We live in a beautiful nation... if folks would just get off the interstate...
a lot of still almost long forgotten America still exists...
I take a lot of the old US routes when I travel if I am not up against a time clock...
for example, GopherG mentions old US 2....across the UP of Michigan..
when I was in the service, I did basic and AIT in Oklahoma and then Texas....after that my duty station was Ft Lewis WASH...I went back to New England, got my old Volvo Wagon, and drove up to Maine and picked up old US 2... and drove it across to Rouse's Point NY where it ends at the border with Quebec above Lake Champlain.... drove across Canada to Ottawa... picked up Rt 17 across Ontario to Sioux Ste Marie, crossed into Michigan's UP....picked up US 2 again there... and drove it across Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, Idaho and Washington State, until it ended in Everett WA....I had 10 days to get to Ft Lewis, so I took Us 2 cross country.... done a lot of old US routes like that.... its even easy a lot of time to follow the old decommissioned US Routes, if you know what to look for...
Florida... I've taken the A1A down the coast as much as possible.. which is old Florida in a lot of places..
I love driving down the old US Hwy down the Keys to Key West....I love seeing the remains of the old Key's Hwy ( US 1)... I remember it as a kid... I started grade school in Key West in 1958, when my dad was part of the Air Force liaison at Key West Naval Air Station back in 58...
In travels, I've driven US 1, from Key West to where it ends in Northern Maine on the Canadian border also..
I've followed old US 20....from here on the coast in Oregon... to where it ends in Boston...
US 30 cross country... US 40, US 50, and US 60... sure there are places decommissioned, so you take the interstate in those parts.. and pick it up when you can and where you can...
US 6 from Provincetown MA on the Cape, to where it ends in California...
done a lot of these routes east to west and then north and south, border to border...
we live in a beautiful nation and a lot of small town Americana is still out there....
folks ought to try and experience it while its still here...
My next planned trip like that is to take US 91 from Arizona to the Canadian border, its on my bucket list for this summer...
