What’s a “Byway?”

Ever hear someone say about our roads: “If you’re on the highways and byways, drive carefully.”

It’s a colloquialism – a regional expression – that you can likely hear anywhere across our nation.

I never gave it much thought if I used it in conversation; no one ever asked about it, either, until recently. I’ve no idea when or where I first heard it used; but it seems an apt description of just about any road I’d travel, whether by car or-my bicycle.

When I bicycle, I’m riding on what we colloquially call “the back roads,” in south Caddo parish and into the piney woods of deep east Texas. So I started thinking about “highways and byways.” What are they? Where are they? Where would they lead us?

Surprisingly, I’ve bicycled THE byway in northwest Louisiana: Highway 2, which actually begins in downtown Shreveport and goes to Vivian. Northwest Louisiana’s Byway then meanders east through communities like Plain Dealing, Serepta and Shongaloo, where it forks. 2 Alternate winds north and east into the piney woods; 2 tracks south toward Interstate 20 and both still point on toward Monroe. I won’t lay out the whole route and what you can expect to see. Check these links:

http://www.louisianatravel.com/northwest-louisiana-scenic-byway or http://www.byways.org/explore/byways/2068/.  In a time crunch, “traveling the highways and byways” might go unnoticed. But if we’re looking for some relaxation and maybe a different view of the real estate we occupy on this planet, it could prove interesting to drive the highway, to travel the officially recognized Northwest Louisiana Byway.