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ost everyone has heard of Route 66. A relic from the days when neon signs and vintage automobiles ruled the road, stretching from Chicago to Los Angeles.

From the 1940s song Route 66 by the King Cole Trio to the television show of the early 1960s donning the name. To its historic roots beginning with the Dust Bowl, World War II, and the pre-interstate era. To the tourist destination it is today. It evens ranks on the National Register of Historic Places and part of the National Parks Service.

But Route 66 isn’t the only old highway where you can get your kicks.

Meet Route 70.

An original ‘Scenic Route 70’ map.

Not to be confused with the interstate I-70.

“US 70” as the road signs read.

“Scenic 70,” as former Oriental realtor and resident Marvin Bullock calls it.

Spanning the country from North Carolina to California during its heyday, this old highway is far less famous than its northern counterpart.

Something Marvin hopes to change.

Marvin called Oriental home for nearly two decades, then returned to his hometown of Sparta, Tennessee. He was an active community member in both towns, eventually becoming president of the Sparta Chamber of Commerce.

Marvin Bullock.

“When I first moved to Eastern Carolina I realized the same Route 70 that runs through Beaufort, is the same US 70 that runs through my hometown of Sparta,” Marvin says. “I thought then wouldn’t it be fascinating to drive the old route rather than the interstate.”

Now fully retired, Marvin is traveling Route 70 for the first time, in a small RV. “It’s taken over 20 years but I’m finally in a position to do that.”

An original Route 70 map.

Along with fulfilling his decades long dream of driving the scenic highway, Marvin hopes to promote the tourism, revitalization, and preservation of Route 70 along the way.

Taking a detour from the bygone highway to visit Oriental in May, Marvin explained further his vision.

“It’s something I’ve added to this want for a jaunt,” he says, while parked at Moonlight Lake RV Park on Highway 55. “To get the United States government to recognize the uniqueness of one of the first paved highways from the east coast to the west coast.”

How does he plan to do this? On the local, state, and national level.

“By getting Chambers of Commerce along the route together we can start lobbying to specifically advertise Route 70,” he says. “I really think if we can get four to six chambers from each state to ask for it, we can get money from the state and federal government to advertise.”

At least, that’s what happened with Route 66. After being decommissioned in 1985, business owners along the route and other dedicated organizations pushed for its preservation. In 1999 the Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program was signed into law.

The act provided funding to preserve and restore features along the iconic roadway. The program was reauthorized in 2009. And in 2020, the Route 66 Centennial Commission Act was enacted. This established a Commission to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Route 66.

Marvin holds up his road Bible: a 1960s era Rand McNally’s Road Atlas.

“In spite of all its notoriety, Route 66 almost vanished more than once,” Marvin says. “It became, and has stayed, a destination for people to go just to travel Route 66.”

Other than the lack of government funding for advertising or preservation, what sets Route 70 apart from Route 66, Marvin says, is the scenery.

Well known amongst motorcycle and bicycle enthusiasts as the preferred transcontinental highway, Route 70 begins in Atlantic, North Carolina. Adjacent to the Core Sound, before beginning to cut inland, eventually making its way through the Appalachian Mountains, Rocky Mountains, plains and desert.

Route 70 once stretched across the country. Now it officially ends in Arizona. Marvin, with old maps in hand, will travel the original road to the west coast.

Established in 1926, Route 70 originally began in Beaufort and was extended to Atlantic the same year. It terminated in Holbrook, Arizona, where it truncated with none other than Route 66. US 70 was extended as a major coast to coast highway in 1934, terminating in Los Angeles. In 1969 the western end was truncated to US Route 60/State Route 77 in Globe, Arizona. Which marks the official western terminus of the roadway today.

Having begun in Atlantic, Marvin will have to slightly back track to pick up US 70 again locally. It’s just a short skip from the Cherry Branch Ferry to Route 70 in Havelock, AKA Main Street. From there it’s basically a straight shot to the Pacific Ocean. His next stop for the night will be Cliffs of the Neuse State Park in Wayne County.

Marvin at the table in his Winnebago.

“You creep along and start to see these nifty little places like New Bern, Goldsboro, Smithfield, Raleigh,” Marvin says, having well researched his route. “On across into the mountains you go through Asheville, on very curvy mountain roads. Toward Hot Springs and Knoxville, Tennessee. Across the Cumberland plateau, where you pick up places like Sparta, Tennessee which is on the original path of US 70.”

Thats why, Marvin explains, what is now his very small hometown of Sparta, Tennessee was once a hub on a major highway. With pictures of famous figures such as Paul Newman at a local pool hall floating around. Sparta, like many small towns along Route 70 at its height of popularity, became a stop for tour buses and many a weary traveler.

While one of Route 66’s claims to fame is that it was the first fully paved US Highway, Marvin begs to differ. The title, he argues, belongs to Route 70.

“Parts of the route where the signs have been taken down and renumbered with state roads, put up some ‘Scenic 70’ signs,” Marvin suggests as a way to increase touring the route. “For the people who want to see America like it was in the heyday of the car.”

There is a hint of nostalgia in Marvin’s voice as he describes the mid 1950s era, when drive-in movie theaters and drive-in restaurants ruled.

“Back then,” he says, “it was the major route.”

Having wanted to drive US 70 in its entirety for decades, Marvin thought it would be by car. A proper road trip in the sense of driving until you get tired and finding a cheap hotel to sleep. But as he really began researching, he realized an RV was the best way to see the route. During his preliminary research he also started to fall in love with Route 70, and began planning ways to promote it.

Marvin and his RV with custom plates.

The spare tire cover mounted on the back of Marvin’s Ford Aspect Winnebago features the iconic US 70 symbol, and the URL to a website he plans to develop: “US Route70 dot com.” Along with a custom license plate that reads “ROUTE70.” Marvin has also outlined several articles about “Scenic 70” for magazines like the Automobile Association of America (AAA).

The RV, bought specifically for the trip, is no bigger than a box truck, Marvin says. That way he can be “boondocking” some nights; the practice of parking in overnight parking lots.

The dashboard of the motor home is dotted with notes. Many of them from a vintage 1950s road atlas purchased online. The bible of the trip, with so many adjoining highways Marvin wants to be sure he is traveling the original US 70. As it was intended to be.

He will be relying heavily on the old paper maps once he reaches the modern western terminus in Arizona, and continues on to the once western terminus at the Pacific Ocean.

Marvin stayed at Moonlight Lake RV Park off Highway 55 in Pamlico County.

“I’m taking the route that was most popular in the 1950s at the height of car travel,” Marvin says, excited about the road ahead. “From Tennessee its into Arkansas then Texas. Through the Texas Panhandle, New Mexico. You go through Crater of Diamonds, which is a spot where a meteor hit the ground eons ago. It even goes through Area 51.”

As far as Marvin’s concerned, there’s no one stop he is looking forward to most.

“Its all of them,” he says with a gleam in his eye. “I am sort of infatuated.”

Posted Tuesday July 1, 2025 by Allison DeWeese