Highways and Byways
Adding a nugget to the Time section this week. The outline is: Time vs. Money, Control of Your Time, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, Screens, and Highways and Byways (this one).
I recently saw a beautiful mountain scenery photo with this quote superimposed.
If you want to hate America read the news.
If you want to love America, drive across it.
Both sentences resonate with me, for our collective addiction to online vitriol, and our good fortune to live in this sprawling, glorious country filled with interesting people. Let’s focus on the second.
When you travel, time on the road is either overhead that takes away from time at your destination, in which case blaze down the interstates. Or the travel is the point, and you want to see America, and Americana, and Americans in all our variety, in which case skip those wide, straight interstates. Take the old highways, the byways, the back roads that twist and turn and meander through the centers of small and medium towns.
How? Look up Route 66, or the Lincoln Highway, the Blue Ridge Parkway, or the Natchez Trace.
Pay a visit to roadtripusa.com and scroll down the home page to the route map. Get their book and take it along on your next road trip. Pick a few anchor points, and string them together with secondary highways. Exchange speed for adventure. Experience the National Parks you’ve always heard about. Take your bikes along and ride some of the country’s famous trails. When you’re in the middle of nowhere, look up at the night sky and be amazed. Hike. Paddle. Climb. Spelunk. Fall in love with America. The “news” can wait till you get home.
Image credit: National Parks Service, Travel Route 66, https://www.nps.gov/subjects/travelroute66/index.htm