The Highways Traveled

This trip had several purposes: 1. Cover many states that originally were planned as smaller separate trips 2. Visit neasrly 100 college campuses to photograph their signs, some I had visited in the past and unable to find their signs then 3. Visit some national parks that I had never been to and have long wanted to see 4. Do some family history research 5. Meet up with a friend who lives in Seattle and was visiting family in New Jersey 6. Tour places in these states that was the first time to be there, many other places were repeat visits

Many of the states this trip took me through were states where the ancestors lived as they migrated west. Thus, I feel a part of these states.

MINNESOTA: College campus to visit
WISCONSIN: College campus to visit
ILLINOIS: College campuses to visit
INDIANA: College campuses to visit along with one national park, Indiana Sand Dunes
MICHIGAN: College campuses to visit plus re-visit a US Presidential Museum, Ford
OHIO: College campuses to visit, two national parks to visit (Cuyahoga and Dayton Aviation)
PENNSYLVANIA: College campuses to visit, spend some time in Huntingdon, the furthest back place I know of for the Wilson family line, also, one national park to visit, Fort Necessity
NEW JERSEY: College campuses to visit plus one national park (Thomas Edison Museum), also got to meet up with a Seattle friend who was in this state the same time I was
DELAWARE: Unplanned college campus to visit
MARYLAND: College campuses to visit
WEST VIRGINIA: College campuses to visit plus see one national park, Harper's Ferry
KENTUCKY: College campuses to visit


MISSED VISITING:
--Would like to have had more time on this trip so I could do family history research in Tioga county PA and Medina county OH and Clermont county OH
--Indiana Sand Dunes National Lakeshore -- thunderstorm going and the roads to actually get to the lake shore were very confusing. Signage was unhelpful or lacking.
--Delaware and D.C. -- to save time, postponed these to a trip in September since I plan to be in these places then
--Having lunch with a cousin in Columbus, he was tied up at the office

OBSERVATIONS: Some observations made while traveling in this area:

