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Between yesterday and today’s travels we have put Ohio, Indiana and Illinois behind us and we are working on Missouri.

Spent a lot of time on I-70 which parallels US 40 which is the ‘National Road’.  The National Road was also and probably more commonly known as the Cumberland Road. Construction of the Cumberland Road / National Road dates back to Jefferson’s presidency. It was the first roadway to be built with federal funds and when upgraded it was the first roadway to be built with macadam. The original intent was to connect the Potomac River with the Ohio River by land route and open the West. Plans were made to continue the roadway to St Louis and the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers but funding fell short and the original roadway stopped at Vandalia, the capital of  Illinois at that point in history. Jefferson’s National Road was the precursor to Eisenhower’s Interstate Road System.

Along the US 40 / I-70 way we passed through both of my parents home towns. My mother’s family lived and worked in East St Louis, Illinois. My grandfather Stephenson, my name sake, being a manual arts teacher and later a principal passed away shortly before my parents’ marriage. My dad’s family was from Indianapolis, Indiana. My grandfather McKinney was a downtown banker in Indianapolis back in the day. My mom and dad went to college and met at De Pauw University in Greencastle, Indiana also along US 40 / I-70.

Green and yellow tractors on display not too far off the highway and right on top of the Greencastle (Illinois) exit pulled us off the highway for some fuel and photography. Mid-morning on a Monday found the American Farm Heritage Museum closed up but with a fair number of classic tractors outside. Oliver Tractors (new to me) at the AFHM carried the classic green and yellow John Deer color scheme. An Oliver tribute web site represents the Oliver color scheme as green and white as well as green and yellow.

These tractor images are a shout out to my grandson Wyatt.

We left the highway in St Louis to check out the Gateway Arch. A wonderful monument and huge architectural accomplishment. Little has changed in the 20 years since we went cross country in a VW pop-up with our young daughters except for the security presence and the need to have our selves and our belongings scanned. Not so 20 years ago.

We are now in the West, beyond the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers.