Iowa Highway Ends (etc.)

Beachwood, Ohio, Oct. 1 — It was a great day for a drive with the leaves just starting to turn color. I clinched I-90 in Ohio and closed the gap between central South Dakota and Albany…a clinch that would last for all of five weeks.

These big boys were the first signs of the day. The size discrepancy between the 80 and 376 (previous PA 60) is almost comical.

Route: I-80, I-79 to end and turn around, US 20, PA 8, I-90, Shortman Road (NY), US 20, PA 89, I-86 to first NY exit and back, I-90, US 19, US 6N, US 20, OH 7, I-90 to exit 135 and turn around, I-80, I-480, I-80, OH 44, US 422 (.50, $1, .50 tolls).

The first stops of the day were in downtown Erie, after following I-79 all the way to its north end and then taking US 20 through the city. Traffic wasn’t bad. I missed seeing any “End 19” for US 19, if there was one.

Approaching the end of I-79 in Erie.

This is the best I could get for 19 and 20 together at this sequential intersection. US 20 and US 21 used to meet in Cleveland.

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Sharon, Pennsylvania, Sept. 30 — Despite multiple promises skies would clear up and temps would rise, it didn’t get above 64 until after 4, and no sun until 4:50 and then still mostly cloudy. [64 degrees sounds really good right now. —Ed.]

Route: I-270 around Columbus, I-71, US 30, I-77, I-76, I-277, I-76, I-80, I-680, I-76, I-376, PA 760 to PA 18

Clearview and construction on the west loop of I-270…

…button copy on the north side. Note the change in control cities.

Off and on rain, off and on construction. Six lanes for I-71 north of OH 95.

East of I-71, US 30 is a four-lane that wobbles north and south around the original Lincoln Highway. After the GPS sent me on a wild goose chase for food in downtown Canton, I went to the William McKinley Presidential Museum. The informative museum is not mostly about McKinley, but Stark County as a whole, with a permanent exhibit about the West Wing and temporary exhibits about White House horses and the White House’s original architect. The museum also re-created a street scene from the turn of the century and various points in time 1840-1930. Continue reading →

Columbus, Ohio*, Sept. 29 — The morning was great, but the afternoon would bring the first rain of the vacation. However, a planned museum stop would limit my time driving in it.

Route: US 27, KY 9, I-275, KY 471 to end and turn around, I-275, OH 747, Union Grove Rd, I-75, I-275, I-74, I-75 to exit 189, US 25, Cincinnati Union Station museum, I-75, I-71

The day started with a pleasant, if not speedy, drive in northern Kentucky, on US 27. I was traveling it in lieu of already-done I-75 to hit more counties, but will already have a gap based on the bypass being constructed around Cynthiana.

Historical plaque at new junction of US 27/68 north of Cynthiana

The night before, I decided I would go to the Cincinnati museum and drive I-275 around to finish the loop. The plan worked until I tried to duck into Butler County. There was no sign, and I ended up going all the way to the next intersection that connected to I-75. Shortly after that, it started sprinkling. Continue reading →

Lexington, Kentucky, Sept. 28 — After two big days of travel, today was half history, half football.

Route: KY 61 to Hodgenville and US 31E to Lincoln Home site, then back; Bluegrass Parkway with detour on 31E/62 to 62/150 junction; US 60, KY 4, US 27

Visiting the Lincoln Birthplace NHS in the morning was the right time sun-wise. The log cabin is inside this monument. The park building (not shown) also shows a film and has exhibits.

I spent the morning at the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site near Hodgenville. The magnificent monument holds a replica of the Lincoln cabin, the one “he built with his own hands.”

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Elizabethtown, Kentucky, Sept. 27 — I have now been in every county in Illinois, and clinched I-70 from Denver to Maryland (temporarily), but the achievements didn’t come without a slip-up.

Route: I-70, IL 130, US 40, Cumberland Road (past covered bridge), IL 121, IL 130, I-70, IL 49, CR to Hidalgo, IN 130, US 40, IL 49, I-70, I-65, US 31 across river, Louisville streets, I-64, I-264, US 31W, Ring Rd (KY 3005), US 62

Downtown Greenup

I spent the morning in Greenup, looking up some genealogical information. When I finally left, making my way through construction on I-70, I realized I had not gone south to enter Jasper County.

Because of that, however, I got to see things I otherwise would not have seen, including the “world’s largest wind chime” in Casey (it was dead calm), a Casey’s in Casey, and traces of an old four-lane US 40 before I-70 came along. But I took IL 49 south, and crossed into Jasper County, #102 in Illinois, and doubled back to Greenup.

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