What a gorgeous trip, Tom. Thank you for sharing with us! I did used to like a road trip, though I'm prone to drifting off to sleep when not driving. The last huge one I did was in 2014 driving from upstate New York all the way to my dad's house in Kalispell, Montana, with my two kids in the back, then aged 3 and 6. I scheduled it between copy editing deadlines and managed to get 17 days in, visiting friends old and new and spending time in the South Dakota badlands, which I've always wanted to see. So many memories from that trip, especially since I banned devices from the car early in my kids' lives, so they had to entertain themselves with drawing, whining, telling stories, listening to Bon Jovi, and throwing stuffed Angry Birds at each other.
But mostly I remember that it takes an eternity to drive across Pennsylvania. I don't know how, but PA is the longest psychological state in the continental U.S.
Thank you, Nia! I'll be sharing a lot more of these trips soon. I've driven across Pennsylvania numerous times, and I agree that it's a long one. For some reason, Ohio seems less daunting, maybe fewer mountains? But for me, the most psychologically daunting drive was Nebraska. It felt like it was uphill and into the wind all the way, and the smells of cattle ranching were all I got if I dared open a window. I want to drive across Texas someday, and I'm sure it'll be longer, but for some reason the desert feels less bleak than the plains, to me.
I'd agree with that. Or maybe not the plains so much as endless farmland and cows.
That reminds me of when my college roommate was picking me up for a Ramones concert in Seattle. She called me from a town in eastern Montana -- I miss payphones! -- and told me she'd be at my house in a couple of hours. I said, uh, more like 11 hours. She's from Kentucky. It's wild to me how time and distance shift in our brains depending on our experiences of arbitrary borders.
Be sure to visit the New River Gorge National Park near Fayetteville WV and if possible book a white water rafting trip down the Lower New sometime this summer. Trust me i used to be a river guide there and it is beautiful and a blast.
Also, Fayetteville has a rich network of great mountain biking trails that you'll love, and some cool and quirky local eats (Secret Sandwich Society and Cathedral Cafe being two of my favorites).
It's funny, myself being from a small town in WV I've never once considered when buying a vehicle, "I wonder if this will be hard to park"
Ha! Well, we don't live in New York anymore for that and many other reasons.
Whitewater rafting is something I prefer to watch than perform, these days. But I'll visit more of West Virginia. I've been to Point Pleasant to see the Mothman Museum, and stopped in LeSage for hotdogs. It's a beautiful state, I'll bring my mountain bike there on my big road trip this fall.
What a gorgeous trip, Tom. Thank you for sharing with us! I did used to like a road trip, though I'm prone to drifting off to sleep when not driving. The last huge one I did was in 2014 driving from upstate New York all the way to my dad's house in Kalispell, Montana, with my two kids in the back, then aged 3 and 6. I scheduled it between copy editing deadlines and managed to get 17 days in, visiting friends old and new and spending time in the South Dakota badlands, which I've always wanted to see. So many memories from that trip, especially since I banned devices from the car early in my kids' lives, so they had to entertain themselves with drawing, whining, telling stories, listening to Bon Jovi, and throwing stuffed Angry Birds at each other.
But mostly I remember that it takes an eternity to drive across Pennsylvania. I don't know how, but PA is the longest psychological state in the continental U.S.
Thank you, Nia! I'll be sharing a lot more of these trips soon. I've driven across Pennsylvania numerous times, and I agree that it's a long one. For some reason, Ohio seems less daunting, maybe fewer mountains? But for me, the most psychologically daunting drive was Nebraska. It felt like it was uphill and into the wind all the way, and the smells of cattle ranching were all I got if I dared open a window. I want to drive across Texas someday, and I'm sure it'll be longer, but for some reason the desert feels less bleak than the plains, to me.
I'd agree with that. Or maybe not the plains so much as endless farmland and cows.
That reminds me of when my college roommate was picking me up for a Ramones concert in Seattle. She called me from a town in eastern Montana -- I miss payphones! -- and told me she'd be at my house in a couple of hours. I said, uh, more like 11 hours. She's from Kentucky. It's wild to me how time and distance shift in our brains depending on our experiences of arbitrary borders.
I'm reading the Wildsam field guide to Western Montana that Chris wrote an essay in, getting psyched for my September trip.
😀💚
Be sure to visit the New River Gorge National Park near Fayetteville WV and if possible book a white water rafting trip down the Lower New sometime this summer. Trust me i used to be a river guide there and it is beautiful and a blast.
Also, Fayetteville has a rich network of great mountain biking trails that you'll love, and some cool and quirky local eats (Secret Sandwich Society and Cathedral Cafe being two of my favorites).
It's funny, myself being from a small town in WV I've never once considered when buying a vehicle, "I wonder if this will be hard to park"
Ha! Well, we don't live in New York anymore for that and many other reasons.
Whitewater rafting is something I prefer to watch than perform, these days. But I'll visit more of West Virginia. I've been to Point Pleasant to see the Mothman Museum, and stopped in LeSage for hotdogs. It's a beautiful state, I'll bring my mountain bike there on my big road trip this fall.
Jane & Michael Stern are awesome! If you haven't already done so, I'd recommend tracking down a hard copy of THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BAD TASTE
https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofba00ster_0
Vaya con Dios, Hermano!
I should, I do admire roadside kitsch, mostly Muffler men, that kind of thing.