Jo Hurley; The Man Who Walked The Whole of Route 6

It takes a certain spirit to spend 8 months on a singular quest.  It takes a certain body to walk 3,700 miles in monsoons, unrelenting sun and the occasionally perfect 70's and cloudless day.  From March - November 2004, this body and spirit belonged to Joe Hurley, a Connecticut-based journalist, who became a sort of US Route 6 Johnny Appleseed, sowing  news about more eastern Route 6 towns as he walked from Provincetown, MA to Long Beach, CA.

It is not my plan to encroach upon Hurley's experiences and observations.  He took his time, favoring personal connections over "Best Restaurant" or "Coolest Attraction" (which is more my style).  As a result, Hurley's webpage is replete with Studs Terkel-like profiles of regular folk all across America with one thing in common. They all live in cities and towns thought which US Route 6 runs.

Joe's got a book in the works and now serves as the Director of the  Connecticut Route 6 Tourist Association.  He's probably the only person on earth with such in-depth, literally on-the-ground knowledge of The Grand Army of the Republic Highway, and I'm sure I'll be referring to him, too, in future posts.

Stay tuned.......