Route 61: Centralia

As you drive out of Ashland and into Centralia along Route 61 North, you'll find yourself driving along a a gently curving road. As you drive, you'll notice a mound of dirt ahead of you and a large sign with an arrow pointing to the right. This arrow points you in the direction of a sharp curve in the road that takes you away from the mound and the sign pictured above. Behind that mound of dirt lies a closed section of Route 61, that has pretty much been severed from the rest of the route. The bypass that most travelers follow takes them to the other end of this section of road and into downtown Centralia.

Next to the blocked road is a small dirt path you can follow. It's not a very interesting path, but it's loaded with garbage, such as these tires. You're much better off climbing back onto the road like we did.

Walking along the closed road is somewhat uncomfortable, since it's four lanes wide and you can hear cars driving on the nearby bypass. I was frequently looking over my shoulder to see if any cars were coming.

As you walk along the road, there is a lot of graffiti on the ground. Most of it is pretty lame, but there are a few somewhat clever sayings. Please pardon the shadows in the pictures. The sun was in a rather inopportune spot.

The people of Ashland and Centralia must have a fascination with throwing out tires and matresses, because we saw quite a few of them on our journey. Couches, too.

Ok, this was where we could tell something was definately going on underneath the road. Pavement generally doesn't push up like that. In the picture below, we discover the famed cracks of Route 61.

There's a lot of garbage down in that big crack...

Above, a distant view of the cracks as we wander further up the road. There isn't much else up here, but we did find this rather ironic hose laying on the ground.