Mile 151

After a storm batters Odyssey, Zoe Grant signs Whit's End up to keep a littered mile of Highway 29 clean, hoping to bring a little light back to her sad town. But Buddy and Jay can't leave it at garbage bags - soon the mile explodes into a roadside attraction with lights, live bands, donated flowers, and two whole sections devoted to Elvis. Then a TV reporter calls it a safety hazard, and an online petition demands the "eyesore" come down - with kindly Mrs. Randolph's name among the signatures. Over cookies, the older woman explains that a flat tire on that lonely road once introduced her to Melvin, her husband of forty-three years, and she has quietly tended the mile since he died... but now she can't even recognize the spot. Zoe decides to take it all down, and though the boys block her path in protest, a second storm flattens the whole display overnight. By morning the friends restore the mile to the way it was, except for the flowers - and a new sign honoring the Friends of Melvin Randolph. Mrs. Randolph calls it just about the nicest thing she's ever seen.

Found on Club Season 10 - Part 1 Album 74½ · 6 episodes

The run See every episode

0957 King of My Heart When Buck finally works up the nerve to ask his best friend Jules to homecoming, the school's golden boy beats him to it - and Buck must figure out what it really means to want the best for someone.

0958 Reporting Live from Mount Sinai A skeptical TV reporter obsessed with history's tragedies steps into the Imagination Station and lands at the foot of Mount Sinai, where a restless nation on the brink of rebellion forces him to question what stories are truly worth telling.

0959 Dose of Virtual Reality When her best friend backs out of the school's parent-child video game tournament, Molly recruits her seemingly hopeless grandfather - a police detective whose odd habit of studying the game's mysterious signs might be more than a distraction.

0960 The Jacobs Report: Robert Smalls A slave and boat pilot in Confederate Charleston risks everything on an audacious plan to sail his family and crew toward freedom in plain sight.

0961 Survivor Boy A boy's plan to film helpful wilderness survival videos spins out of control when a fame-hungry classmate transforms him into a fake expert called Survivor Boy.

0962 The Fast and the Ridiculous When a teenager buys a fifty-dollar car rigged with pranks by a high school shop class, her scheme to hide its problems from her older sister puts more than the car to the test.

0963 Mile 151 After a storm leaves Odyssey feeling gloomy, Zoe Grant rallies her friends to adopt a mile of highway - but her simple cleanup project balloons into something far bigger than she ever intended.

0964 As Far As It Depends on Me When the sister of the man who once deceived and kidnapped her asks Penny to help settle his estate, sorting through his belongings uncovers far more than old paintings.

0965 Two's Company, Four's a Crowd When a nervous Suzu asks Emily to help investigate a popular classmate's stolen award, the mismatched detectives uncover clues that don't add up - and Emily must decide what kind of partner, and person, she really wants to be.

1 of 4 0966 The Best Is Yet to Come A world-changing memory breakthrough and a secret teenage romance both hinge on how much the people of Odyssey are willing to risk - and reveal.

2 of 4 0967 The Best Is Yet to Come Eugene's dream job in another city forces the Meltsner family to weigh a world-changing opportunity against the life their son has finally built in Odyssey.

3 of 4 0968 The Best Is Yet to Come With the Meltsners' move to Baltimore looming, Buck fights to hold onto Jules while Connie refuses to accept that goodbye is the only option.

4 of 4 0969 The Best Is Yet to Come As the Meltsners' farewell party fills Whit's End, a heartbroken Jules races against weather, distance, and her own hurt feelings to reach Buck before his family leaves Odyssey for good.

Featured characters

Minor characters & crew 1 more roles

1 supporting role

Mrs. Randolph Chris Anthony

Made by

Chris Anthony Host Marshal Younger Writer · Director Nathan Jones Sound Designer Nathan Hoobler Producer Dave Arnold Executive Producer

The story

Read the full synopsis 3 min

After a big storm blows through Odyssey, Zoe Grant and Buddy Norman find a stretch of road near Trickle Lake buried in trash and debris. Zoe has been aching to help her storm-battered town somehow, and when they spot a "Maintain-a-Mile" sign - with the name "Barney Fife" scrawled on it in some kid's marker - she gets an idea. At Whit's End, Mr. Whittaker explains that a sponsor keeps the mile clean and reports problems to the state, and he agrees to sign Whit's End up on two conditions: Zoe will lead the project herself, and everyone must stay safe around traffic. Zoe explains that the town has felt sad since the storm, and she wants to bring a little light back to it. Jay Smouse joins up too, mostly because he still owes 47 hours of court-ordered community service - his front-yard benefit concert for "noise pollution awareness" didn't count.

Out on mile 151 of Highway 29, the friends fill garbage bags while Jay fakes a sweaty work photo for the judge. Their first volunteer is Mrs. Randolph, an older neighbor of Zoe's who happily grabs a rake and says she can't think of anything she'd rather do than help bring light back to the town. But Buddy decides cleaning isn't enough for something with Whit's End's name on it. He and Jay show up with a list of "brilliant ideas": decorative lights, a drive-by petting zoo, a live band on the embankment, a toll booth, and a video about a hamster named Gary - "A llama trauma, if you will," Jay narrates in one botched outtake - pleading for an animal tunnel under the highway. Zoe rejects the wildest schemes but agrees to go bigger, and soon the mile explodes into a roadside attraction with dozens of volunteers, donated flowers and lights, and live music.

Channel 10 reporter Ted Humphries covers the spectacle, then blindsides Zoe with news that people online are calling the project a safety hazard. To settle things, Mr. Whittaker invites the Department of Transportation to inspect. While Jay and Buddy give Inspector Wayne Stetson a grand tour of the mile's themed sections - Odyssey history, a tribute wall of "unsung heroes" of the Department of Transportation, and two full sections devoted to Elvis - Mrs. Randolph quietly surveys the carnival-like scene, decides she isn't needed anymore, and goes home. The inspector finds nothing hazardous, and the boys celebrate the chance to build even bigger.

Then Jay shows Zoe an online petition demanding the "eyesore" come down, with nearly two hundred signatures - including Mrs. Randolph's. Confused, Zoe visits her, and over fresh oatmeal raisin cookies the older woman shares her story. Many years ago, her tire blew out on that lonely stretch of road, and a stranger stopped, patiently taught her to change it, and made her laugh. That stranger became her husband, Melvin, for forty-three years. A month after he died, she began quietly tending that mile herself with just a garbage bag and a rake. She loves what the kids intended, she says, but the road is so built up now that she can no longer recognize the spot where it all happened, and that makes her sad. Still, she begs Zoe not to change anything on her account.

When the news brands the controversy "the Highway Wars," Zoe realizes the project has stopped being about the community and started being about going bigger. Talking it over with Mr. Whittaker, she takes hold of his gentle point that being a bright light for one person can matter more than being a dim light for a crowd, and she announces her decision: take it all down. Jay and Buddy plant themselves in her path in protest - "You shall not pass," Jay declares - but a sudden storm sends everyone running for home, and by morning the wind has flattened the whole display anyway, shattering the statue and scattering Elvis pictures everywhere. The boys, tired and with Jay's community service finally complete, agree to help clean up, because Zoe has one more idea.

Soon after, Zoe and Mr. Whittaker lead a blindfolded Mrs. Randolph out to the highway. The mile is back the way it was, except for the flowers left blooming along the side - and a new sign reading that the mile is maintained by the Friends of Melvin Randolph. Deeply moved, Mrs. Randolph calls it just about the nicest thing she has ever seen. Zoe says she hoped it might bring her a little light, and Mrs. Randolph replies, "Well, Zoe, you just brought me the whole sun."