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Welcome to the Iowa US Route 6 webpage! Whether you would like to learn more about America 's longest and highest highway, or become a part of our team of volunteers you've come to the right place!
Why
Highway 6?
When I drive on Highway 6, I see ghosts. I can see my late father making his rounds from Chicago to Denver in the 1950 's and 60 's as a sales representative. I can see Jack Kerouac and his alter ego, Sal Paradise hitching rides across Iowa with the many truck drivers who haunted its storied path. I can see the pioneers crossing Iowa. And I can see the towns and buildings as they used to be. I grew up on Highway 6 in Davenport, Iowa and at night, before going to sleep, I could listen through the open windows of my house, to the sounds of hot rods, motorcycles, and the drone of semi trucks passing down its well-traveled pavement. I would dream of the places these people were traveling to. In the summers my parents had a camp we went to every year, and of course, we drove Highway 6 to get there, passing through towns like Probstei, Walcott, Durant, and Wilton. Sometimes we would go further on, through Atalissa and West Liberty, to visit Iowa City. Over the years, I've watched many changes take place. Businesses came and went. The road that went through town was widened from two to four lanes when I was twelve years old. Then I watched as the interstate took over. It truely makes sense to write about this stretch of highway that is such a large part of my life. After all, there is a special feeling I get when I travel that road, especially when I hit a stretch of original pavement. It feels like a well broken in pair of shoes, or my favorite pair of holey jeans. You can see and feel the paths that tires of countless cars and trucks have left over the nearly eighty years of existence. You form a kinship with the road, whose trail was perhaps first blazed by the Indians. George R. Stewart, author of U.S. 40: Cross Section of the United States of America, commented that "Route 6 runs uncertainly from nowhere to nowhere, scarcely to be followed from one end to the other, except by some devoted eccentric". I could not disagree more. The more I study Highway 6, the more history, and more special people, places, and things I discover. If you are looking for the real 'Radiator Springs' like in the movie "Cars," you will find it here. Whether it 's the single grave of a long gone six year old girl, the childhood home of Nancy Drew author Mildred Wirt Benson, a bank robbed by Bonnie & Clyde, or the scene of a Jesse James train robbery, there are more stories to be told than I will ever have room for here - stories for you to discover. After all, there is no shame in being a 'devoted eccentric.' Nowhere indeed!
Our goal is to
work in partnership with the communities along the highway,
to add 'Historic' signage along the
old alignments, boost morale, preserve our culture, establish
educational programs, and promote tourism/commerce in each of
the 40 plus communities along U.S. Route 6 in Iowa. Together, we
can help these communities, and enrich our experiences. The
interstate took commerce away from many of these communities, we
can bring it back.
******************** Here is an Iowa web site that will take you down "Memory Lane". Turn on the sound and enjoy.
Dave Darby
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