U.S. HIGHWAY 64, Tenn. — We’ve seen a lot of scenic highways in our travels through these United States.

One of them courses through southern Tennessee. We took it from just north of Chattanooga and followed it to just south of Memphis.

I looked for run-down communities along the way. I didn’t spot one. Not anywhere for more than 200 miles. Every single community through which we passed had its charm. Every town was clean. They were well-groomed, manicured, neatly trimmed.

Is this the most scenic highway in America? Oh, probably not. We’ve cast our eyes on plenty of splendor over our years together. I still would rank Beartooth Pass along the Montana-Wyoming border as my gold standard for breathtaking roadside grandeur. Beartooth tops out at 10,900 feet above sea level. You look in one direction at year-round snowfields and ice-cold lakes; the other direction aims your eyes into the Yellowstone region.

We haven’t yet seen every single mile of highway in the United States and Canada. My wife and I have made a sort of unofficial pact to do that very thing.

We’ve enjoyed plenty of pleasant drives through some of wondrous landscape. The stretch along U.S. 64 — which looks much like the picture attached to this post — so far ranks right near the top of them.

The most relaxing part of this drive? The virtual absence of any heavy-vehicle traffic.