America is probably the best place on Earth for long road trips. Fuel is cheap, food is plentiful, and the roads — they're amazing. But the U.S. of A. wasn't always a land of long, smooth stretches of tarmac you could sail across at 80 mph in almost any weather. A century ago, driving cross-country in America wasn't…

It's easy to take interstate highways for granted these days. Sometimes we even associating them with traffic, ugly construction, and even lower quality of life. But there was a time when the lack of a freeway system kept people and things from getting where they were supposed to go.