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Saturday, March 16, 2013

Maps

I'm about to drive across the country and back. The trip across will follow a relatively straight route and only take four or five days. But after a week in California I plan to meander back, taking a circuitous route in order to see places I've never seen before.

It's a lot of fun looking at maps, plotting out your route. I've never seen the Sierra Nevadas up close, other than one brief excursion to Yosemite. I've never been to northern Nevada. The one state I've never visited is Utah.

All of these places look appealing on the map. The reality, of course, rarely lives up to the anticipation. As anyone who's ever driven across the counry knows, superhighways are an endless stretch of Ramada Inns, Holiday Inns, Motel 6's, Comfort Inns, McDonalds, Quiznos, Burger Kings, etc.

But driving in a car allows you to think. Nothing like endless highways to let your mind roam free. Of course, by the afternoon my mind is bleary, and I usually have "road hangover" as well as a stiff lower back.

But at least it's fun now, before it happens.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

John--Are you going solo or with another person? Have you ever done this in the past? I did it when I was 21 and it was quite amazing. Everyone would benefit doing this at least once in their life. Now, with endless selected music (iPods, etc) the ride can be so much more palatable. Looking forward to hearing about how it went. Enjoy the ride! Brian

John Craig said...

Thank you Brian. Yes, have done it before. Drove out from MA to CA in '77, drove back in '81, and drove both ways in '07. This time solo.

Anonymous said...

Hey that's amazing. I should probably do it too, but don't know if I have the patience. I did it in 74 and again in 75--MA (where I'm from) to CA, then to Vail where I was a ski bum. Attempted it again from CA back here but the sports car I bought broke, so my Jack Kerouak journey came to a halt while still in San Fran. I was looking forward to Inagodadavida, but it never happened. My 19 y/o son is driving to WA State next week where he goes to school, so I guess people still do it. Best of luck and if you, like me, start hallucinating, it just means you need to sleep which I'm sure you already know. Brian PS--does this mean no blog for a while?

John Craig said...

Brian --
Ah -- everybody should probably spend some time as a ski bum -- or the equivalent -- at some point in their youth as well.

Start hallucinating?! Sounds dangerous if you're driving. So far the only hallucinating I've done is the pools-of-water-on-the-distant-pavement kind. Plus, in the larger sense, maybe the delusion that I'm young enough to do this.

And yes, it means less blog for a while.