Gribblenation

Cannons at Antietam. The second day of our adventure had us continuing through the Shenandoah Valley into West Virginia and then over to Antietam and Harpers Ferry.  It was my first visit to both locations in over twenty years, and I was looking forward to returning. Route: US 11, I-81, WV 45, WV 480, MD 34, MD 65, MD 34, WV 480, WV 230, US 340, WV 51. For a full set of photos from the second day of the trip head over here . Interstate 81 had its moments on the drive north, but it wasn't too bad overall. Our first stop would be at Antietam National Battlefield .  When I first visited in October 2001, this was my favorite of the battlefields I visited that year (Manassas, Gettysburg, Antietam). So I was excited to go back and share the trip with Colton.   Currently, the Antietam Visitors Center is being rebuilt, and a temporary one is open across from it.  After taking in the film - narrated by James Earl Jones - Colton and I began to do the self-guided auto tour of the battlefield.

Not much of interest exists alongside Interstate 10 west of Phoenix to the Colorado River and California State line. One notable oddity is the underpass of Sore Finger Road which can be found in La Paz County at approximately Mile Marker 60. Sore Finger Road is a primitive dirt road which begins at Salome Road and extends southwest to the vicinity of the Hovatter Airfield. The Sore Finger Road name allegedly come from a rock formation south of Interstate 10 which resembles a sore finger. The origin of the Sore Finger Road name was reported on September 28, 2015, in a AZcentral news story by Clay Thompson. The article served as an updated report from an earlier story which speculated on the origin of the Sore Finger Road name. The citation of the namesake "Sore Finger" rock formation is attributed to Herbert Winograd. From westbound Interstate 10 a "Sore Finger Road" placard can be seen affixed to an overpass structure.

Arizona State Route 153 was a 2.12-mile State Highway located in the city of Phoenix along the eastern outskirts of Sky Harbor International Airport.  Arizona State Route 153 was largely a limited access facility known as the Sky Harbor Expressway which began at University Drive and terminated to the north at Washington Street.  Arizona State Route 153 was commissioned during 1985, had a major planned alignment change in 1989 and opened to traffic in 1992.  Arizona State Route 153 was originally planned to continue south of University Drive to Interstate 10, but low traffic counts on the corridor never saw it come to fruition.  Arizona State Route 153 was relinquished by the Arizona Department of Transportation to the city of Phoenix during 2007.  The map below depicting Arizona State Route 153 was sourced from Wikipedia .   Part 1; the history of Arizona State Route 153 Arizona State Route 153 and the Sky Harbor Expressway were commissioned as part of the Phoenix Regional Freeway Sys