When most of us travel, we have a particular destination in mind. We get on an airplane and go from point A to point B within just a few hours. Air travel is great, and I’m sure not “knocking” air travel. I am GLAD that I can get on a plane in New York and be in Los Angeles the same day. But while flying is by far the most time-efficient way to travel, it is not the only way, and it isn’t even the way that is the most fun.
If we DO travel by car, we get on a big super-duper, multilane freeway and whiz along at well above the posted 70 mph speed limit. (Don’t blink or you’ll miss an entire state!)
How long has it been since you packed up the car and went wandering across the county while avoiding the freeways and choosing the roads that are less traveled, traveling through small, sleepy towns and driving past farms and ranches? I thought so; you can’t remember when, can you? I’ll bet that if you think about it though, you will remember at least one such meandering trip and that it will be one of the trips that turned out to be the most fun, too.
According to the latest statistics, there are more than 5.7 MILLION miles of paved highway in the United States. Of those 5.7 million miles, more than 75% are under the jurisdiction of towns, cities, and counties. The federal government controls a little over 4% that are in national forests and parks and on military and Indian reservations. The rest of it is controlled by state governments. But think about it! The BIGGEST majority of the paved highways in this country are NOT the freeways. The biggest majority of the paved highways in this country are the roads that you’ve never been down.
Travel - Taking the Long Way Home
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