Upcoming trip thru OK, KS, MO

[N9JIG]

I am leaving soon for a trip from Arizona to Chicago and back. I am thinking of taking US-54 NE from Tucumcari NM to Pittsfield IL, then mainlining it to Chicago. (I have traveled every mile of every numbered road in IL already...)

Any interesting detours or sights to see along the way? While I have already traveled this route before the last time was 25-30 years ago.

On the way back I am going to try to convince the wife to allow some other route yet to be determined. Suggestions welcome!

[usends]

A few US 54 ideas come to mind:

If either of you are fond of The Wizard of Oz, there are some kitschy attractions in Liberal.  And a little to the NE of Liberal is "Samson of the Cimarron", a well-known Art Deco RR bridge.

Dodge City is interesting, and not too far off course.

The Big Well in Greensburg KS is pretty cool.

If you like American Regionalist art, there are some awesome Thomas Hart Benton murals in the Missouri state Capitol.

As far as routes back home, of course there's US 66, but you've probably already done that.  Another thought would be US 24 to KC, then US 56 to NM.

[N9JIG]

Probably not that much time. We expect to make Tucumcari or Albuquerque Friday night then are planning to be in Chicago late Monday although that could be stretched until Tuesday if need be.

I am kind of liking the idea of sticking with US-54 east of Tucumcari because in an indirect way it was US-54 that got me interested in roadgeekery in the first place. While I have clinched it, it was in many smaller segments and having a single trip cover the east half is appealing to me. I can re-clinch the west half later as I now live in the Southwest.

[paulthemapguy]

If you're looking for quick pit-stop type stuff where you take a photo and move on, you can look at Griggsville, IL for the giant birdhouse in the middle of the road, just off the eastern end of US54.  In Atlanta, IL there's a giant dude with a hot dog that's random and worth a quick photo.  If you want to follow the former alignment of US54, you can use IL54 to US45 to IL50 into the city.

[apeman33]

An interesting stop on U.S. 54 at Mullinville. Turn north onto the main street at the gas station then backtrack to the edge of town on U.S. 400. You'll see the metal sculptures of M.T. Ligget, who is quite, ummmm, unique in his vision (most of them are political; some are locally-inspired). Several of his sculptures incorporate old traffic signs (and some are very politically incorrect). Then turn around and you can get back on eastbound 54 on the other side of town.

An online article about them: http://www.postcardsfromsurprisingplaces.com/home/the-metal-art-of-mt-liggett-in-mullinville-kansas

Greensburg is that town that was hit by a massive tornado about a decade ago. It's recovering pretty well and is "going green." You can take a look around, if you have the time, and look at some of the progress.

The town where I work, Fort Scott, has the Fort Scott National Historic Site, where they've reconstructed some of the buildings and restored others from the original 1840s fort. Also, about a block south of the fort on Main Street, is the Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes, a museum that pays tribute to people who instigated change but were somewhat lost in history.

[Rothman]

An interesting stop on U.S. 54 at Mullinville. Turn north onto the main street at the gas station then backtrack to the edge of town on U.S. 400. You'll see the metal sculptures of M.T. Ligget, who is quite, ummmm, unique in his vision (most of them are political; some are locally-inspired). Several of his sculptures incorporate old traffic signs (and some are very politically incorrect). Then turn around and you can get back on eastbound 54 on the other side of town.

An online article about them: http://www.postcardsfromsurprisingplaces.com/home/the-metal-art-of-mt-liggett-in-mullinville-kansas

Greensburg is that town that was hit by a massive tornado about a decade ago. It's recovering pretty well and is "going green." You can take a look around, if you have the time, and look at some of the progress.

Greensburg also has the BIG WELL.  One of the largest hand-dug wells in the country, if not the world.  We were driving to Dodge City and saw the signs.  It's certainly a hole in the ground.

I got a picture of the metal sculptures out there as well.  Very strange stuff and probably controversial (I believe there were some references to Nazism and the KKK amongst them).

[US71]

If you have the time to explore, there are lots of old alignments of US 54 in Kansas, plus lots of old bridges.

[N9JIG]

I am almost afraid to ask, but what the heck is a "Furry Convention"?

[Scott5114]

I am almost afraid to ask, but what the heck is a "Furry Convention"?

I am hesitant to direct anyone to Google the answer to any question, since I've always thought it to be kind of rude, but the answer to your question is very deep and broad. A complete answer would definitely not be within the remit of the forum. Suffice it to say: if you don't know what a furry is, you're probably not going to be interested in a furry convention...

[N9JIG]

Day 3 is in the books!

Day 1 was Phoenix to Gallup on AZ-303, I-17 and I-40. Since this is home turf no real roadgeeking was done.

I-17 is possibly one of the most challenging rural interstates around. Curves, mountain's and heavy traffic make it hard to get a rhythm going but it is always a fun ride. I have only driven it a few hundred times and have enjoyed every minute of it. Getting on I-40 is almost restful after that ride.

Day 2 was Gallup to Tucumcari on I-40, they a little driving around Tuccumcari before we headed up US-54. We made it as far as Liberal KS.

Tuccumcari is almost a ghost town these days. What a pit! The last time I drove around it was about 10 years ago and there was at least a little life left, but now they might as well dig up the ramps from I-40 and bulldoze the place. No one would notice or care.

US-54 in NM was pretty much the same as the last time I drove it some 30 years ago except the speed limit is higher.

In TX I noticed one of the side roads marked as a Ranch Road, all others were signed as Farm Roads. I wonder if there is a difference or maybe a policy change that they missed or didn't get to yet. It was on the first or second road inside TX and I watched all the rest of the markers to see if there were any others with no joy. I should have stopped for a picture but didn't realize it was different until much later.

