Phillipsville, Miranda, Myers Flat, Weott, Redcrest, Pepperwood — the small settlements strung along the old highway.
You're rolling through the string of small towns that give this drive its human scale — Phillipsville behind us, then Miranda, Myers Flat, Weott, Redcrest, Pepperwood ahead. Blink and you'll miss any one of them. These were mill towns and roadhouse stops back when this WAS the highway, the only route through, before the freeway was pushed through the valley and took the traffic away. What's left is wonderfully old-fashioned: burl carvers with chainsaws, hand-painted signs, a general store, a diner, a few motels with neon. Stop at one. They're the last of a vanishing kind of American roadside, and the folks in them have watched these trees their whole lives. Keep an eye out on your right for one of the most gloriously silly attractions on the whole road — it's coming right up.