Cross Country Driving

The drive from Colorado to Mississippi is a long one. Two (or more) full days of sitting in the same spot for hours on end. I can’t say it’s fun, but it’s certainly a unique learning experience. You can’t know just how big the country is until you’ve driven it. Watching the landscape turn from mountains, to mesas, to dessert, to grasslands to forest is spectacular. Watching thunderstorms roll across the plains was pretty awesome too. I’ve learned that the Four Corners region is dominated by Native Americans. It’s sad too, because that might just be the worst land in the country. There are also a lot of reservations in Oklahoma. The Cherokee Nation even has its own car tags.

You get to see a lot of neat things on highways, but interstates are great when you need to really crank out some miles. I’ve gotten to check out places I otherwise would never go. For example, I’ve been camping out by Ouachita Lake in Arkansas for two nights, and Lucy and I rode 17ish miles on the Womble Trail, an IMBA Epic.

I’ve just now realized how little I know about my own country, but I’m slowly building up an internal map. I now have a good idea of what Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas look like in addition to the Southern states. I’m excited to explore the rest of the country, all in good time. In the book I’ve been reading, Travels with Charley, Steinbeck says that Americans are more American than they are Southern or Western or Northern. Just something I’ve been thinking about as I make my way down the road.