Thoughts from a Road Trip

It’s about that far from St. Petersburg to Orlando, and there might be 104 Dollar General stores in that distance. (More on that later.) I don’t know that all this wilderness is usable and it’s probably better if some is not. Wide open spaces are a good thing. But I do think the country has more land than it knows what to do with, which is a nice problem to have.

America is Beautiful

One of the things I most looked forward to was driving from the subtropics of Florida to the frigid Rockies in a short period. Seeing marsh slowly turn into plains and then to mountains is profoundly moving. Whatever providence gave us this land was exceedingly generous. It’s a shame we often overlook this gift when living our workaday lives. I have immense respect for the people who have found a way to turn the land into something uniquely American. No better examples are Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse.

I’m not sure how far we would get today if someone proposed carving faces of great presidents into a mountain. The fact it was done in a little over a decade with no loss of life speaks well to the visionaries who made it happen.

The project to carve Crazy Horse into a nearby piece of rock is just as audacious. The story behind the Polish-American man, his family, and the Oglala Lakota people who are making it happen without government assistance is inspiring.

National Parks: If Not America’s Best Idea, It’s Up There

A few years ago, the masterful documentary filmmaker Ken Burns put out a series on the National Parks subtitling it America’s Best Idea. Great marketing, but that’s maybe underselling a few of the nation’s accomplishments. The Constitution springs to mind for starters. That said, the Parks are a marvel. And, yes, setting aside these lands for the sole reason that they are special and worthy of protection remains one of the country’s best ideas. I was fortunate to be able to visit Arches and Yellowstone within days of each other. Doing so in winter with spectacular vistas and smaller crowds was a blessing. If the summer is the only time you can see them though, by all means, do so. I can’t wait to visit more.

America is Weird

A previous post went into some of my favorite roadside attractions from the trip, but those were just the tip of the iceberg. I saw a sign selling “Sweet Home Alabama” t-shirts in that state’s welcome center bathroom. I not only watched people taking their picture in front of a giant inflatable beaver at a ginormous gas station, I asked someone to do the same for me. I went to a museum celebrating America’s fifth favorite soft drink. (It’s Dr. Pepper if you’re wondering.) Several Facebook friends were excited by the fact I saw these silos in Waco, Texas. I guess I was too.

I paid for a tour in a 1986 Fleetwood Bounder through Albuquerque. I spent five minutes looking over the history of the Pennsylvania Turnpike at a rest area. I’m not sure how many countries have a Freedom of Speech guarantee for their citizens, but America was the first. I don’t think it’s too much of leap to say that the unique ways we find to express ourselves stem in some part from that.

There are Hidden Gems Everywhere

Some of the best parts of my road trip were unexpected and almost every place has something worth stopping to see. I didn’t know about the Mammoth Caves outside of Waco until my Brother-In-Law took me to them.

The JFK museum and Dealey Plaza in Dallas were moving, but I found their Holocaust museum more so. Cadillac Ranch is worth the stop in Amarillo, but so is Palo Duro Canyon a half hour south of it. The Mormon temple area of Salt Lake City is a site to see, but so is the Utah State Capitol. Most towns have some graffiti worth appreciating. This picture was spotted from the frozen roof of a parking garage in Rapid City.

Ferris Bueller was right, “If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

I Should Have Invested in Dollar General

I traveled through countless small towns on two-lane US highways. Every single one of them had a Dollar General store. Some had two. There are a more than 5,200 WalMart branded stores in the United States. They have nothing on Dollar General, which operates around 15,000 outlets. Their stock is up about 520% since 2009. I had no idea.

The Eisenhower Interstate System: America’s Next Best Idea

While taking backroads was a big part of my road trip, over half of my driving was on the interstate. I really came to appreciate what an accomplishment these highways are. Crisscrossing the nation like a spiderweb, the interstate system enables travel across the country with ease. The fact most of the roads are free only adds to the value. The numbers are staggering: 48,181 miles of highway (in 2016), mainly built in the 1950s at the cost of nearly $500 billion in 2019 Dollars. President Eisenhower had quite a vision and worked to make it happen. I wonder where the politicians are today who could see something like this through?

Always Opt for the Free Breakfast

Unless you are willing to rough it, road trips are expensive undertakings. If I had traveled in the summer, I might have tried some camping, but I wasn’t going to do that in the middle of a Rocky Mountain winter. In many cases, I stayed at a Bed and Breakfast or a Hampton Inn.

Hampton Inns are great because they give you free breakfast. It’s not gourmet but is enough to keep you going for much of the day, which saves you time and money. Not saying that I did, but pocketing an extra banana or bagel might just help you get all the way to dinner.

The American People Make the Country Great

I take terrible selfies, so I’m always looking for someone to take my picture when I travel alone. I hate being “that guy,” but you learn quickly to ask your fellow travelers if they wouldn’t mind snapping a pic for you. This one from Yellowstone turned out great.

Every time I asked, I not only heard yes but never heard any grumbling. Usually, my photographer would also ask me to make sure the photo turned out okay. It’s a small thing, but it matters. Americans are generous. From hoteliers in New Orleans to character actors in Albuquerque to tour guides in Montana, I met many interesting people. I had great conversations about driving across America in a Tesla; the beauty of US Highway 491 in western New Mexico; the genius of Vince Gilligan; the luck of seeing an eagle in Yellowstone; escaping the rain in Tennessee; the tenacity of the family slowly carving Crazy Horse; the ubiquity of Cracker Barrel; etc. I have no idea if most of the people I spoke to were liberal, conservative or anarchists. It didn’t matter.

What Unites Us is Stronger Than What Divides Us

The voices in the media make us think we’re a nation divided. To be sure, we have our differences, and there are serious issues our country needs to address. But Americans should still look at themselves as a nation united. The fabric of America binds us together much more than the forces that want to tear us apart. Seeing the country a mile at a time and talking to people from all walks of life helped me realize this fact more clearly than ever. Too many people only see things from the view out their backdoor or, God help us, their social media feeds. That way is a trap. Don’t fall into it. Open yourself up to new experiences. See this majestic country and the people who live here from different perspectives. Hopefully, like me, it will give you renewed hope for what our country can still be.