Roadside America
It’s been a few years since I’ve taken a real road trip where I was carried along for days or weeks at a time on the rhythms of the pavement, the sound of the wind coming in the windows, and the sight of endless blue skies beckoning toward brand new horizons to explore. It’s been a while since I’ve had a chance to see unusual, unforgettable, unique and fascinating sites that abound, if you know where to find them. I’m not talking about Interstate highway travel. What I mean is the “Blue Highways” type of road trip along almost forgotten byways that only the locals use, and which twist and turn around hilly Ozark mountains, and follow the courses of small rivers deep into the heart of rural America. I miss doing that a lot, for I did so much of that in years past. Kept travel journals. Took photos. Ate in Main Street cafes and visited untold numbers of local museums and tourist attractions — the kind you won’t find at Six Flags or Disneyworld.
It’s so much fun to do this because you see the country up close. You see and talk to individuals who are lifelong residents of the counties you are traveling through. You get to experience life on the road as it was before the Interstate, when motels were homey and family-run, and very different from each other. They had character, some admittedly, too much character, but they were one of a kind. Now they are almost all gone.
You can retrace the old Route 66 now and relive the glory days of cross-country automobile trips. You can find a lot that’s off-the-beaten track, but it takes some research. Fortunately, there are good books and Web resources to help you do the job.
The primer for all travelers seeking the soul of the country is, of course, William Least Heat Moon’s 1982 classic, “Blue Highways.” All of the Reader’s Digest road guide books to off-the-beaten-path places are excellent, and I have relied on them extensively. Road Trip USA by Jamie Jensen and published by Moon Travel Books is also very good.
For fun Web exursions to far-out, tacky, weird, but unique “roadside attractions,” you may want to visit this site, guaranteed to show you tourist stops you probably didn’t know even existed.
Roadside America.com
What a timely entry for me. I’ve been having little daydreams about chucking it all and hitting the road. Of course that won’t happen, but it’s fun to think about.
Warning Comment
Mm.. I like to be on the roads myself, waiting for adventures around the corner. Hey, you too have lost some entries. My 2 last are gone.
Warning Comment
we took a major road trip 5 yrs ago after leaving s.c.went down the coast from florida to maine & across the midwest, saw real mts in wyoming to california.wish we took more time tho!
Warning Comment
Thank you for that website… I would have never known that there was a Museum for Menstration in my own state. No lie, go to Maryland. Gave me a chuckle!
Warning Comment
Husband’s read “Blue Highways.” When driving down the interstate on a long trip, certain roads beckon me..I want to just get off (esp. in rural areas) and see what’s there…..
Warning Comment
Just checked out Roadside.com. Looks like I’ll be exploring it more. Thanks, Oswego.
Warning Comment
Love those places you find where they serve unusual regional dishes, or where you pay a dollar to feel your car “roll uphill” with you inside. We have a few unusual spots here, kinda hard to get to, though 🙂
Warning Comment
I loved Blue Highways! Made me want to buy an old van and take off, and I am about the most home oriented person alive.
Warning Comment
My favorite was always Steinbeck’s Travels with Charley –also at one time I loved Kerouac’s On the Road. I drove across the US once a year when I was in grad school, never on the interstate.
Warning Comment
In my much younger years (60’s) family trips were by car from MI to CA traveling good ole Route 66 they were still blasting roadways then too…..nice trips but mom :o( was not very adventurous and we missed a l
Warning Comment
and don’t forget Kerouac’s “On The Road”. That’s a must for any traveler.
Warning Comment
Never have we seen so much in the way of life as when we moved up here to the desert. Next month we drive up to the mountains for apple picking, more fun than Disneyland.
Warning Comment
my kids want to fly all the time…but we drive…love to get out and see everything…i love just doing that…smiles and hugs…
Warning Comment
Living along Route 66 – it seems as though the glory days and even most of the nostalgia is lost or poorly recreated. Leaving CO my uncle gave me a hand drawn map of “local” back-road highways – haunting.
Warning Comment
Oh, Oswego, you lost the Horseshoe..do you have it saved somewhere? This is marvelous and I will indeed check out the web sites..hope to do some over the road traveling in the next couple of years. Love your diary!
Warning Comment
How long did it take you to get used to saying “countY” instead of “parish”? Love
Warning Comment
Well, thanks again for an helpful entry–maybe when my fellow retires we can take a blue highways trip. I’ve never been to the Gulf neighboring states, so I’ve suggested we go in that direction.
Warning Comment
How I love to come here & sit at your feet as you enchant us with your stories of your travels & places that await~ I am learning much here. Thank you, dear Oswego~ *smile*
Warning Comment
Checked out the web site. Very interesting. Hubby spent some time there, too. Thanks for the address!
Warning Comment
I know all of those books well. It’s time for you to quit reading, though, and just get in the car. How ’bout it?
Warning Comment
I crossed your country from east to west by car. That was fun. I don’t remember which road we took. Now it’s interstate 40 I think but some time ago there was a tv show about the old road which seems to be famous now! I went to the site! Very interesting… I like the chocolate moose! Looks great!
Warning Comment
I traveled along route 66 about 8 yrs ago…… ~seafarer~
Warning Comment