Iowa Highway Ends (etc.)

Traer, Iowa, May 26 — This was an easy day, partly tracing previously traveled routes. The key here was being able to travel US 34 west of Burlington after it had IA 163 added to it.

Route: Old US 66 to Atlanta, I-55, I-155, I-74, I-474, Airport Rd, IL 116, US 34, US 218, old US 218 (IA 923 and then 921), US 218, IA 8

I began by following the US 66 bypass, which is only signed as old 66 and not the business loop, around the north side of Lincoln and then up to the first exit past. In Atlanta, the signed US 66 route is the one through town, not the bypass that was later bypassed. Downtown had some 66-related stuff, including its version of the Gemini Giant.

Various “reskinnings” of this statue model dot Route 66. Continue reading →

Lincoln, Illinois, May 25 — It is the only city named for the president before he became president. It was also the next stopping point on my trip.

Route: I-57, IL 148, IL 37, I-57, US 51, IL 121

I went from zero to clinched on I-57 in Missouri. Only I-44 and I-155 remain.

I got gas at the easternmost of the three Casey’s in Charleston. This one is new enough that it was not on the logo signing (the one listed was “1½ miles”). Charleston is probably the smallest place I’ve seen with three Casey’s, but with one at each exit and one in town and being the last gas before Illinois I bet it can handle them.

An hour and a half in and I clinched I-57 in Missouri, Illinois, and its entirety. Then I exited and blinked, and missed Pulleys Mill. Since it doesn’t even have a post office anymore, Goreville would be the more appropriate “control city” for the I-24/I-57 junction. IL 148 flows directly into IL 37. While parts of this segment weren’t officially in the national forest there were a lot of trees. Continue reading →

Sikeston, Missouri, May 24 — Today was Bridge Day. I encountered four bridges from the late 1920s and early 1930s. Each had that classic superstructure that’s not used anymore.

Route: IL 13, KY 56, KY 109, US 60, KY 91, IL 1, IL 146, IL 145, US 45 into Metropolis and then into Kentucky, US 62, KY 123, KY 80, US 51 to I-57 and back through Cairo, US 62, US 61, US 60

I began the day by heading east on IL 13 and took the last intersection down (literally down) into Old Shawneetown, which was practically deserted. The Lincoln Trail (southern branch) is directed through the town. There is a large bank building on the street when you come down, but it is NOT the “first bank in Illinois”; that site is very hidden right in the bridge and levee’s shadow. The IL 13/KY 56 crossing was my first harrowing narrow steel-deck bridge of the day.

I went east instead of south for one reason: Union County, Kentucky. Going there dictated how I would wind my way through the rest of southeastern Illinois. I cut south on KY 109 to get to Marion, where I photographed the north end of US 641, and then returned north. The GPS actually had a little ferry icon and ordered me to take the ferry. Cave-in-Rock had plenty of cars along its business district, which surprised me. There was spray paint on the road for the high-water mark last year.

Please do not attempt to use your vehicle as a flotation device.

Continue reading →