Terminalcoffee discussion

Which do you prefer, highways or backroads? What are the pros and cons of each?

I like the exhilaration of backroads, the sense I'm not sure where I am and in the middle of nowhere, if they're new backroads...and that cool sense of isolation that comes along with the backroads I know.

I don't mind highways sometimes...esp. at night...without traffic, of course...

And...you?

Backroads are fun if time isn't a concern. I like the solitude and the feel of new territory. Otherwise, I go for the quickest route.

If I have to get somewhere in a hurry, it has to be a highway. If like Dan says, time is not a concern, the backroads are definitely the way to go. So much of nature to see, and so much to explore, you never no what might be up ahead.

On one such backroad expedition, I discovered a dog grooming shop. It was called Doggie Style. You don't get things like that along major roads.

it depends i like both, but really depends on the driver because i don't drive yet.. one time at the end of the summer some friends and i took the back way to the ren fair and the way the GPS took us took us around a prison, it seemed horribly out of the way but i guess that's the way it likes..

every chance i get to take a backroad i do. even if it takes longer. i just leave earlier and plan on it. i am a gawker when i drive which makes most passengers nervous. i look at everything when driving backroads.

"hey, look, a red tail hawk on that barn over there"
"wow, that old barn is cool"

i keep a camera and binocs in my truck for the times i see really cool stuff. and i pull over and just look once in a while

c'mon bun. i always stop for ice cream somewhere too :)

and as chicky and unmanly as it may sound, i like to listen to norah jones when i am driving in the afternoon setting sun

no worries, i am ok with my manhood. i listen to white zombie in the mornings

Backroads for me too, except in a hurry. I used to keep lists of the awesome places I passed on tour.
On the highway, you wind up eating at Subway and sleeping at Motel Six. On Rt 66 I ate dinner in a sombrero. Somewhere between the Grand Canyon and Flagstaff, I stayed in a hotel that was its own town (post office, hotel, restaurant all in one). The restaurant carried my favorite beer at the time, and had a homemade salad dressing that knocked my socks off.
Backroads rock.

Sarah Pi wrote: "Backroads for me too, except in a hurry. I used to keep lists of the awesome places I passed on tour.
On the highway, you wind up eating at Subway and sleeping at Motel Six. On Rt 66 I ate dinner ..."


What was the beer?

i like Norah Jones too, i also like Diana Krall and Ella Fitzgerald.. those are a couple of my favorites though i have a thing for all sorts of vocal jazz..

bun and i are on the same page today.

and you have a great way with word pictures!

Dan wrote: "What was the beer?"

I think it was Warsteiner at that time. The pilsner, even though I'm not the biggest pilsner fan. It was the end of August, and the middle of the desert. I expected my choices to be Bud and Coors, and I remember being totally surprised by the options.

Backroads for me, too, if possible. Unfortunately, there just isn't a good backroad route up to Seattle.

And I5 is the worst, Jackie!

I much prefer backroads. When we drove across the country from NY to Seattle, we had to take the highway because of kitty. That's when I started calling the highways Freeway USA - they are all so generically the same! Altho sometimes I do like the highways but only when they are not heavily trafficked. I do love the feeling of driving fast.

i feel like singing a john denver song

tackles Kevin, looks around for duct tape

[still humming LOUDLY:]

"Country Roads, take me home..."

It's spreading like a virus!

Have I ever shared this with the group?

Roadside America

It's a website detailing lots of fun and/or odd roadside attactions.

Bun: "My family laughs at me because I know how to get just about anywhere in this county without going onto a highway." This is just like my mother. She gets major anxiety on highways, even more so if she's not the one driving. Fortunately, it's lessened because she's been driving my grandma to her chemo appointments and my grandma forces her to take the highway.

There is a video on the internet of me and a bunch of others singing "Country Roads"... In addition, a translator friend of mine was asking me to look over his English to Tibetan translation of the song, and was telling me that he had to make something up for "Virginia" because it wasn't in his dictionary and didn't know what it was. When I told him "West Virginia" was a state it blew his mind.

i am a lover of cool looking trees that have terrific character. i go out of my way sometimes just to see a certain tree and how it looks in various seasons.

another GREAT driving song totally appropriate for back roads cruising is Rockin' Down The Highway by the Doobie Bros. Come to think of it, Black Water is too!

I like Creedence Clearwater Revival for my road trips. I'm also partial to Lowrider by War.

Thanks, folks. Now I'll be hearing John Denver singing, "West Virginia, mountain mama, take me home, country roads ...." all day long.

ALL. DAY. LONG.

oh yeah dan, i do lowrider when i am feeling funky. cisco kid too occasionally