Apr

6

All this chatter about interstate highways reminds one of the late CBS newsman Charles Kuralt's observations of such.

He felt strongly and not without reason that they should be avoided by the curious as: "Interstate highways allow you to drive coast to coast, without seeing anything." Felt so strongly about it that he was able to carve a tidy little career out of the notion:

…When he persuaded CBS to let him try out just such an idea for three months, it turned into a quarter-century project. "On the Road" became a regular feature on The CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite in 1967. Kuralt hit the road in a motor home (he wore out six before he was through) with a small crew and avoided the interstates in favor of the nation's back roads in search of America's people and their doings…

from wikipedia.

Stefan Jovanovich comments: 

In Bardstown, Kentucky there is a surviving piece of the other Bible Belt highway - the Wilderness Road. It has survived all the traffic because (1) it was build out of cobblestones and (2) the newer, better roads built during the Turnpike boom took a different route into town.

About the cobblestones: these are not the lovely smooth rounded ones that still survive in the pavements of some Eastern cities. They are truly rough pavement - the stones were not trimmed but simply set tightly in place, on edge. Walking the road is like hiking on the side of an old farm wall tilted up at one end; the grade and the stones get you in shape for the after-effects of the bourbon.


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