1 Massachusetts--MP153-MP79

I have to go back in time to the beginning of this adventure. August 10, 2013. Ten months ago. I told you a story. When I was just a little boy, my address was RR2, Mishawaka, IN. That's it. It's an address, but it isn't a location. So I was always taught that I lived eight-tenths of a mile north of US 20 on Elder Road. That was a location. Every day--going to church, to school, delivering newspapers, getting groceries, or having a root beer at the Dog & Suds--I crossed US 20. And every time I crossed it, I wondered where it went.

This week, I reached the Eastern-most terminus of my current travels in Boston, MA. My tiny hotel room was just two blocks from Boston Common. I took a walk to find the beginning of US 20.

It begins there, under that historic landmark CITGO sign that can be seen over the outfield wall at Fenway Park. And I'm going to follow it.

Of course, I had to explore around Boston Common a while first. The Common and the Boston Public Garden are impressive. Perhaps even more for the number of people who use the open area as for the beauty of the spot itself. I made my way east to the Park Street Church.

It's presided over the east end of the Common for nearly four hundred years but its claim to fame is sheltering the Old Granary Burial Ground where Paul Revere, John Hancock, Samuel Adams, and Crispus Attucks, among a who's who of the Revolutionary War are buried.

I walked all the way west to the end of the Commonwealth Mall and then looped around to Newbury Avenue to go back East. Among other things, I probably saw more beautiful young women, artfully displayed, than on all the beaches in Florida. After dinner at Legal Seafood, (probably my last Atlantic seafood meal for a while) I crashed to get ready for the big adventure on Sunday morning.

By ten o'clock, I was on the road and at mile 153 in Massachusetts of US 20 heading West. All even numbered US Highways run West to East, so the first number you encounter in a state when westbound is the total number of miles the highway runs through that state. You count down to 0 as you head west. US 20 is the longest numbered highway in the United States at 3,365 miles. I plan to travel all of them this summer, and to find out what else is just eight-tenths of a mile off the highway. The first thing that I encountered, of course--and a blessing at ten-thirty on Sunday morning--was Starbucks at Boston University within the first mile of the journey.

The baristas wanted to know if I was going to stop at every Starbucks along the highway. Do I look rich? I counted four in the first twenty miles, but none thereafter. I did think for a few miles that every town in Massachusetts started with a W as I went through Watertown, Waverly, Waltham, Weston, and Wayland before I got to Sudbury. I think I crossed "South St." twenty times in the course of the day's journey. I wanted a local place that looked popular for my late-breakfast/lunch and found Britney's Café in Northboro where I had an Italian frittata omelet. It was yummy!

At mile 79, about half way across the state, I left US 20 in Palmer, MA to go back northeast to the campground where my trailer is parked near Barre. Tomorrow morning, I will resume the trek at that point headed for New York and my next break at Albany.

I'll be taking my time along this route and don't expect to get to the end before the last of August. Hope you'll be with me on this long-sought journey!