2 for U.S. 2

 It surely has been a bit since I covered any highways, school taking back up again and all, but I have not gotten even close to forgetting my mission of celebrating the greatest U.S. highways created starting 100 years ago next year.

So far, I have covered much of what I consider the desert giants. That was actually easy because if one looks at a highway map of the United States, the eastern half is like a maze, or rather a latticework of roads, while the west is much more sparse.

I also covered highways tht originated in Detroit as well as U.S. 6.

This evening, we will examine what I call the "Northern Tier Highway", known as...

2 is unique in its own right as there are two distinct secions of it.

The eastern portion of U.S. 2 is only about 460 miles, stretching from Maine to just barely into New York. This looks like a highway I would enjoy exploring, especially in the fall when the New England colors and temperatures give images of apple cider and cinnamon donuts..not that I'm doing much in the way of donuts anymore, but having grown up in the eastern U.S., the memory sticks. Not only the colors, but the small towns and countryside along with older building architecture are a sight to behold...and dearly miss when one such as I have lived among newer cookie cutter homes for quite some time now.

While U.S. 2 sees a good around of countryside through Maine, New Hampsire, and eastrern Vermont, its last several miles cross several parts of Lake Champlain. Plus, it begins just west of the Canadian border at New Brunswick and ends just south of Quebec near the northern end of U.S. 11.

However, that is just the beginning. Just a few hundred miles west in the start of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, U.S. 2 begins at I-75 in St. Ignace, just north of the Mackinac Bridge. 2 cuts through heavily wooded areas of northern Michigan after traveling along the northern banks of Lake Michigan. It meets U.S. 41 to travel through Escanaba together, then depart to Wisconsin, then Michigan again and back into Wisconsin after passing through Ironwood.and coursing through northern Wisconsin's ruralness before crossing into Minnesota south of Duluth and then heading into Minnesota's northern woods, farmland, and passing by many lakes along the way. I can just imagine the fun of this drive!

In North Dakota, U.S. 2 sees fewer lakes and many more empty prairies, perhaps wondering if Laura Ingalls Wilder traipsed through those areas.

And then we hit Montana...all 667 miles of it! And much of that land is as empty as North Dakota with even LESS water! After many hundreds of miles of plains and small towns, 2 crosses I 15 in Shelby and then passes through the Blackfeet Reservation before heading by and giving access to Glacier National Park. After many miles of empty plain, U.S. 2 finally hits the Rockies and is a mountain road well into Kalispell where it meets U.S. 93. It maintains a woodsy-mountain feel into Idaho as it heads to join U.S. 95 to Sandpoint and then follow the Pend Oreille River into Washington before it cuts south to be part of the Spokane metro area. It joins I 90 briefly before going into the vast emptiness of central Washington, looking at times like much of Montana. After a long while, it crosses the Columbia River north of Wenatchee and heads into the Cascades, crossing Stevens Pass before ending in Everett at I 5.

U.S. 2 is definitely a more sparse highway as it cuts through the northern tier of the nation, but it does provide access to many scenic and exciting areas...just a lot of distance between them. I would likely find U.S. 2 to be fun in New England with its throwback feel to Minnesota's many lakes to Montana's vast emptiness. A little of something for everyone!