South side of Section 25, Jackson Township, Taylor County. From 1820 to 1837, this was the northwest corner of the state of Missouri. The survey east of this point to the Mississippi River left something to be desired.
The linked page will be updated (eventually) with the markers above. A completely dry (until now) January made the dirt road needed to get there from the north passable. When you get a 55-degree day in January you don’t let it go to waste.
July 15, 2008 and June 9, 2011: Split shields in downtown Indianapolis and St. Louis. Weird, aren’t they?
I’ve been on I-70 from the west edge of Denver to the east I-55 split and from Indianapolis to Fredericksburg MD, leaving gaps at both ends and the middle.
May 5, 2009: Kansas City, Kansas. This is after the rerouting of US 24/40 onto I-70 in KCK, taking away the independent segment of those routes east of US 73/KS 7. US 69 and 169 bump against each other repeatedly in the KC area. The numbers have even swapped roads a few times. There are some ways to iron it out — without dumping more onto the interstates, I might add — but it’s unlikely to happen.
I’ve traveled every mile of US 69 from the Texas/Oklahoma state line to its north end in Albert Lea.
This is a few days old, but it appears the Pamida brand will be going away. There are Pamida stores in Toledo and Eldora. Guess I should’ve taken a picture one of those many times I was cataloging changes on US 30.
June 25, 2009: Sideling Hill cut on I-68 in western Maryland. Sadly, we did not have time to stop at the visitors center, which closed permanently six weeks later. Here’s a description of the geographical features.
This trip also gave me a stretch of US 40 in Maryland, so now I’ve been on it for some length in every state although some of those are interstate-only.
April 18, 2006: North end of US 67 near Iowa’s easternmost point. US 67 is a diagonal route, although its later northernmost segment runs more north-south. For nearly 35 years, 67 defined the eastern curve of Iowa from Davenport to Dubuque, running concurrently with US 52 for no particular reason.
Two of the numbers are out of place sequence-wise, but Iowa has every odd US route number from 59 to 71, plus 75 and 77.
June 12, 2011: Downtown Chicago at the “classic” or “traditional” end of US 66.
It is always interesting to be traveling on a lonely Iowa county road and hear news and traffic on WBBM. (Less so to actually BE on the Dan Ryan/Kennedy and hear the same.) The bustling city is six hours away, and I enjoyed walking up and down the Magnificent Mile, but the gravel roads and open skies and peaceful fields have their own magnificence.
May 19, 2004: Downtown Albert Lea, less than five miles from US 65’s north end. This is also the south end of MN 13. It would have been smarter for Minnesota to extend US 69 either to this intersection (instead of 13) or have it come up with 13 to I-90 rather than have it continue to end at old US 16.
December 29, 2001: G.E. Patterson (Calhoun) approaching 3rd Street in Memphis. The problem is, even 10 years ago, official maps show that all the US routes have been moved east onto Danny Thomas Boulevard. But signage, and Google, still direct along 3rd and a 2nd/3rd one-way pair.
Today, we get our televisions back.
After weeks of political ads filling daytime television, evening television, Christmas specials, and football games, it’s time for a few months of seed corn and herbicide commercials. (Remember, the Jan. 3 date is all Florida’s fault for blatantly and repeatedly violating both parties’ rules.)
The closest Iowa caucus in history went past midnight, until someone in Clinton County woke up.
I consider it my duty as an Iowan and someone interested in the political process to see as many candidates as I can. That’s true no matter which party. In the last week, I made it to see four of them, in addition to two I saw before the straw poll.
Four candidates in four counties in six days isn’t quite my 2008 mark of four candidates in four counties in three days, but it’s close.
Every time I go to an appearance I am reminded of what a massive logistical undertaking a campaign is. There are sticker rolls to distribute, materials to print and set out, yard signs to arrange, advance teams to get rooms and chairs, and someone to figure out if it is actually physically possible to be in Grundy Center or Guthrie Center after being somewhere else hours earlier. All of that is before the candidate and media entourage set foot in the building.
And in four years, despite the quadrennial outpouring of criticism, Iowa will do it all again.
The final score for 2011: Before the straw poll: Michele Bachmann, Urbandale; Tim Pawlenty, Indianola. Between Christmas and caucus: Rick Perry, Osceola; Ron Paul, Perry; Rick Santorum, Indianola; Newt Gingrich, Ames.
For comparison, this was 2007 (in chronological order): John McCain, Des Moines; Mitt Romney, Des Moines; John Edwards, West Des Moines; Fred Thompson, Urbandale; Rudy Giuliani(!), Clive; Mike Huckabee, Indianola, Hillary Clinton, Traer(!!); Joe Biden, Ames; Barack Obama, Boone; Chris Dodd, Indianola. Huckabee, Clinton, Biden, and Obama were the four in three days. Four years before that, I saw Edwards and Howard Dean in Toledo.
Cumulative by county: Polk 5, Warren 4, Tama 3, Dallas 2, Story 2, Boone 1, Clarke 1.
