When Jack Kerouac set out from New York in 1947 on his now-famous cross-country road trip, he chased freedom over pavement.

That adventure became the heart of On the Road, published a decade later in 1957, and immortalized his alter ego, Sal Paradise.

What many people don’t know is that one of the key stops along that existential highway was a gas station in Longmont, Colorado, at the time, a dusty outpost on U.S. Highway 287. The old gas station was transformed into a cafe and music venue at 1111 Neon Forest Street in Prospect Village.

It’s a little-known landmark that holds the soul of a restless America, the kind we might just need to revisit.

In the summer of 1947, Kerouac’s odyssey carried him from Nebraska into Wyoming, where he landed in Cheyenne during Wild West Days (an homage to Cheyenne Frontier Days), an irony not lost on the aspiring writer.

Then came Colorado. He caught a ride south, eventually getting dropped off at the gas station in Longmont. He spent the night on his way to Denver, where he met Dean Moriarty (Neal Cassady’s alter ego.

That unremarkable station at the time became a fleeting but pivotal waypoint in his pilgrimage westward.

Today, that station is gone from the highway, but not from memory. Moved and restored in the artsy, planned Prospect Village neighborhood, Johnson’s Gas Station now hums with espresso machines and live music.

The neon sign glows not just with light, but with ghosts of jazz, of youth, of daring hitchhikers and broken-in boots. You can almost hear the beat of bongo drums and the soft shuffle of typewriter keys if you listen long enough.

What if places could remember us? What if that gas station still remembers the kid who would become the voice of a generation? That kind of reckless optimism pulls you across the country with no plan but a thumb and a dream. Is that what we’ve lost in our rush for certainty?

Check out “On the Trail: Jack Kerouac in Cheyenne,” a short movie that imagines where Sal Paradise stopped before he headed down the road to Longmont.

Click on Neal and Jack to watch “On the Trail: Kerouac in Cheyenne.”

In an age of navigation apps–not paper maps, tight schedules–not leisurely drives, and curated digital lives, maybe we need places like Johnson’s again, not just to fill our tanks, but to empty our minds.

Maybe we need roads with no clear destination. Maybe the ghosts of the road still have something to teach us.

Next time you’re in Longmont, take a detour to Neon Forest Street. Have a coffee at the old Johnson’s station. Listen to the music. Let the past whisper to you. The road is still there, and maybe it’s time to take it.

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