NEW MEXICO trip
Oct. 12-19 2023
PART 13
I-44 east of Tulsa. You actually have to exit I-44 to stay on I-44. US 412 through eastern Oklahoma is slated to become an Interstate. Officials had planned to make it I-42, but a separate I-42 is being established in North Carolina.
The exit to OK 66 used to be the exit to I-44, which continued northeast for a couple miles on a now-abandoned stretch.
A traffic tie-up at the exit from I-44 to itself.
Here's the cause of the traffic jam. It looks like a semi went the wrong way on the ramp and tried to make a sharp turn onto the freeway.
As a dilapidated yellow sign guides us into a toll booth on I-44, I'm not sure if this is the one where a truck driver argued with a toll collector and expected to be let through without paying.
I-44 goes under the Will Rogers Archway in Vinita. This building over the road contains McDonald's and Subway restaurants and a Kum & Go station. It reopened in 2014 after a costly renovation lasting over a year. A disappointed reviewer said of the McDonald's, "America shouldn't let these kinds of things happen." A review from before the renovation said the eatery offered "nasty toilets."
I-44 enters Missouri - and with it, the city of Joplin.
This 65-foot-tall obelisk was seen along MO 39/265 near Mount Vernon. It was built in early 2023 and is based on a monument that once stood in Las Vegas, N.M.
Everything sounds so much more appetizing when they call it a log! This is on I-44.
There's some dirty minds in Mighty Mo. The billboard on the left says, "So Much Jerky You'll Go Blind."
As we bypass St. Louis on the south, I-255 uses the Jefferson Barracks Bridge across the Mississippi River to Illinois. There was poo on the floor in the hallway at our motel in O'Fallon, Ill. I-255 whisked us through Cahokia Heights, Ill. If that city sounds unfamiliar, it's because it had just formed in 2021 from the merger of Alorton, Cahokia, and Centreville.
I-64 enters Indiana, whose new slogan was "More to discover!" Remember the Care-Free gum commercials where people "discovered" stuff? "The Wright brothers! You discovered the airplane!" No, you idiot, they invented the airplane!
West on County Road 1250 S near Haubstadt, Ind.
Apparently, this was officially I-265, but was still signed as IN 265. This stretch bypasses Louisville on the north.
The diagram shows the unusual exit to IN 62.
The sign is for the Lewis and Clark Bridge. If your jaw dropped at the high tolls, keep in mind this was 2023, not 1978 when we had a functioning economy.
The Lewis and Clark Bridge carries I-265 across the Ohio River to Kentucky. This cable-stayed bridge opened in 2016 and is 2,500 feet long. It has pedestrian and bike access too.
The bridge soars into the fall haze!
As we enter Kentucky, this stretch was still labeled KY 841.
The 1,700-foot-long Louisville East End Tunnel carries I-265 under US 42 and a protected estate. That's all well and good, but it's a shame Highland Heights wasn't protected from huge highway projects being plopped into town.
Inside the tunnel!
I-265 goes under the ramp from the other side of I-265 to US 42. The side we're on doesn't have US 42 access.
Let's end this photo shoot with some laughs! This is exiting a shopping center onto KY 53 in La Grange. That building seems to be a one-stop for dentistry humor. Particularly ridiculous is the kid with his mouth open.