Let's start our 9th week of the road with some Rockabilly courtesy of the splendidly named Dive Bar Stalkers. Here they are ready to Hit it On the Highway.
Poor old Jerry Reed is much less positive. Here he is bemoaning about the Endless Miles of Highway.
Perhaps he is referring to Highway 70 (Interstate seems to be a newer name for those that cross state lines) Highway 70 has existed since 1956 and is now 2171.71 miles or 3495.03 KM in length and covering 10 states. For context the UK mainland is 683.5 miles North to South. Perhaps it is the very length of it which is giving The Bottle Rockets the Highway 70's Blues
More Highway Blues to cheer you up next week and to cheer you up still further I have dug up some more songs. There are plenty miles/km on this road yet.
Dive Bar Stalkers - Hit It On The Highway
Highway 70 is a long one, but we have a couple that are even longer and go through even more states. For instance, Highway 20 goes from Newport, Oregon to Boston, runs through 12 states and is 3365 miles. Interstate 90 from Seattle to Boston tops 3000 miles too. I once took it from Seattle to Chicago, and it took 3 full days of driving. I still had 1000 miles to go... - Brian
ReplyDeleteOoft!
DeleteI did LA to Boston with two pals. Took 5 or 6 days
That’s impressive, CC. -Brian
DeleteThe Interstate highways started to be built in the 1950s, while the US highways (many of which still exist) date back to the 1920s. There's a logic to the numbering system: even numbers are East-West routes while odd numbers are North-South. With the US highways, the lower numbered routes are in the north and east (e.g. US 1, which goes from Maine to Florida, or US 2 which is the northernmost E-W route). The Interstates reversed it, so I-5 is the westernmost N-S route and I-95 the easternmost N-S route, while I-10 and I-90 are the southernmost and northernmost E-W routes. The most famous song about a highway in the US is of course Route 66, which predates the Interstates and is about the now-decommissioned US 66. The second-most famous is probably Highway 61 Revisited, also about a US highway.
ReplyDeleteMarc
Thanks Marc.
ReplyDeleteEveryday's a school day!
I actually did learn that in school, in my driver's education class (which schools don't seem to offer anymore, sadly). I remember that stuff better than the chemistry and calculus I was studying at the same time! -- Marc
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