"On the old highway maps of America, the main routes were red and the back roads blue. Now even the colors are changing. But in those brevities just before dawn and a little after dusk...the old roads return to the sky some of its color. Then, in truth, they carry a mysterious cast of blue, and it's just that time when the pull of the blue highway is the strongest, when the open road is a beckoning, a strangeness, a place where a man can lose himself."
From: Blue Highways, A Journey Into America,                                                                                                  by William Least Heat Moon                                                                                                                    [William Trogdon]

This past weekend I took a road trip in northern Wisconsin and made a conscious choice to travel blue highways. I did not seek strangeness nor the opportunity to lose myself; I sought familiarity and the opportunity to revisit an earlier time. Today's blue highways or back roads may well have been the main routes of an earlier day. Some have been relegated to back road status by the development of the interstate system and choices made to upgrade select parallel routes as the expense of others. The blue highways of my weekend included: 8, 13, 47, 45, and 64.

The criteria I use to identify a blue highway include: (1)no more than two lanes, one in either direction, with occasional passing lanes accepted, and (2)a maximum speed limit of 55 mph. I would also like to include the absence of bypasses, but there are exceptions: Highway 67 bypasses Antigo and Highway 10 bypasses Stevens Point. There are other Wisconsin blue highways that I have driven in the past and will continue to drive in the future. These include: 2, 27, 40, 63, and 70. Highways 29 and 10 (east of Stevens Point) have lost their blue highway status in recent decades. I suspect there will be others who suffer much the same fate.

What is it about blue highways? A primary characteristic is the individualization of place. There is the uniqueness of the Wisconsin countryside and its use dictated in large part by the local geography. Building and fencing materials often reflect their immediate environments. The lay of the land dictates the layout of fields and tillage practices, road routes, and population density or the lack thereof. Land use is reflective of a broad range of agricultural activities specific to the immediate area and the villages and towns that have evolved to serve the surrounding rural area. It is clearly obvious that some villages and towns have not survived during this period of evolution bracketed on one end by the 1950's and the other by today. There is a marked absence of suburban/rural exclusively residential developments serving adjoining and even distant urban areas. This is also a space where national chains and brands don't hold absolute dominance. There are opportunities for such places as Koni K's Kafe in Elcho where the pies are made in house. There is also the Bruce Café; when one orders oatmeal with brown sugar and raisins, only the brown sugar is served as a "side." The raisins are added at the same time as the other ingredients.

Maybe it is possible for travel itself to be served up and enjoyed as comfort food for the spirit.