Highway 53

You know, there's something about this road that always reminds me of home. We have a road almost identical to this. It's Barlow Road. From Hwy 211 near Woodburn, you turn right and it goes almost into Wilsonville, and it's perfectly straight. I once heard that Barlow Rd. is the longest, perfectly straight road in the entire state of Oregon. That stretch is like 10 miles. I used to travel Barlow Rd nearly every day when I was 19-21, when I used to work for Sysco in Wilsonville. I'm sure it was shorter to take I-5, but, who cares. I was always fascinated that there was a road this straight in Oregon of all places.

My first day of work at Sysco was on Feb. 14th. Well, I worked the Swing shift so my day didn't start till about 4:30 p.m. Well, I woke up that morning, and looked outside and it was snowing. I couldn't believe it. Snow. Go figure. By the way, Wilsonville is about a 45 minute drive from Molalla, in the summer, with no traffic. So, here we go, it's about 18 degrees and it's snowing. All day, all I could do was look at the snow coming down. It's wouldn't slow down. It' just kept on coming. Great!! I can't call in on my first day!! So, i toughen up, leave at 2:00 sharp and I'm on my way. (I couldn't show up late because, my Aunt worked there, and my Grandfather was good friends with the CEO and used to give him golf lessons) So as I get on Barlow Rd., I'm doing okay. No cars, really. I mean, who would be out in this weather? Me. Apparently, I would. So, I truckin at about 25 mph, cause the snow is thick, and the road is straight. Next thing I know, I'm facing the other way, and the car is backwards, and I'm sliding. I just decide I'm gonna ride this out and damn the torpedoes. Well, at about that point, the car hits another ice patch and I turn around and I'm headed to work, again. Man, I got to work and had to change my boxers. That was my first day. Oh, and 1/2 the crew called in, so my 1st day ended up being almost a 12 hr day. I got out of there at 4 a.m.

Anyway, there's nothing really straight about NC except for the freeway, except this stretch of the Hwy 53. I travel this road quite frequently. However, I'm only on it for about a 1/4 mile before I turn off to another road, but I have taken it all the way before and it is long, and beautiful. It pretty much looks like this the entire 20 miles of this Hwy that I have traveled. Trees on one side and a couple of homes on the other. It's just kind of speratic, the number of homes you'll see, even on the highway. It'ss pretty neat. As I see more and more of North Carolina, I am always having some sort of flashbacks of parts of Oregon. The Onslow County area, here, looks like Silverton, Or., in my opinion. You know, most of this area of NC looks like this, once you get out of Jacksonville.

Anyway, I ran across this picture that I took last weekend and thought I would post it. I ride every Sunday, and I have never taken a picture of this road till this day. About time I suppose.