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In an earlier newsletter, I shared a few photos from the Route 66 museum in Lebanon, Missouri. Highway 66 may be the most famous of all highways but other historic roadways are also getting attention these days as the nostalgia for road trips continues to be a theme of American life.
During our RV travels last year, we spent a lot of time on Highway 36, the Missouri stretch goes from Hannibal to St. Joseph but the entire length of U.S. Route 36 stretches from Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado to Uhrichsville, Ohio.
The stretch in Missouri is about an hour north of Highway 70 and has been called, the “Way of American Genius.” The nickname is an acknowledgement of several great Missourians that grew up along Highway 36; Mark Twain, Walt Disney, and General Pershing.
Below is the boyhood home of General John Pershing. He served most famously as the commander of the American Expeditionary Forces during WWI.
If you would like to know more about our time in the area-Follow the Midwest.
Now, I am starting to think about the highways I might travel this fall while heading to southern Illinois. Illinois Route 3 parallels the Mississippi River for its entire length. Route 3 is 187 miles and begins in Grafton, ending just north of Cairo, Illinois.
The original highway went from Chester in southern Illinois to northwest Illinois but with the completion of highway bridges over the Mississippi River, Route 67 (another highway with a storied history) was extended from St. Louis to Godfrey and replaced the original . Today, Route 3 is still the major north–south corridor for western Illinois and the only major Illinois north–south route never upgraded to the Interstate Highway System like I-57 or I-55.