Where do we get such men...and women?

"Thanks to the Interstate Highway System, it is now possible to travel across the country from coast to coast without seeing anything."
So said Charles Kuralt, one of America's best known travelers.

He's so right.

That is why I chose to make my way across and into America only on state and county roads...well off the well-beaten track. These are the Blue Highways that William Least Heat-Moon describes so beautifully in his eponymous book.

I want to pause in my adventure story, because I want to reflect on the sheer joyousness I have felt on the road this summer.

The rewards have been many:

-- Unbelievable beauty of mountains, rivers, plains, hills, streams, valleys, passes, bridges, national parks, glaciers, dawns, sunsets and black nights under moonless canopies that I would never otherwise have seen

-- A significant absence of frighteningly huge trucks, 16-wheelers and larger, thundering by at breakneck speeds and challenging my space on the road

-- The opportunity to meet and talk with many people who live vastly different lives from my own, and to learn about and appreciate their experiences and joys and sorrows and dreams

-- Discovering the delight of being alone, without feeling lonely

-- The opportunity to discard plans and choose the road less traveled by when there is a prospect of seeing something different or quirky or compelling

-- The sounds of rushing water and riffling wind just before dawn breaks in the high mountains

-- Being welcomed by people everywhere I went, welcomed with warmth and humor and curiosity about my life, my stories, my place among them

-- Being overcome, day after amazing day, with an awesome sense of pride in this singular great nation.

As I think on it, I cannot adequately express my gratefulness, my appreciation and my sense of wonder at the thousands of men and women who built these hundreds of thousands of miles of roads...roads that made it possible for me to explore America to my heart's content... roads that made it possible for me to go wherever I wanted to go...roads that were built on sheer and dangerous mountain precipices, through scaldingly hot deserts, across threatening rivers and waterways, into nearly impenetrably dense forests.

Where did we get the engineers who envisioned this web of secondary roads? Where did we get the people who sweated out the backbreaking and dangerous work it took to lay the roadbeds and pave the roads? These unknown, unheralded, probably unthanked invisible Americans who made it possible for you and me to explore all this country has to offer: I owe them so much.

So do we all.

Comments

[miki]

Wow what a trip and what a story we are home now from camping at the Dewdrop and I am trying to catch up with reading your blog. I sure envy you all your experiences and you have helped us make up our mind to travel the country in our 5th wheel starting when Mel retires next year. Hope to run into you again maybe on the road. Maybe we will find another Raccoon.

[Kent McKamy]

Great to hear from you! As you know, my adventures really started with our conversation in the Allegheny National Forest. Keep me posted on when Mel retires, and when you'll start your journey. Mine's continuing...

[Shanna]

And so, Russ & I have returned from our two weeks out West, which we thoroughly enjoyed. Alas, we stayed on the Interstate system for much of our travels except when we drove US 191 from Jackson, WY to Rock Springs, WY. Interesting change of scenery from lovely wooded hills and mountains with golden aspens to sagebrush desert. Looks like I haven't missed much of your travel stories while I was gone, so it was easy to catch up again!

[kent McKamy]

No, Shanna, you didn't miss much. I've been slack...too slack...about creating new posts. I'm back in rhythm now, so keep reading.
I'm glad your trip was such a success, but next time, you must try the 'off' roads. That's when this country is truly visible.

[Jake in SC]

I'm enjoying the blog, Kent. I once met a guy from the old Mutual Broadcasting Network who only drove the backroads, usually old US 40. Other than his nightly radio program from DC, he was known for his skill in whistling all the great movie scores from the '40s and '50s. It kept him company on the road and was a show-stopper at parties. Cheers and beers. jd

[Cowtown Pattie]

Glad we got to be a part of your adventures!

[Kay Dennison]

I echo Pattie's sentiment!! It's been a fun and interesting ride -- to put it mildly!! Thank you for letting me tag along!

[Alice]

Just catching up my blog reading after a busy few weeks! Glad to see you're still into the backroads.