Observations From A Long-Distance Solo Car Trip
- I never tire of seeing rolling fields of shimmering
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crops, old white farmhouses, rusted metal roofed barns and grazing cows. Conversely, I am bored and saddened by the McSubdivisions springing up in the middle of nowhere and ruining those same views. - Although my taste in music is wide-ranging, I listen to country music most often when on road trips. Songs about pretty girls, pick up trucks, greasy cheeseburgers and beer-drinking horses make me smile as I traverse the back roads of America.
s I love solitary road trips because they give me time to clear my head and focus on matters of importance (what I want to be when I grow up, making mental lists of things to do to achieve my five-year business and life plan).
s I love solitary road trips because they give me time to relax and wander to places of curiosity and less importance.
s Acknowledging and conversing visually with a bus full of waving third graders can be a truly rewarding experience.
s Graffiti isn’t just limited to the big city. At Exit 26 on Highway 81 South, near Emory & Henry College, frat boys have left their marks under the highway overpass.
s I am more than ready for a sassy PT Cruiser convertible to enhance these excursions (silver with a black top!).
s While road construction projects seem to be an inevitable headache during the warm summer months, sometimes the directions given can be downright confusing. Like the two-lane stretch of road that instructed cars to simultaneously keep right while merging left.
s In addition to embracing country music during such trips, I also enjoy scanning the radio dial for local channels to hear snippets of life in small towns. In Abingdon, Virginia, for example, residents were being invited to provide input on the comprehensive town plan. In Tennessee, “weenie” dogs were being offered for adoption.
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Some states do a better job of welcoming you than others. Tennessee’s welcome center (shown above) is genuinely lovely and down home, complete with statuary outside and a faux fireplace inside.
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The lush patchwork of assorted greens at this time of year can be almost as magnificent as the autumn hues that will be arriving in a few short months.
s I know I have hit the South when I can order sweet tea!
BRCTalkback: Tell us about your thoughts, observations or what bugs you when you are on long-distance road trips? Respond in the comments section below or send your answers to BRCTip@backroadscharmingtowns.com and put ROAD TRIP in the subject line.
