Get your kicks...
Just finished reading a cool little book for those who like vintage cars and sports car racing. It is called The Last Open Road. I have always admired the title as it has always caused in me a small gasp of sadness. Finding an "open road" nowadays takes some doing for most of us.
For me, and open road is one that is close to going to nowhere. If somewhere along the route you wonder WHY the road exists at all, that's a good sign that you're on an open road. But of course, that's not a requisite. There are plenty of great open roads that go from A to B...but they do so in a fashion that does not include lots of traffic, signals at every intersection, and businesses lining both sides of the road. Amenities should be few and far between. Roadside gas stations will likely not have credit card readers.
Curves, like those that make women so interesting to us men, also adorn the open road. Sitting behind the wheel while traversing I-20 in western Texas is not the open road - it is just driving. Give me curves like these CURVES and I'm a happy driver. Keep my mind involved with negotiating the next turn, or wondering what is over the next rise.
I was born in the San Francisco bay area and my dad showed me a few of these sultry roads that meandered in the hills above Oakland and San Jose. I couldn't wait until I was old enough to drive and when I finally was...I was living in Dallas - land of the gridwork highway system. Not a curve to be found that wasn't a dull 90 degree critter bordering a pasture or farm. Things haven't gotten significantly better for me in the intervening 25 years. A stint in eastern Texas was nice, but lacking. Houston - don't get me started on that mind-numbing metropolis. Kansas City? Nope...while Missouri has its share of nice roads, they're all down in the far southeastern portion of the state in the Ozarks - requiring many hours of dull driving to get there. Yes, we do have Route 66, but the kicks just aren't there anymore.
I do remember one magical summer when my parents still lived in the Oakland hills of California. I took my car out there during the summer break and spent every available moment zipping around the roads that most people in the Bay Area have no idea exist in the east-bay hills. They were open roads that connected civilization with...well...other civilization. But in-between was magic.
So now, I want to go back. I want to fly to San Francisco and rent something like a Miata then head north up 101. I'll zig-zag back and forth through the mountains between the ocean and the inland valleys. I'll stay at whatever hotels show up along the way (the smaller the better), or sleep in the dang car (Wisest words I've ever known: You can sleep in your car, but you can't drive your house). I want to find those open roads that still exist because they are still out there.
It's just that some of us have to work to get to them.
For me, and open road is one that is close to going to nowhere. If somewhere along the route you wonder WHY the road exists at all, that's a good sign that you're on an open road. But of course, that's not a requisite. There are plenty of great open roads that go from A to B...but they do so in a fashion that does not include lots of traffic, signals at every intersection, and businesses lining both sides of the road. Amenities should be few and far between. Roadside gas stations will likely not have credit card readers.
Curves, like those that make women so interesting to us men, also adorn the open road. Sitting behind the wheel while traversing I-20 in western Texas is not the open road - it is just driving. Give me curves like these CURVES and I'm a happy driver. Keep my mind involved with negotiating the next turn, or wondering what is over the next rise.
I was born in the San Francisco bay area and my dad showed me a few of these sultry roads that meandered in the hills above Oakland and San Jose. I couldn't wait until I was old enough to drive and when I finally was...I was living in Dallas - land of the gridwork highway system. Not a curve to be found that wasn't a dull 90 degree critter bordering a pasture or farm. Things haven't gotten significantly better for me in the intervening 25 years. A stint in eastern Texas was nice, but lacking. Houston - don't get me started on that mind-numbing metropolis. Kansas City? Nope...while Missouri has its share of nice roads, they're all down in the far southeastern portion of the state in the Ozarks - requiring many hours of dull driving to get there. Yes, we do have Route 66, but the kicks just aren't there anymore.
I do remember one magical summer when my parents still lived in the Oakland hills of California. I took my car out there during the summer break and spent every available moment zipping around the roads that most people in the Bay Area have no idea exist in the east-bay hills. They were open roads that connected civilization with...well...other civilization. But in-between was magic.
So now, I want to go back. I want to fly to San Francisco and rent something like a Miata then head north up 101. I'll zig-zag back and forth through the mountains between the ocean and the inland valleys. I'll stay at whatever hotels show up along the way (the smaller the better), or sleep in the dang car (Wisest words I've ever known: You can sleep in your car, but you can't drive your house). I want to find those open roads that still exist because they are still out there.
It's just that some of us have to work to get to them.
posted by Erik | 2:15 PM
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