Apparently, essayist Robert Sullivan has a "cross country driving hat." In a piece published by the Hartford Courant, the LA writer hangs up his metaphorical head gear and sounds the death knell for the great American cross-country road trip. Justifying his stance, Sullivan does the hippie hippie shake: "The cross-country trip became the everyday trip. Motels, which in the 1950s advertised new products for your home (air conditioning, wall-to-wall carpet) began to look like homes, or vice versa. It also created a new kind of settlement – a big-box store, fast-food chain, Gas & Go, chain motel – that is the perfect oasis of amenities for the interstate cross-country traveler. Except that its existence eats away at what the trip-taker has gone to see, which is the United States." Sounds like the missing verse of a Simon and Garfunkel song to me. Anyway, to prove that long distance road trips are off the menu, Sullivan sold his car. To achieve the same ends without the radical loss of mobility TTAC recommends replaying the bit where Clark Griswold's children see The Grand Canyon in National Lampoon's Vacation.
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Sullivan is a friend of mine, and for what it’s worth, he’s made the X-C trip many times (and written about it). He’s been there.
Well, the Mom and Pop places and small towns are still here – just harder to find. Here in central Delaware, you can get a great breakfast or dinner (real turkey and gravy) at Kirby & Holloway’s or crabs at Sambo’s. It takes work to avoid the corporate chains (Bob Evans, Waffle House, etc). We have one of the few agricultural museums in the mid-atlantic and the fantastic ‘Made in Delaware’ store.
If the great American road trip has finally died I’ll not be mourning its passing. The youngsters of this generation may well be spared all those fruitless hours stuck in the back seat on their way to God knows where because dad thought it would be quality family bonding time.
An asinine piece of nostalgia-fueled self indulgence. The interstates haven’t erased the back roads of yore from the map, and besides, it’s not like he ever drove pre-interstate America anyway (1989, ooh! How different the world was! Leave the real cross-country adventures to Kerouac). He bemoans things like GPS and ICE; give me a break. It’s your damn car, if you don’t want it, don’t bring it.
I just drove from the Twin Cities to Maryland, up the coast to Maine, and made the return trip via Montréal. Through the convenience of the interstate system, I was able not only to see plenty of sights and visit a few places along the way, but I made fast time when needed, without which amenity the trip would have been unfeasible.
What a mountebank; his epic road trips might be over, but he, like too many people, leaves little room for personal responsibility.
“Sounds like the missing verse of a Simon and Garfunkel song to me.”
Exactly!
“Countin’ the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike”…
America is still there, but of course, you have to get off the interstates. Have made the cross-country trip via I-80 three times and via I-20/I-10 once. Even those were great trips, but time was of the essence.
Am a retired USN vet and have lived on all three coasts, but most of that stuff called “fly-over country” remains a mystery since I mostly flew over it.
Will retire at the end of ’08 for the second time and hope that my wife and I will be able to see the heartland at a much slower pace.
I love road trips and have taken many U.S.A and Canadain.
I have a plan/dream of seeing 49 states and every province in Canada, by non 4 lane divided road.
You gota do such a thing with no time restraints I need to be granted 3 wishes first
1] GM Canada pension doesn’t go belly up.
2] My beloved Firebird rag don’t go belly up
3] My health,along with the rest of me don’t go belly up.
I’ll find the mom and pop motels,the route [ they still make road maps]
So if you see a white Firebird come through your town with a licence plate reading MIKEY you will know my dream/plan has come true.with or without a genie
The road trip isn’t dead. Two guys, an Audi S4, and a New York to Seattle journey proves otherwise.
http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=2918517&page=1
mikey, if you haven’t already done Route 66, please put it on your road trip to-do list. A copy of Michael Wallis’ “Route 66: The Mother Road” would be a nice guide to take along. That way you won’t miss the Blue Whale, the Cadillac Ranch or that guy standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona.
Thanks for the link quasimondo, I’ve seen that one before and it’s great. Looks like those two guys had a blast, the blue tape is priceless.
NoneMoreBlack: The interstates haven’t erased the back roads of yore from the map…
jimmy2x: America is still there, but of course, you have to get off the interstates.
Exactly.
We found lots of wonderful back roads to drive (and fantastic mom and pop places to eat) doing daytrips into the Berkshires of western Mass. and the hills of southern Vermont this summer. I’m sure every state still has such routes to explore, all the way across the U.S.A.
So some self-righteous pontificator overthinks himself into believing that there is nothing out there to see anymore and firmly plants his head up his rectum? Good for him. I hope he enjoys the view.
Personally I think Mr. Sullivan needs to get off the interstates a little more often. No one is putting a gun to his head and making him sleep at chain hotels and eat at chain eateries. Maybe leave the DVD players, game consoles, and GPS at home too. If one’s idea of navigating is taking the turns that the GPS tells you to then you’re not taking a road trip. You’re on a guided tour.
Here’s a tip for you Mr. Sullivan. Now that you’ve sold your car go get a pop-up camper and a vehicle that can properly tow it. Take no less than five quality trips with that rig and then come back and tell me there is nothing out there to see anymore. Better yet, don’t. If you haven’t got enough backbone to keep your roadtrips from becoming infested with brain-rotting gadgets than please just stay home so you’re not infesting the campgrounds with them. We already have enough of that.
I agree, and respectfully disagree…
Here is my argument:
http://www.goolsbee.org/roadtrip/
–chuck
http://chuck.goolsbee.org