Checking in from the road

[Alps]

Next installation:  Yesterday morning I met up with [user=bugo] and we tooled around Little Rock for a bit.  Among the highlights were the State Capitol, Old State House, the Designing Women house... Oh, wait, this is a roads forum.  We drove AR 10 (short freeway/ramp stub and Cantrell Ave) west for awhile, drove the eastern section of AR 300 and part of the western section to see an abandoned truss bridge, and drove some of the former US 67E/67W pair, part of which is now AR 161.  There are plenty of highlights all over that will come out in my photos, plus one observation - when a freeway gets to Exit 0, it adopts the exit numbers of the highway it intersects.  At least, this held true for I-430 and I-630.  I should have paid attention to the other routes.  That night, I headed west on I-30 to Brown's Country Store - the buffet did get the best of me, but at least I can finally say I've eaten fried green tomatoes! - and then along US 70 to Hot Springs.

Today, I checked out the town along AR 7, but was up too early to be able to head up to the observation tower for sunrise.  As I soon learned while heading west on US 270, it wouldn't have mattered due to the clouds/fog and, soon, drenching rain.  That marred most of my drive west into Oklahoma.  It forced me to abandoned my drive of AR 88/OK 1 (Talimena Drive) west of Mena and instead switch over to AR 8/OK 63.  I headed north along US 259 to US 59 and some very interesting old alignments thereof, then onto the newly christened US 59 Bypass (aka Cavanal Pkwy./Expwy.).  Again, the rain forced me to bypass the drive up the mountain, so I continued on OK 112 and managed yet one more disappointment - I couldn't find the right turn to get me to the abandoned truss bridge on Karl St.  I continued on I-540 to I-40 west to US 64 west, scouting old alignments all the way to try to make up for what I had missed thus far.
Because I was three hours ahead of schedule at this point (thanks in no small part to the rain), after clinching US 266 I continued on old US 62 instead of I-40.  Best decision of this trip.  After Business 62 left, it pared down to a narrow concrete two-lane.  Then it lost the center stripe and, apparently, has not been maintained for those next several miles since the Interstate was built.  That was one bone-jarring and unforgettable ride!  Then it smoothed out some, and after US 62 came back in, I thought the ride was over.  Then I spied an old alignment to the right by US 177, U-turned and drove it.  I think I will likely be the last person to drive on that truss bridge before it falls into the water.  (There were other old alignments and bridges too.  All in all, I think this trip worked out today.)  I made it into OKC around 3:15 today, so toured all the freeways and scoped out all the button copy I could.  Also drove OK 66 from the start and found exactly one Historic 66 shield the whole way.  I took a look at future I-40 out by the I-35 interchange, and apparently since I learned about it, Lincoln Blvd. has been modified and runs right through the middle of the future freeway.  That afforded some nice photo opportunities without leaving my car or trespassing.  There's still only about a quarter-mile of pavement out there and maybe another quarter-mile of grading.
Tomorrow, Tulsa!

[US71]

Then I spied an old alignment to the right by US 177, U-turned and drove it.  I think I will likely be the last person to drive on that truss bridge before it falls into the water. 

That would be near Jacktown
http://bridgehunter.com/ok/lincoln/23340000000000/
I drove over it last July