Homeward Bound

The interchange is a few miles north of Lake city on Interstate 75. I reached there at about 11 this morning.

Passing the first exit – a simple curve to the right, I made a 270-degree right turn and found myself on . . . Interstate 10 West!

This will be my trail for the next couple of thousand miles. My Oregon, Lewis and Clark, Chisolm, Appalachian, John Muir – you get the idea.

Being on a named route adds something to a trip – particularly when hundreds and hundreds of mile are involved. I’ve followed my dreams along quite a few of these arteries since I first left home on my own back in 1967,

Route 66 resonates most with many westerners. Now renamed Interstate 40, this historic path has brought millions west from one life to another that the travelers hoped would be better.

I’m very fond of Routes 160 and 50 in Colorado. Both cross the continental divide, one crossing the bottom of the state, including the infamous Wolf Creek Pass, the other cuts through the state near the center and reaches a summit at Monarch Pass. I’ve lived on both of these highways and hold them in esteem – I could care less about Interstate 70 which carries most of the interstate traffic through trendy Vail into Denver.

In my younger days, I seemed to move back and forth between Colorado and California and dozens of commutes began or ended on stretches of those byways. Landmarks remain familiar to me and the songs of those times still echo in my head.

Though I loved living in Colorado – and wouldn’t be averse to returning there one day, there’s something about heading west that appeals to me. Maybe it goes back to old Horace Greeley, or the fact that my family moved from the east to west at a critical point in my childhood.

Passing through more meadows and other open spaces than usual today reminded me of the big sky country I’ve not seen for many months. Monument Valley, where John Ford and John Wayne made so many westerns, is on Highway 160 in Arizona. I’m looking forward to desert landscapes in sourthern Arizona along I-10.

I’m heading west at last. I’m glad there is so much left to see; but I’m also glad that every new drive will take me closer to home.