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SPRING 2020 ISSUE 01 / VOL . 05
Ghosts of service stations past .
distance , waiting for a truck hauling Johnny On the Spot port-a-potties or a farmer on his crawling tractor to reach his destination . It is , after all , their road !
Crossing the Mississippi River anywhere never disappoints , but the stunning Gateway Arch in St . Louis welcomes you to the concept of heading west . On the Big Muddy ’ s western slope you ’ ll find vineyards as you roll through Missouri ’ s eastern hill country . Jefferson City follows , with traffic needing to manage a stoplight or two before heading off for the level landscape of Kansas . There the rules change . Kansas is an entity all its own , different from everything . Its straight-arrow highways stretch forever , much like those in Montana or Texas . But in Kansas , all of them are flat , lacking dimension . Somewhere well into the state you ’ ll hit Kinsley , once the geographical center of U . S . 50 .
Eighty or so years ago U . S . 50 ended in Oakland , California , before the Oakland Bay Bridge was built . With its construction the highway was rerouted so that it and U . S . 40 both ended at a U . S . Route 101 stop sign in San Francisco . Today U . S . 50 ends in West Sacramento , in essence chopping off what was once my highway ’ s beautiful tail . While