Running Parallel to the Road

Driving to Lawrence Kansas the other day I took note of a gravel road running parallel to the free way on which I was driving.  After a time this road reached a dead-end.  

I thought to myself that if I'd been running on that road, I'd have had to leave the trail if I wanted to continue in the direction I was headed.  I would have to go 'off the beaten path' in other words.  If the highway wasn't visible from the road I'd been on, well it would have been quite a leap of faith to venture off the established path, though it had clearly reached its end.  It was reassuring to know that there was, not too far from that worn, rugged road, a paved highway extending further in my intended direction of travel, read to convey me in an even smoother, swifter manner than I'd previously experienced.