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1 8 LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 5.14 thebit ROADS cross Tis is a test. Tis is only a test. Start your car and drive out Shelbyville Road, just past the Watterson, and get into the turning lane for Lyndon, which is the western terminus of LaGrange Road — spelled without a space, for reasons unclear, unlike the town, La Grange. Here's the deal: Your test is to drive from this point to La Grange, 20 miles as the crow fies, in the dead of night, using no other path than LaGrange Road. Added difculty: If given an option between two LaGrange roads, you must choose the older one. (And be glad I didn't ask that you take Westport Road to Westport, because you'd never get there.) Tere's a trick to this, of course. Old LaGrange is second only to Manslick Road on thwarting test-takers. It's the kind of route a cattle rustler would use to throw of a posse. Note frst that the signs say the opening section is New LaGrange. Merely a decoy. Except for the bend to accommodate the freeway ramp, it's the same old route it's always been. But when you hit the T at Lyndon Lane, new and old matters. Tat's right, don't want to go straight on New when Old is to the left, just on the north side of the railroad tracks. OK, now you're cruising, past Champ's Rollerdrome, under Hurst- bourne Parkway, hugging those tracks on your right. Uh-oh, what are you Old LaGrange Road doing dead-ended in Anchorage? Oh, you missed the 90-degree right over the tracks at Belle- wood Road. So, back on LaGrange. Cross- ing Evergreen Road. Dang, happened again; you're on Avoca Road heading into Middletown. Missed that sharp left at Glen- brook Road. Better backtrack. Headed almost due north now, ready to cross under the Gene Snyder east of Anchorage. Guess you didn't notice, but about three miles back, at Lucas Lane, you were supposed to re-cross the tracks to Old LaGrange instead of staying on KY 146. Back you go. Now you're running right alongside 146, with the tracks between, northeast toward Pewee Valley. Oops, don't miss that quick right-left at Westport Road (onto 146) or you'll end up in a subdivision. No turns in Pewee Valley; steady as she goes on 146. Crestwood has tricks up its sleeve; it's where KY 22 and 146 converge and switch places. If you choose the latter you'll soon see Old LaGrange across the tracks from you again. So you make the 22-to-Old LaGrange decision. Buckner's next, you think; then La Grange. You drive about fve miles, ready to cross over or under I-71. What's this? Te road just ends. About 100 yards straight ahead, on the other side of the interstate, Old LaGrange resumes. Across the railroad tracks, 146 glides over the interstate and on into La Grange. Sorry, you funked the test. But you did play by the rules. — JW www.wfpk.org 12-23 BIT.indd 18 4/18/14 10:47 AM