HULL, Illinois — If you drive across the country on U.S. 36, which runs together with Interstate 72, the final exit leads to a tiny Pike County village. It’s the last stop before you cross the Mississippi River from Illinois into Missouri, or the first if you’re heading the other way.

Veer off onto Illinois Route 106, and you’re on a narrow, two-lane road that leads into a village of fewer than 400 people, a place that recalls countless villages, suburbs, towns, and boroughs I’ve passed through on my drives along the backroads of America.