Going where the road leads

Published 12:00 am Monday, March 29, 1999

LEONARD GRAY / L’Observateur / March 29, 1999

ACROSS AMERICA – It always seemed to dismay Ronald Theriot Jr., asocial studies teacher at East St. John High School, when students wereunaware of the world around them.

For example, he found most students didn’t know that U.S. Highway 61(here called Airline Highway) extended from New Orleans to Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. Or that U.S. Highway 51, with one terminus in LaPlace,has its other end 1,200 miles away, in Hurley, Wisc.

So he decided a few years ago to prove it, to himself and his students, by making the drive in his late-model Ford Mustang.

“I just wanted to see the end of 51 and sightsee along the way,” Theriot recalled. “I always was fascinated with maps as a little kid.”He made the trip in July 1998.

Theriot recalled: “Before the introduction of the interstate highway system, U.S. 51 was one of the major north-south routes in our nation. Andwhile the highway does not connect any major cities, it does pass through seven states, ending within a few feet of an eighth.”U.S. 51 was declared a national route in 1926 when the national highwaynumbering system was implemented in order to make cross-country travel less confusing and more convenient.

With the widespread advent of automobiles in the 1910s and 1920s, as more and more people came to own cars, the wanderlust of the open road appealed to thousands.

After World War II, and with the prosperity of the 1950s, to “see the U.S.A. in your Chevrolet” became almost a national obsession. Somehighways, such as U.S. Highway 66 from Chicago to California, launched afad for the open road. There was even a television show, “Route 66,” abouta pair of wanderers on the road to adventure.

Theriot decided to hit the road last summer. “It’s not a trip to take ifyou’re in a rush,” he said, smiling.

In Louisiana, highlights included Ponchatoula and its historic district and antique shops. Then, there’s Camp Moore, the old Confederate trainingcamp.

In Mississippi, his route took him past Percy Quin State Park and the Casey Jones Museum but, he added, “northern Mississippi is pretty desolate.”Then there’s Memphis, Tenn. U.S. 51 goes right past Graceland, where it isrenamed Elvis Presley Boulevard. Afterward, it becomes Danny ThomasBoulevard in remembrance of that entertainer and in honor of the children’s hospital he helped support. He also had another surprise – anintersection with U.S. 61 in Memphis.In Kentucky, U.S. 51 dives deep into swampy woodlands and bypasses theWycliffe Indian mounds.

In Illinois, highlights include the old town of Cairo and a crossroads with the Old National Road, U.S. Highway 40, in Vandalia. That highway,America’s first major highway, crosses the country east to west through that state’s oldest capital.

Still headed north, U.S. 51 intersects with Route 66 at Bloomington and, atRockford, becomes a toll road for 22 miles at a cost of 15 cents.

In Wisconsin, U.S. 51 climbs into the heavily-forested hills, surrounded bysmall lakes in a sportsman’s paradise. Then, it’s on to Hurley and thenorthern end at the intersection with U.S. Highway 2 (a highway whichcrosses America’s roof, from Maine to Washington).

Theriot snapped photos along the way, especially at the northern end of the highway, only a few hundred feet from the Michigan border, near a group of tiny, delightful waterfalls and only 11 miles from the shore of Lake Superior.

Theriot said originally U.S. 51 continued into New Orleans, but in the late1940s the southern end became the corner of West Fifth and Main streets in LaPlace. That lost two blocks several years ago with the constructionof what is still locally known as “New 51.”In late 1979 Interstate 55 was opened between LaPlace and Ponchatoula and the old ground-level highway was bypassed and renamed I-55 Frontage Road. Still, the old U.S. 51 remains and, off in the brush to the east, arethe bits and pieces of the original 1920s-era U.S. 51 which was in useuntil 1958.

Theriot’s entire trip took him less than three full days, but he admits he could have dawdled longer at the museums, state parks and antique shops in many small towns along the way. “But there’s no real traffic, becauseeverybody’s on the interstate,” he said.

His next trip? Theriot said he’s considering U.S. 61 from its southern endat Tulane and North Broad in New Orleans to Ontario. He’s also thinkingabout U.S. Highway 11, which begins at Chef Menteur Highway in NewOrleans East and climbs the length of the Appalachian Mountains to Quebec.

Theriot’s students also have an eyewitness perspective to their broader view of America.Back to Top

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