I had so much fun driving twice across the country for 20 in ’21 and the YT Too, that I did it again. This time, both coast-to-coast routes were from the era of named auto trails that preceded the U.S. Numbered Highway System. A drive on the National Old Trails Road was plotted years ago but never got scheduled. Only after I was given access to a guide for the Pikes Peak Ocean to Ocean Highway, an auto trail with similar endpoints, did I get serious about scheduling a trip on the NOTR that I matched with one on the PPOO. Driving both trails in one outing didn’t fit into my life in 2024, so they were split into two. Both trips and both routes do fit into this book, however, despite there being over 200 photos included. Apparently, that’s a personal record. In prepping to write this review, I reread my review for 20 in ’21 and the YT Too and saw it was bragging about “nearly 200” photos. “Over 200” is now the new high mark. This book doesn’t have more pages, though, so I have to resort to bragging about “nearly as many pages as 20 in ’21 and the YT Too”. 

I also bragged about the title of the Yellowstone Trail and US 20 book and bemoaned the fact that it wasn’t as clever as initially envisioned. Of course, clever sometimes also means cryptic, and that might have been the case here. Anyone who thought 20 in ’21 and the YT Too overly cryptic will be happy to see that the title of this book isn’t cryptic at all and not the least bit clever either. It really is about going across America on two old highways and, since I’ve done that before, it really is about two MORE old highways. It just occurred to me that some folks might be unhappy about having to guess which two, and I can understand that. But putting the wordy names of these two auto trails in the title would have made it entirely too long, and it’s too late to do anything about it now anyway. Sorry.

To be honest, though, even if the names National Old Trails Road and Pikes Peak Ocean to Ocean Highway were right there in the title, they would not be recognized by everyone. Out west, some would recognize the NOTR as something that turned into US 66. Back east, a similar number might recognize it and think it had become US 40. In the middle of the country, I suspect that just a few would even recognize the PPOO’s name. Of those who did, some might say it was replaced by US 36, while others would claim it became US 22. There is a little truth in each of these claims, but my point is that not all that many people know that the PPOO and NOTR were both once routes that connected the East Coast with the West. Their names in the title would not be any more enlightening to many than the words “Old Highways”.

There is a chapter on the history of each of the subject highways that might enlighten you a little, but the majority of this book just tells about me trying to follow the paths of the historic routes while gawking at scenery and points of interest and taking some pictures.

Two More Old Highways Across America, Denny Gibson, Trip Mouse Publishing, 2025, paperback, 9 x 6 inches, 185 pages, ISBN 979-8280457881.

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