A Truly Restful Drive

Traveling on US Route 60 across southern Missouri is a beautiful and restful experience. What begins as flat delta land around Sikeston in eastern Missouri rises into the foothills of the Ozark Mountains as the road progresses toward western Missouri.

Several videos have been posted on YouTube that show different segments of the drive across Missouri. This one shows a climb up the foothills of the Ozark Mountains. I hope you will take the time to watch it. It is a truly beautiful drive.

Now, for some backstory about this fascinating highway. Route 60 was constructed under the Federal Highway Improvement Act of 1921. It begins in Virginia Beach, Virginia, on the Atlantic Ocean, and continues for 2,655 miles to its intersection with Interstate Highway 10 in southwestern Arizona. Originally, it continued on to Los Angeles, California; however, that last stretch was superseded with the construction of I-10. Along the way, Route 60 passes through Williamsburg, Richmond, and Staunton in Virginia; White Sulphur Springs, Charleston, and Huntington in West Virginia; Ashland and Louisville in Kentucky; Cairo in the southwestern tip of Illinois; Sikeston and Springfield in Missouri; Bartlesville, Ponca City, and Seiling in Oklahoma; Canadian, Amarillo, and Hereford in Texas; Clovis, Socorro, the Plains of Augustin, Cibola National Forest, and the Continental Divide in New Mexico; and Globe, Phoenix, Wickenburg, and Brenda in Arizona.

The states through which Route 60 would pass had a battle with the states through which the route from Illinois to California would pass for each one wanted the number “60.” Roads numbered in multiples of 10 were considered superior roads. After a lengthy period, the government stepped in and said, if the jurisdictions did not settle their differences, they would not build either road. The Virginia to Arizona road being a major east-west highway, it became Route 60. The Illinois to California route became Route 66. As history tells us, Route 66 became the more popular road.