Edit: It was RM 3296, I found it on GoogleMaps. Picture of the sign is at https://goo.gl/maps/VZrJYLSbxeB2

In OK and KS as well as TX US-54 follows the old Rock Island, and I saw a lot more trains than I expected for a single track line. They have pulled all the lineside wires and replaced it with radio links (probably ATCS) and it looks better.

I met a friendly local cop doing speed enforcement in a small town in OK, let me off with a warning for 47/35.

We were too tired to do much when we arrived in Liberal. In the morning we stopped by the aviation museum and the Wizard of Oz place but both didn't open until 1PM so we left. I don't think we missed that much...

Today we took US-54 all the way across KS and made it to Nevada MO. We were going to go further but all the hotels in the Osage Beach area were booked so we made an early night of it.

We really enjoyed the road thru KS. US-54 followed the old Rock until Pratt and we saw a couple trains and some elevator switchers. Crossing the Cimarron River valley was spectacular. The railroad bridge was awesome, and would have made for a great picture if it hadn't been raining at the time. Even the wife was enjoying the trip.

We stopped in Wichita and had lunch with a niece, the town was a lot nicer than I remembered. We ate in a funky college dive near the state university campus and had a great burger. After that we got on the road again to Nevada, MO.

Tomorrow we head across MO and into IL, we will likely stay on US-54 to US-36, stop off in Jacksonville for a bit for the wife to visit her old school (ISD) and then to Springfield. From there we will likely head north on I-55 to get a wiggle on but I might try to sneak off and get some back roads in, maybe IL-47 north from 55.

[aboges26]

In TX I noticed one of the side roads marked as a Ranch Road, all others were signed as Farm Roads. I wonder if there is a difference or maybe a policy change that they missed or didn't get to yet. It was on the first or second road inside TX and I watched all the rest of the markers to see if there were any others with no joy. I should have stopped for a picture but didn't realize it was different until much later.

Edit: It was RM 3296, I found it on GoogleMaps. Picture of the sign is at https://goo.gl/maps/VZrJYLSbxeB2

I believe that has everything to do with when the road was established and whether it was serving a ranch or a farm.

[Brandon]

If you're taking IL-47 north of Morris, IDOT is twinning it from there to at least Caton Farm Road, just shy of Yorkville.

[N9JIG]

Well, we finished the trip east. We stayed on US-54 to the end at I-72/US-36 north of Pittsfield IL. The traffic they the Lake of the Ozarks area was heavy but not too bad. Having lived in the Chicago area all my life gives me some differing perspectives on traffic.

While not as interesting as Kansas (now that is a sentence I never thought I would write!) Missouri was pretty nice. It was a lot wetter than I am used to living now in Arizona and we had some fog to deal with. It was nice to have the windows open and AC off.

There were a lot more 54 related business names including a nice 54 drive-in theatre (for sale if anyone wants it) with a decent looking shield sign.

Almost got creamed by a van passing a truck on the bypass around Mexico. I was able to swerve off to the shoulder and used my 30 years of police pursuit driving experience to avoid a head-on. Scared the wits out of the wife but realized that my SUV is pretty nimble in a pinch.

Once we got on 72 in Illinois we just hightailed it to our destination. Been there, done that, got the website to prove it.

On the way back west next week we are thinking of stopping in Denver the going to Pikes Peak, so I will be looking for routes that way. I think I will take US-30 across Nebraska as I have so many times before, the train watching is great. We might however try US-40 across Kansas, I think the wife might like it.

[J N Winkler]

Tucumcari is almost a ghost town these days. What a pit! The last time I drove around it was about 10 years ago and there was at least a little life left, but now they might as well dig up the ramps from I-40 and bulldoze the place. No one would notice or care.

I passed through it in 2014 and had the impression it had declined into a series of truck stops with a few houses, motels, and restaurants attached.  This said, I wished I had spent some time there in good light with a camera to take pictures of the weird NMDOT one-off signs scattered around town.

In TX I noticed one of the side roads marked as a Ranch Road, all others were signed as Farm Roads. I wonder if there is a difference or maybe a policy change that they missed or didn't get to yet. It was on the first or second road inside TX and I watched all the rest of the markers to see if there were any others with no joy. I should have stopped for a picture but didn't realize it was different until much later.

FM and RM roads draw their numbers from the same pool.  FM is the default; a given road is designated as RM only if this is specifically requested.  The last time we had a big discussion about FM versus RM on this forum, I think NE2 drew up a two-color map of FM and RM routes showing that the vast majority of RM routes are in the Edwards Plateau in central Texas.  It is an old saw (dating from MTR days) that "most" secondaries west of US 281 are RM, while those east are FM, but this is emphatically not true.

We really enjoyed the road thru KS. US-54 followed the old Rock until Pratt and we saw a couple trains and some elevator switchers. Crossing the Cimarron River valley was spectacular. The railroad bridge was awesome, and would have made for a great picture if it hadn't been raining at the time. Even the wife was enjoying the trip.

It has been extensively improved in the last few decades.  When I was growing up in the eighties and nineties, upgrades to Super Two (two lanes with full hard shoulders--not in the typical roadgeek sense of two-lane freeway) were in progress.  Now it has been four-laned from Wichita most of the way west to Pratt, with a freeway bypass of Cunningham.  Kingman was supposed to receive a freeway bypass as well, but this has been shelved since Kansas' fiscal problems (due to a LLC tax cut and flattening of income tax brackets) have left no slack for taking advantage of lower construction costs to expand projects undertaken.  The main step backward has been the installation of stoplights at every mile intersection between Wichita and Goddard to accommodate suburban creep, though some intersections have been readied for grade separation through the construction of frontage roads.