mexico to Texas to Oklahoma and ending up in Kansas. We can confirm that the railroad was close to US-54 since our RV parks were also close and we heard trains during our stays in Tucumcari and Liberal.
We usually take I-40 and I-35 to/from the Kansas City area but this last trip decided to try something new and we are glad that we did. For the most part, that is, except for Oklahoma which had a rough road. We plan to blog on that experience later.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Usually you don't get to cross 4 states in one day unless you are up in the New England states. We enjoy back roads...especially in TX. They are all really wide.
ReplyDeleteNow that is an honest road sign:)
ReplyDeleteWe prefer the back roads but we aren't point a to point b travelers.
ReplyDelete