The U.S. 1 and only!

 There are some cases where the number 1 is the best!

In athletics or academics, being number 1 is an achievement!

In the bathroom, it's the easiest to clean!

On a test, it's a low F!

And then we have the HIGHWAY

For the last few weeks, I have been celebrating the highways on the western side of the U.S.A., particuloarly the desert, and then we had U.S. 101, which can and should be interpreted as U.S. 1 hundred 1, not an offshoot of U.S. 1. Believe me, U.S. 101 and even California's own state route 1 have a particular advantage over U.S. 1, and that is OCEAN VIEWS!

101 offers many ocean views in southern California and when it is not near the ocean, CA 1 takes up the slack, rarely being further than 15 miles from the Pacific.

If one looks at a map of U.S. 1 from Maine all the way down to Key West, it looks like 1 affords many an ocean view in Florida and Maine, but in reality, the Keys contain most of the ocean views. That is impressive, of course, and there are miles and miles of ocean on this stretch.

Where U.S. 1 is quite impressive is MILEAGE. It is in Maine for 526 miles, while Florida claims 545 miles of U.S. 1! All other Eastern Seabord states claim anywhere between 7 and 223 miles. What is also pretty cool is that U.S. 1 has a presence in quite a many important city: Portland,Maine, Portsmouth, Boston, Providence, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington,D.C., Richmond, Raleigh, Columbia, Jacksonville, and little ol' Miami.

In fact, U.S. 1 seems to have been designed almost 100 years ago to do just just: connect the dots of all the major eastern cities on the map. Scenery seems to have come at a distant second...but then again, who can define scenery? Some people consider the vast, empty desert as scenery (I certainly do!). An abundance of trees can be considered scenic, as well as farmland. A mile or so of a small New England village with autumn foliage could certainly be scenic.

Of course, there are the many pieces of urban blight along U.S. 1 that hold varying opinions of beauty. I once thought the urban feel was a good one, because all of the possible goods and services one could need or want were right there. As I have grown much older, the rural feel is more appealing.

U.S. 1 certainly has its share of ruralness, particularly in Maine once you are past Portland, and that is well over 500 miles! Of course, all of the other states, even New Jersey, hold at least one little piece of rural wonder.

There are times, of course, when U.S. 1 lies in the shadow of Interstate 95, but that is not as often as one may think. Where I 95 skirts many city centers, U.S. 1 is in the heart of them. Plus, U.S. 1 goes beyond I 95 to the south AND north. And as long as U.S. 1 remains a vital transportation corridor, meaning as long as the truck and automolile are around, so will U.S. 1.