SOL25-1111
U.S. Route 20 is the longest continuous road in the United States, stretching for 3,365 miles. From the Atlantic to the Pacific. From Boston, Massachusetts, to Newport, Oregon. From New England to the Pacific Northwest. A scenic highway from coast to coast. Along its path, it passes through twelve states: Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indians, Illinois. Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Oregon. It connects major cities such as Toledo, Cleveland, Chicago, and Albany to backroad towns. It crosses wide rural regions, farmlands, mountains, and rivers. It passes natural landmarks like Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. It makes its way over the Continental Divide at Targhee Pass in Idaho.
The road was established in 1926 as part of the original U.S. Highway System. The western stretch was completed in the 1940s. It is mostly a two-lane highway with some four-lane sections and short three-lane stretches when going through mountains. In Iowa, it is totally four-lane. Interstate 90 parallels much of its course and offers faster travel; however, U.S. 20 provides a scenic journey. Driving nonstop, it will take you about sixty hours–and that’s not accounting for any “pit stops.” Driving eight to ten hours a day, it will take you at least a week. But if you want to fully enjoy the trip, it will take two to three weeks.
We often drive the west end of US Route 20 on day trips to Bend or to the coast. When we are ready to head back home from the coast, it always seems surreal as we turn off Highway 101 onto US Route 20 to see a sign telling us it is 3,365 miles to Boston. To think, I could just keep driving and driving and driving, never leave that highway and drive some more and after many hours, many days, maybe even a week or two, I would be in Boston. Now that would be the road trip of a lifetime.
A sign in Newport, Oregon at the west end of US Route 20
Writing about my writing.
When I first drafted this slice, I wrote everything from the perspective of Newport to Boston, west to east. I live in the west not far from the Pacific, so I think west to east. However, I changed the movement from east to west because the construction of US Route 20 actually began in Boston and gradually reached the west coast. However, every time I read this slice or look at the pictures, I think it is backwards. That’s how powerful the our point of view is. But though it seems wrong to me, it will remain as revised.
Back story to my slice today.
Today is Veterans Day. So it is appropriate for me to remember Boston, the site of Bunker Hill where my husband’s forefathers fought for freedom. I salute their memory. And I salute my husband who gave six of his best years to the Navy, riding a sub in the depths of the Pacific Ocean. Carl is from a long line of Patriots, beginning with the French & Indian Wars in the 17th century and the Revolutionary War in the 18th century.
Several years ago, we took ancestral trips crossing our vast country, tracing the generations backwards from a small rural cemetery surrounded by pasture land in Oklahoma to pioneer cemeteries in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. and Pennsylvania. It was an incredible experience to visit the burial places of those who made the way before us.
Carl reading tombstones In the Old Settlers Burial Yard
where Captain John White, Carl’s four times great-grandfather, rests in peace.
John White settled first in Salem in 1638 and is an incorporator of the Town
of Lancaster in 1653. He is a veteran of the French & Indian Wars.
Graves of Capt Jeremiah Stiles and wife, Mary Sanger Stiles.
The flag marks the grave as a Rev War veteran. He fought at Bunker Hill.
Aquila Ramsdell and his wife Esther Brown Ramsdell.
The star and flag mark the grave of a Rev. War veteran.
Aquila Ramsdell Taft, buried in Oklahoma, is
the grandson of Rev. War veteran Aquila Ramsdell.
He is the great-grandfather of Carl.
Carl, aboard the USS James Monroe,
receiving his dolphins from the submarine captain, 1972.
Thank you Two Writing Teachers
for hosting Slice of Life Tuesday Challenge
where Alice Nine teaches language lessons that
Empower Students to Read and Write
LIke/Follow Alice Nine Academy on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alice.nine.academy
I’m so glad you visited today,
and I do enjoy hearing from you!
Please share below.
Your comment will appear after Alice Nine reads and approves it.
Your post encompasses so much about America’s story and your family’s connections. I am smiling as I think about how roads, such as this, connect all of our stories.
Happy Veterans Day. In New Jersey, it seems like a lost holiday, but I remember. My dad, who died at the age of 99 this past March, was a World War II veteran – a Marine. He fought in the bloodiest battle – the Battle of Sugar Loaf Hill in Okinawa. I have driven west on Routes 80, 70, and 40. I wonder why we didn’t trek across Route 20. I now need to explore that route!
I like how your post encompasses so much. I’ve heard of Route 66 – and saw portions of it during our big Midwest/west trip last year – but I didn’t know about
Route 20.
Thank you to your husband for his service to our country.
It is something how one road connects the east coast with the west coast. Several years ago we drove from PA to CA for our nephew’s wedding. We drove I-80. Coming home we drove I-40. Each drive too about a week with stops along the way just to sightsee. It was an experience I am glad we had.
Highway 20 is our preferred route to Wyoming (from halfway between Chicago and Milwaukee). I agree, Alice. Taking the complete route from the Atlantic to the Pacific would be the roadtrip of a lifetime. I would love to have done it 40 years ago when the towns were a bit smaller and life was slower. But it’s fun even now.