Imagine a time… when America had no coast-to-coast Highways… only railroads, waterways, and ‘National Trails’ from earlier Westward expansions.   It was not that long ago – only about a hundred years or so.   This post is about one of the very first coast-to-coast highways – US Highway 80… and its legendary 6½ mile stretch of road called ‘The Old Plank Road’.    This 6½ mile stretch, located in the extreme southeast corner of California, was passable by only the most hardy & persevering of drivers… indeed, this stretch of road was literally built on ‘shifting sands’… and accordingly assembled out of portable 8’x12′ road sections constructed of wooden planks that could be, and often were, ‘shifted’ over the sands… as the roadway routinely became unpassable under the shifting sands of California’s Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area.   Continue reading →

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