Written By: Ben Cosgrove, Liz Ronk

In the summer of 1948, LIFE photographer Allan Grant set out on a trip from Omaha, Neb., toward Salt Lake City, Utah, traveling west through Nebraska and Wyoming along one of the most storied stretches in America: Route 30, part of the early transcontinental Lincoln Highway.

For reasons lost to time, none of Grant’s marvelous photos from that epic post-war road trip were published in LIFE. Now LIFE offers a series of Grant’s pictures from Nebraska and Wyoming made more than seven decades ago, in tribute to the human desire to get up and go.

Route 30 Nebraska, USA, 1948.

Route 30 in Nebraska, 1948.

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Route 30, Wyoming, USA, 1948.

Route 30 in Wyoming, 1948

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Route 30, USA, 1948.

Route 30, 1948

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Route 30, USA, 1948.

Motel along Route 30, 1948.

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Scene along Route 30, Nebraska, USA, 1948.

Route 30 in Nebraska, 1948

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Family sleeping outside by a billboard alongside Route 30, Wyoming, 1948.

Family sleeping outside by a billboard alongside Route 30 in Wyoming, 1948.

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Scene along Route 30, USA, 1948.

Route 30, 1948

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Scene along Route 30, 1948.

Scene along Route 30, 1948.

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Scene along Route 30, USA, 1948.

Route 30, 1948

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Scene along Route 30, USA, 1948.

Route 30, 1948

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Scene after driver fell asleep at the wheel on Route 30, Nebraska, 1948.

Scene after driver fell asleep at the wheel on Route 30, Nebraska, 1948.

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Motel along Route 30, USA, 1948.

Motel along Route 30, 1948.

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Scene along Route 30, USA, 1948.

Route 30, 1948

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Scene along Route 30, Nebraska, USA, 1948.

Route 30, 1948

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Scene along Route 30, USA, 1948.

Route 30, 1948

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Scene along Route 30, USA, 1948.

Route 30, 1948

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Scene along Route 30, USA, 1948.

Route 30, 1948

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Cars pulling out of trailer camp onto Route 30, Nebraska, 1948.

Cars pulling out of a trailer camp onto Route 30, Nebraska, 1948.

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The 1733 Dance Hall -- reportedly 1,733 miles from both Boston and San Francisco -- in Kearney, Neb., 1948.

The 1733 Dance Hall—reportedly 1,733 miles from both Boston and San Francisco—in Kearney, Neb., 1948.

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Driver filling a water bag at a gas station alongside Route 30, 1948.

A driver filling a water bag at a gas station alongside Route 30, 1948.

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Scene along Route 30, Nebraska, USA, 1948.

Route 30, Nebraska, 1948

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A couple and their five-month-old daughter head back home to Cheyenne, Wyo., after a visit to Omaha, Neb., 1948.

A couple and their five-month-old daughter heading home to Cheyenne, Wyo., after a visit to Omaha, Neb., 1948.

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Motor lodge along Route 30, USA, 1948.

Motor lodge along Route 30, 1948.

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Scene along Route 30, USA, 1948.

Route 30, 1948

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Scene along Route 30, USA, 1948.

Route 30, 1948

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Scene along Route 30, USA, 1948.

Route 30, 1948

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Scene along Route 30, Nebraska, USA, 1948.

Route 30, 1948

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Motor lodge along Route 30, USA, 1948.

Motor lodge along Route 30, 1948.

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Charles Corwin White, bicycling from Los Angeles to New York and speaking along the way on "Americanism" and citizen participation in a democracy. Here he's photographed west of Rawlins, Wyo., in 1948.

Charles Corwin White, who bicycled from Los Angeles to New York in 1948, was photographed west of Rawlins, Wyo.

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

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