  1. Despite spring being late to arrive around much of the US, it looked like summer in Iowa, at least for everything except crops
  2. I-35 exit #182 is to Swaledale and Rockwell. Cute rhyme.
  3. I have noticed many times over the years how state boundaries have next to nothing about landscape. For example, Iowa is mostly flat and few trees and farmland whereas Minnesota is lakes and pine trees and hills. Yet, southern Minnesota looks like Iowa. Should have drawn the border so the Iowa-looking part belongs to Iowa.
  4. Impossible to quickly get to anywhere in upper Wisconsin and Michigan. All small, curvy two-lane highways that pass through many small towns. Upper Michigan is good about having passing lanes though.
  5. Wisconsin has a unique look-and-feel to it like nowhere else I have visited. I like it.
  6. Wisconsin had a large crew of volunteer litter collectors across many miles of Highway 8. Same was true for Michigan Highway 41.
  7. While Minnesota is known for its lakes, Wisconsin should be known for its rivers. There are many and are surprisingly wide.
  8. I had known for years how many parts of Iowa interstates have a red color to them. I was surprised to see that Wisconsin's I-37 near Wausau is the same color red
  9. There is much logging going on in northeastern Wisconsin. Ditto upper Michigan.
  10. Just as I was getting into upper Michigan, I saw my second deer of the day. After hitting a deer in south central Idaho a few years ago, I am on continuous watch for them. Hitting a deer is like having a kidney stone or serving jury duty -- a repeat performance is undesirable!
  11. Northern Indiana and southern Michigan had spring bloom colors. That means I have seen spring blooms in March, April and May this year. Nice!
  12. The Great Lake states and the mid-Atlantic states, all being near large bodies of water, tend to often have rain. It rained almost solidly for eight days with 100% cloud coverage. Makes for lousy photographs but great for keeping the bugs off the car windshield.
  13. In South Bend Indiana I saw a motel called "Catnap Inn". Cute.
  14. Michigan had something unusual I cannot recall seeing before. On the approachable side of their mailboxes by the street edge was a small wall about two feet wide and as tall as the mailbox. On the wall would be some reflectors and other objects whose design seemed to be at the discretion of the home owner.
  15. Along Michigan highway 46 in lower Michigan the towns did not require lower speed limits but did put up traffic lights to basically do the same thing -- slow down traffic.
  16. Garmin and I have a strange relationship. Garmin sometimes, unbeknownst to me at the time, takes me on the longer route (example: Allentown to Philadelphia through New Jersey instead of Pennsylvania). But sometimes Garmin takes me on a scenic route that may be longer to drive but was worth a visit (my favorite one was the Moki Dugway in southeastern Utah)
  17. Garmin also sometimes waits until I am in an intersection before saying "turn left". But Garmin is worst when I am in a parking lot and it has no idea which direction I am facing and gives no indication of which way to turn when coming out of the parking lot.
  18. If I were to list the Top Ten Ugliest Cars on the roads today, the PT Cruiser would occupy the top six spots. The Chevy HHR, which looks a lot like the PT, would occupy spots #7, #8 and #9. Michigan has way too many of these two vehicles, maybe because they were made in this state. Each time I see one I say, three times, "Ugly Alert!". I had noticed that people who buy those cars tend to be quite aggressive drivers. A car salesman once told me that people who cannot afford a nicer car tend to but PT and HHR. Outside of Michigan, Zanesville OH seems to be the PT Cruiser capital.
  19. I was under the impression that all interstate speed limits east of the Mississippi, plus the states that border it on the west side, was maximum 70 MPH. However, in the upper and central part of lower Michigan there was a stretch that was 75 MPH. That was a pleasant surprise.
  20. I ran into little construction along my 5,700 miles of highways. Exceptions were Michigan (they were the worst), Pennsylvania, Indiana and New Jersey.
  21. Detroit drivers do what I thought was unique to Texas drivers -- the interstate driving is cruising along at the speed limit, then a hundred-plus cars all come to a complete stop. Then they all resume speed limit driving. Nothing visible to indicate why it stopped -- nothing on the side of the road, no construction, no radar guy, Nothing!?!?!? We simply stopped for no apparent reason.
  22. For decades I had said that the most boring stretch of interstate driving was I-70 through central Illinois. On this trip I noticed how flat northern Illinois is. One can see for miles in every direction.
  23. The drivers of northern Illinois tend to really like red cars and trucks. Seemed an unusual high percentage of all vehicles seen. And this was not just regular red, it was fire engine red.
  24. Driving from Macomb IL to Charleston IL was mostly two-lane highway. Strangely, no "Deer Crossing" signs were seen. Ditto along I-57 near Charleston.
  25. Thunderstorms started my morning drive two days in a row. After the storms, the clouds looked way cool. I photographed some.
  26. The area around Bowling Green OH is really flat.
  27. Cleveland's rush hour is still going almost until 9:00 am. However, right at 9:00 am it is all gone. Weird.
  28. Akron OH has cop cars everywhere. Bet I never went more than 20 seconds without seeing yet another one while driving around the university area.
  29. Western Pennsylvania and its tree-covered mountains is gorgeous
  30. I was pleasantly surprised to see that my drive from eastern Pittsburgh to Loretta and Huntingdon had four-lane highways instead of two-lane. However, because of the rain and the mountains, many sections were covered in fog. Sometimes visibility was 50 - 60 feet.
