Iowa Highway Ends (etc.)

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.”

Continue reading →

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.

Continue reading →