On the Road Again: Favorite Fictional and Mythical Highways

On the road to Mand-a-lay-ay

Where the flying fishes play-ay.......................

I have traveled I-84 through Oregon many, many times but I've always wanted the I-84 in Chuck Palanuick's "Lullabye" where the Road Kill Jesus, the I-84 Messiah, brings dead pets back to life.

And the dawn comes up like thunder
In China, 'cross the bay.

This is such a fun question to think about. Thank you Noddy for putting us on this road.

The Talking Heads sang this about A Road To Nowhere:

Maybe you wonder where you are
I don’t care
Here is where time is on our side
Take you there...take you there

That sounds very good to me.

Boomer--

Perhaps if you happen to be on I-84 at the witching hour when the moon is full and the planets are properly aligned....

Well, you can't exactly walk on this, but you could swim..............

Phoenix--

We lived in the same era.

Let's not forget the Mississippi--you and I and Huck and Jim all waited on the levee. Weren't those hoopskirts hell to manage?

Right after I got my first drivers licence I made a trip from Los Angeles to Fresno, utilizing the Ridge Route Highway, the 'Grapevine.' It has assumed a mythical proportion in my memories.
What is the Ridge Route?

The Ridge Route Highway is that section of road that winds over the San Gabriel and Tehachapi Mountains between Castaic Junction on the south (where I-5 junctions with Hwy.126 to Ventura) and extends to the bottom of Grapevine Grade on the north where I-5 enters the great San Joaquin Valley.

The "Grapevine" is the 6 1/2 mile segment of the Ridge Route that extends from Fort Tejon to the bottom of Grapevine Grade. Many people erroneously believe that the "Grapevine" got its name because the original 1915 highway had a series of "switchbacks" which allowed early vehicles to gain elevation as they climbed the grade heading from Bakersfield toward Los Angeles. The serpentine path resembled a giant grapevine. Although this observation was true, the name actually came from the fact that early Wagoner's had to hack their way through thick patches of Cimarron grapevines that inhabited "La Canada de Las Uvas," Canyon of the Grapes. Traveling the grade today, look for patches of what appears to be ivy on both sides of the canyon near the truck run-a-way escape ramps. What you see are descendant vines which date back to the 1800s.

The news media Incorrectly refers to the entire Ridge Route as the Grapevine.

There have been (3) Ridge Route highways. The 1915 highway which is the focus of this web site; the 1933 three-lane Ridge Alternate Highway identified as Highway 99 (in 1947 converted to a 4-lane expressway); and today's 8-lane I-5 freeway completed in 1970. The Ridge Alternate was severed with the construction of Pyramid Dam.

I took that piece off a web site.

Noddy- It was removing that rib, so that I could squeeze my waist to 20 inches, that smarted a bit!

I suppose all things are possilble (and I try to imagine three impossible things before breakfast) so perhaps I-84 at the witching hour.....

I'd at least see some lovely waterfalls.

Two other real "roads" that would be interesting to see: The trail of tears - the 1000 miles the Cherokee's were forced to walk when they were evicted from Georgia, and the underground railroad whereby slaves escaped to the north.

The house where my sister in law grew up, in Ohio, had been a safe house on the underground railroad.

Edgar--

In the UK the Ridgeway Path is a public hiking trail--probably laid out in the Bronze Age to take advantage of the sparse vegetation.

Phoenix--

Your mother must have been more understanding than my mother. Did you know that some of those Southern Belles actually squeezed their liver into two separate pieces in the name of High Fashion?

Boomer--

The Trail of Tears....I believe that name has also been assigned to the Milky Way.