The Long(est) and (not especially) Winding Road

Long-time readers of this blog will recall my goal of driving all the transcontinental US highways in the United States. There are a few caveats to this goal: I’m ignoring the interstates, which are boring, putatively high-speed freeways designed specifically to minimize encounters with towns and villages and, it seems, scenery. Instead, I’ve focused on the US Highway system–the “blue highways”–that traverse the continent. In terms of the US Highway numbering system, this means routes designated with two-digit numbers ending in zero.

Transcontinental routes I’ve traveled to date include US Route 50, US Route 60, US Route 70, and, somewhat defying the numbering convention, US Route 2. All of them are primarily two-lane roads whose alignments date back to the early 20th century, and which pass right through the center of countless towns, villages, and ghost towns. In fact, these routes are designated Main Street in many, many cities. In between are miles and miles of open country.

Many US Routes have nicknames–US 50 is “The Loneliest Road in America,” Route 66 is “The Mother Road,” US 70 is “The Broadway of America,” US 2 is “The Highline.”

To my collection of transcontinental routes I am about to add US Route 20, whose somewhat unromantic, bureaucratic nickname is “The National Medal of Honor Highway.” It runs from Boston MA to Newport OR, for a grand total of 3,365 glorious miles. Accordingly, it is considered the country’s longest road.

Now technically, this is a discontinuous route, for US 20 does not exist within the boundaries of Yellowstone National Park, through which you must pass to get across the country. In fact, the original route (opened in 1926) stopped at Yellowstone, and was only extended to the west coast in 1940. For reasons that will become clear later, I will only be driving that original route, from Boston to the east entrance to Yellowstone.

And so I am sitting here at Sacramento Intergalactic Airport awaiting my overnight flight to Boston. In the morning I’ll pick up my rental car and begin my westward trek, with daily posts over the next week and a half. If you have any suggestions for a stop along the way, or if you live along the route and want to buy me a beer, please say so in the comments below!

Oh, and at the end of this journey I’m going to invite readers to suggest a better nickname for US 20. The winner will get a Medal of Honor.