  31. My ancestral home town of Huntingdon PA has a population just under 7,000. Small town. I expected small look and feel (I was last there in 1982). This time is seemed much bigger. Huge grocery store (appropriately called Giant). Two large nice hotels. Much had grown around the outer edge of town. Downtown is still small and old looking with narrow one-way streets and only metered parking (one hour for one quarter). This time I got to visit the college (Juniata) on the northwest part of town. And, I had to make three trips to the Riverview Cemetery trying to find my four ancestors buried there. After visiting the historical society, I had the sections where the ancestors were buried. However, no signs to tell sections, much less lots. And, it was raining. I walked by every headstone in what I thought were the two sections I needed. Went back to the historical society who said to go to The Shed and find the workers who has maps of the cemetery. No one there but I again walked the sections, again in a light rain. This time the historical society told me to go to the city hall and see Rick. He just said go find the cemetery guy, Buck, at The Shed and that he might be out mowing (in the rain!!!) so flag him down. So I did. Buck indeed does have maps showing each section and lot number and a name (sometimes multiple family members are buried in one lot but only one name given on the map). It took some looking but Buck and I found the two lots I needed (one was incorrect at what the historical society looked at, it said section 2 but actually was section 8 thanks to a photograph from findagrave.com). Unfortunately, the headstones were too worn to be readable.
  32. While driving along I-80 headed towards the town of Buckhorn PA I saw a row of delivery-type trucks that all looked alike. As I got near them I saw there were seven Frito Lay trucks. I later Googled to learn that Frito Lay has some offices and distribution centers in this part of the state.
  33. New Jersey probably has more traffic lights per highway mile than all other states in the U.S.
  34. New Jersey drivers continue to turn left even after their traffic light has turned red
  35. New Jersey drivers handle left turns differently. Oncoming traffic will stop to let them turn. Also, it seems to be an expectation that letting left turners go ahead of you going straight,
  36. New Jersey rarely has speed limits greater than 55 except for their toll interstates
  37. New Jersey pedestrians tend to walk across a street wherever they choose and pay no attention to oncoming traffic. Several times I had to slam on my brakes because someone, not at an intersection. just started crossing the street in front of me
  38. Teaneck, New Jersey appeared to be a more upscale town, similar to a city with an Ivy League school in it.
  39. As I was driving around Johns Hopkins campus trying to photograph the signs in the rain, I noticed several dozen men in those bright green vests, and plastic ponchos over them, all walking around a very wide area in and around the campus. Something big must have been planned for later in the morning.
  40. Being at universities in May I encountered several having, or about to have, graduation ceremonies
  41. At Harpers Ferry, as I walked out of the visitors center, there was just a hint of sunshine. That was special because I had not seen sunshine in eight days. The temperature was just right. Birds were singing, the only sounds heard. The air felt fresh from the rain that had stopped an hour or so earlier. Puddles on the ground reflected sunlight. It was a very calm and peaceful moment. Ahhhhh......
  42. I-68 along the way from Harpers Ferry to Fort Necessity in southwestern Pennsylvania gave some different weather conditions. At mile marker 30 it was so foggy that we could see only about ten yards ahead. But the rule is to keep moving, do not stop. Then, at the 20 mile marker, I saw plenty of sunshine, the most I had seen in eight days. In fact, for a few minutes, there were practically no clouds. But mountains can quickly change the weather patterns and many white clouds moved in.
  43. Yet another foggy morning driving in West Virginia. It was the most fog I had encountered. Fog has a unique odor. I noticed that while driving on the interstate, even hills make a difference in the thickness of the fog. The lower points have the thickest fog and a hill just 15 feet higher can have much more transparent fog.
  44. In West Virginia, Garmin took me on a detour from I-79 to I-77 up to exit #124 before I realized I was not headed towards Huntington WV and Marshall University on I-64. Fun.
  45. QUESTION: All those deer crossing signs seen on the US highways......how do the deer know where they are so they can cross at those points?
  46. The route from Huntington WV to Athens OH was partly on highway 2 in West Virginia. It runs along the Ohio River and was a scenic route.
  47. Big Unfortunate Discovery: Apparently people east of the Mississippi River do not like Hershey Special Dark Chocolate candy bars. I went to about 15 places in several states looking for them -- I MISSED MY DAILY CHOCOLATE!!! -- and they are nowhere to be found. I ask and some clerks say "Sorry" and others say "I thought I saw them here once" or "We had some and they all went unsold and past they expiration date". Sheeeesh!
  48. Zanesville is where my triple great grandparents Wilsons are buried. Their kids moved to Xenia. So I have a special tie to Zanesville. While in town I noticed three things about the town. One, Way too many of those incredibly ugly PT Cruisers are here. Two, way too many people drive motorcycles here. Three, the street lights on Maple Ave are well timed to keep moving rather than stopping at each one like most towns do.
  49. Xenia OH, according to its water tower, says it is "The Bicycle Capital of the Midwest"
  50. The highway patrol and local police departments of Ohio were really monitoring the highways the Monday I was there. I saw at least ten pull-overs including one driver they made walk a straight line.
  51. Apparently college towns have many patrol cars riding around. Saw that in Wilburforce OH (two colleges there) and in Oxford OH,
  52. Hotels score Brownie Points with me for the following: kleenexes, toilet paper that rolls over the top AND there are two dispensers, single-handle for bathroom sink, refrigerator with freezer, microwave, alarm clock with RED digits, desk, desk chair that can raise/lower the seat height, bath towels whose first-fold is the length of the towel (vs. its width), HVAC units whose fan can constantly go (drowns out other sonds)
  53. Kentucky also has an extraordinary number of those hideously ugly PT Cruisers everywhere. On the other hand, I only saw one in Columbus OH. It seems Columbus residents have better taste than Kentuckians.
  54. People say that MacDonalds and Pizza Huts and even Walmarts are in every town. Wrong! But Dollar General stores indeed are Everywhere, at least east of the Mississippi River.

The Bests:


The Worsts:

The Totals:


Just to list this as of May 2018: