Summer Trip Across Us 44

[usroadman]

Although I was hoping to drive US 41 this summer, I need to save a few more pennies for that one, so we took a weekend last month to drive the much shorter US 44 instead. Photos of the route can be viewed at http://www.usroadman.com/us44links.htm .

 

The route covers 4 states, but since it is in New England, we made the full round trip in two days. The route is almost all two-lane still, except for some commercial strips around a few cities, a new highway for the first few miles outside Plymouth, MA, and a couple of miles of Interstate in Providence and Hartford. The route offers a bit of coastal Massachusetts, a few smaller cities, the medium-size cities of Providence and Hartford, the picturesque small towns and wooded areas of northeastern and northwestern Connecticut, and the farms and apple orchards of New York's Hudson Valley. Overall it provides a very pleasant country drive.

[Chris Rowland]

Photos of the route can be viewed at http://www.usroadman.com/us44links.htm .

I enjoyed looking through the photos.

 

Chris

[roadmaven]

Good stuff! I really like the way you incorporate the 44 shields in every shot. Didn't you do that on.....was it on a US 2 trip? Nice touch!

[Keep the Show on the Road!]

Enjoyed the photos. They gave me a good sence of the route.

 

Thanks for taking the time to put together the slideshow and share it!

 

 

Keep the Show on the Road!

 

Dave

[mobilene]

Great photos, especially in New York. I always forget how lovely New York State can be.

[usroadman]

Thanks, glad you enjoyed them.

 

I really like the way you incorporate the 44 shields in every shot. Didn't you do that on.....was it on a US 2 trip?

Yes, I generally try to get a route shield in every shot (for all of the routes I've driven, 1 through 40 & 101). It adds a bit of a challenge since DoTs don't always put shields in the most picturesque spots. It also makes it easy to remember which road it was.

 

I always forget how lovely New York State can be.

I admit I did cheat a little on some of the New York pictures. I live about a quarter mile from US 44, so I went back out early one morning and took a few extra pictures so I could choose the best ones.

[DennyG]

Thanks a bunch for the US-44 pictures. That road is actually on my "to do" list (although not in the first tier). I live near and once lived under US-22 near Cincinnati. One day it occurred to me that if the double sixes contributed even a little to the Mother Road's celebrity, then other east-west double digit roads might have something going for them, too. There are only four possibilities - 22, 44, 66, & 88 - and one of those - the one that might have been the coolest: 88 - apparently never existed. So 22, 44, and 66 are the only members of the club. I got a little excited when I saw the picture with both a 22 and a 44 sign but quickly realized that the 22 was a state route. But the east end of US-22 is less than 100 miles directly south of the west end of US-44 so doing them as a pair (Sixty-Six: the hard way) is feasible. I have a US-22 route all ready in my DeLorme folder and here are some previous thoughts on it. Now you've got me thinking of someday driving the pair.

[usroadman]

I got a little excited when I saw the picture with both a 22 and a 44 sign but quickly realized that the 22 was a state route.

It's a pretty major state route, running along the eastern border from New York City to the Canadian border, but it is a state route. When I drove US-22, most of my family and friends assumed I meant this state route, not the US route to Cincinnati. It's almost all still just two-lanes generally, except for the first 20 or so miles north of NYC where it's 4 REALLY narrow lanes. I've probably driven at least 60% of it over the years, and most of it is quite scenic.

 

(Sixty-Six: the hard way)

I hadn't thought of that; I like it! If you ever do manage to do "Sixty-six: the hard way", stop by and say "howdy".