We have a great highway system in the USA. Modern interstate highways and multi-laned throughways cross our entire land providing quick convenient access to many cities and attractions. It is hard to find any area of the USA that is not connected via good roads. I certainly use those highways when I am traveling on business. They get me to my destination quickly and safely.
When you travel the interstate highways, you can typically travel long distances with little wasted time. You can stop in the conveniently spaced rest areas to purchase fuel, to use the clean restrooms, to eat decent quality food, to buy snacks or drinks and to purchase gifts or souvenirs. All of this is available without ever having to exit the highway system. Yet, it is all so monotonous. A rest area in Florida looks and feels the same as a rest area in New York or a rest area in California.
When I am traveling at my liesure and time is not critical, I prefer to avoid those convenient modern conveyances. I prefer to take the "road less traveled" and to venture "off the beaten path". Some of our scenic byways in the USA, are much more interesting than the big modern thruways.
Route 66 was once such a road. It was constructed in a time when access to the western part of the USA via auto was difficult. Route 66 was the first great cross-country road connecting Chicago in the northern Midwest with California on the southern Pacific Coast. It became the "mother road" for countless immigrants from the East Coast and the Midwest seeking a better life in sunny California. It crossed mountains, plains, deserts and lands both forbidding and beautiful. The little towns along Route 66 soon learned to take advantage of the continuous stream of travelers by offering food, lodging, groceries, amusements and diversions. They built many unique and quirky structures along the road to entice travelers to stop and spend a bit of their cash.
Unfortunately, the original route 66 no longer exists. It has been replaced by modern interstate highways such as route 55, route 44 and for much of way by route 40. These new roads approximate the old route 66, but they have annihilated the original route 66 in many places and simply bypassed it in others. Driving these new interstates is not as interesting. There are a few surviving segments of route 66, and a few modern equivalents with that name, but you must search to find those surviving remnants along side of the new highways.
I prefer the lesser traveled roads that have not yet been replaced by modern highways. On some of those roads, you can still find the spirit of old route 66. Those roads pass through small towns, past farms and ranches and through spectacular scenery. The local restaurants and shops are still housed in odd structures and still display quirky signs in order to entice travelers to pause and spend money. You can meet many interesting people along those roads.
Highway 12 in Utah is one such road. It is just a bit over 100 miles in length, but it travels through some of the most spectacular scenery in the USA. It passses near Bryce Canyon National Park, through Escalante National Park and terminates just short of Capital Reef National Park. Along the road, you might stop for fuel and find yourself parked next to an Indian driving a pickup truck and towing a trailer with a pair of saddled horses. You might stop at a local cafe and sit at a table next to a family where the father is wearing tooled leather boots, a wide belt with immense jeweled buckle and a broad brimmed "ten gallon" cowboy hat. If you pause to chat with him, you will learn that he owns a cattle ranch nearby and works on it as a true cowboy.
There are still two old style roads of epic lengths that have not yet been annihilated by their modern counterparts.
The old East Coast Highway 1 still exists. It has largely been replaced by interstate 95 and other modern superhighways. It begins at the Canadian border in Maine and wends its way south along the eastern seaboard for more than 2,000 miles until it finally ends at Key West 90 miles southwest of the Florida mainland. Unlike its replacement, Highway One meanders through many seaport towns, beach resorts and smaller cities along its way. I have driven segments of highway one in Main, near Baltimore and Washington DC, through the Carolinas and in Florida. Driving it can be very slow and frustrating due to all of its meanders, its numerous traffic lights and its areas of congestion.
I fondly remember stopping at a "clam shacks" along highway one in Maine to sample succulent fried clams fresh from the nearby sandbars on the Atlantic beaches. I remember the many "crab houses" along the same road in Maryland far to the south, and the barbeque pits along the route in South Carolina.
I recently drove highway one south from Miami Florida as it crossed the ocean on bridges and causeways for nearly 100 miles to Key West. The old road was populated with small neighborhood restaurants, each claiming to offer the best fish sandwich in the Keys, Some sported giant seashells, elephant sized lobsers or cars adorned with rooftop shrimps. All this simply to attract the attention of the passing motorists. I saw hundreds of fishing charters, many dive shops, excursion boats and a place to swim with the dolphins. As I drove through the keys, I remember thinking, "This is what route 66 must have been like in its days of glory".
The West Coast of the USA has its own counterpart for highway one. It has old Highway 101 that begins at the Canadian border near Vancouver and wends its way south all the way to Los Angeles. It is supplemented by California highway one that diverts to some of the more scenic coastal attractions. Like its East Coast counterpart, Highway 101 meanders through countless towns and cities and past many great scenic vistas. It has been largely replaced but not obliterated by the modern interstate Highway 5. I have not found the opportunity to explore Highway 101 as much as I would like, but I am sure it too offers just as many adventures and nostalgic attractions.
Route 66 is now a legend that exists primarily in novels, films and history books. Only scant pieces of the old highway are still existant, and those are largely immitation replicas created for the tourists. Utah highway 12, Route One and route 101 are still very real, and still available to travelers that would like to take the longer, more authentic road less traveled.