As we travel around this beautiful country we often see signs such as "End of County Road 44" or "State Highway 63 Ends." It is common because a country road must stop at the county's border and a state highway must stop at the state's border. Usually the road continues under a different designation such as Jackson County Road 36 may become Scott County Road 36 and we ignore those end of road signs.

We have been to the end of several interstate highways including I-10, I-40, I-65, I-75 and I-95. Interstate highways have little emotional meaning to us because they are designed to get travelers from point A to point B by the quickest route. Most interstates skip towns and are not very scenic. Matter of fact, we hate interstates.

Our favorite roads are U.S. highways that stretch from border to border. Most of the U.S. highways were surveyed and constructed in the 1920's (called Federal Roads then) and they go from town to town across the USA. These roads usually follow animal and wagon trails created when our country was developing and go through the main streets of small town America. Sadly, many U.S. highways have been straightened and upgraded so they bypass towns and old attractions.

We have driven so many of those highway I'll forget to mention some, but we have done extensive travels on U.S. highways 1, 2, 12, 27, 30 (the Lincoln Highway), 31, 41, 60, 66, 90, 98 and as I said, many more.

Recently in Michigan we drove to the "End of the Road" on U.S. highways 41 and 45. Highway 41 begins at Lake Superior (near Copper Harbor), Michigan and goes through eight states before terminating in Miami, Florida. It covers 1,990 miles. Highway 45 begins in Ontonagon, Michigan and goes through five states before terminating in Mobile, Alabama. It covers 1,300 miles.

It was sad when we drove to the end of Highway 41. This is a glorious road that helped America grow as it cut through Miami, Atlanta, Chattanooga, Nashville, Evansville, Chicago, Milwaukee and Green Bay. Then it just stops with a sign that says "Road Ends." There is no town at the end - the pavement just ends shortly before reaching Lake Superior in the Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan.

In the last eighty years Federal Road 41 and later named U.S. Highway 41, has hauled cotton, tobacco, corn and wheat crops, it has transported fish and lumber, it has been Main Street in several hundred towns, and took people across the country on vacations. Then suddenly the pavement ends in solitude with a sign - Road Ends. We wanted to stand at that spot with our heads bowed in a moment of silence, but then we realized if we turned around 180 degrees, Highway 41 begins. Now we were excited. We can travel 1,990 miles through eight states and through the main streets of America until the Road Ends in Miami.