Fantasy Road Trip
/by Jonathan King
Have you ever laid in bed at night, pondering the road trip that you’d like to do one day? A fantasy along the same lines of how you’d spend your millions from winning the lottery, but more focused on an experience, because we all know what 5 cars we’d buy with $100 million in the bank.
Pacific Coast Highway, Central California
There are so many roads, so many options to choose from. An easy one is the PCH for us fortunate SoCal residents, which is widely regarded as one of the most scenic roads in our great state of California. Packed with unparalleled views, twists and turns for countless miles, and scenic pull-offs so serine, each one offering a perspective that surpasses the previous. Another road is the Tail of the Dragon in North Carolina. 11 miles of switchbacks, blind turns, and banked turns that even Dan Tackett couldn’t drive faster than 35 mph on, even if you removed all the motorcycles. What about a more historic option, like the Blue Ridge Parkway, or Route 50, or even Route 66. Now you start thinking bigger. The Alcan, better known as the Alaskan Highway, spanning from Seattle to Anchorage. Perhaps somewhere warmer, like the French Riviera. Oh, how about the Transfăgărășean Highway in Romania (the road made famous on Top Gear as the greatest driving road in the world). Even the short Atlantic Ocean Road, known locally as the Atlanterhavsvegen, in Norway. It’s only 7 miles long, but man does it look cool. And we can’t forget about that famous public road in Germany that doubles as a race track.
California Redwoods, Hwy 101
I’ve been reading a lot of other automobile focused periodicals where the author writes about your car being your ticket to freedom, that it gives you the opportunity for any adventure of your choosing. When I was younger, I remember having friends in my car and someone telling us about the haunted barn 15 minutes away. You bet we went and checked it out, telling ghost stories to freak the rest of us out. During the summer after my first year of college, a group of us traveled to Toronto to see an AC/DC and Rolling Stones concert. We decided to go just a couple days before, and took a car without A/C and told our parents, “See you in a few days!” As we get older, those spontaneous adventures seem to taper off. Now we HAVE to plan well in advance, make sure we get the time off work, is our spouse going to go with, or will they even let us go in the first place! What route will we take, what hotel are we staying at, take or leave the kids, the list goes on. Even in our club drives the organizer will pre-drive the route to make sure the printed instructions match the plan so no one gets lost. Although this is exactly what you want in a planned event, sometimes getting lost can be a good thing.
Hwy 101, Southern Oregon Coast
My road trip that I think about before going to bed? San Diego to Seattle by coastal roads only. It's no French Riviera, but it's obtainable. Once I hit Dana Point, no more interstates. Alternate nights in hotels and campgrounds. Stop in small towns, enjoy local attractions, see what’s down the unmarked road. By default we are all a little curious about the unknowns. I know at some point in your life when you were at an intersection, you thought, “I wonder what’s down that road?” Maybe it’s a good thing we didn’t “take that left turn at Albuquerque,” or else we wouldn’t have ended up here.
Images Courtesy: Lisa Goehring
