Then I moved to LA for grad school (see the purple line across northern Arkansas etc)…then back to NYC…then to Chicago 4 years ago where I got a lot more pickups recently.
The key is to avoid interstates…go on the US routes and sometimes the state routes. Rolling hills, quaint towns, prettier scenery, far greater likelihood of stumbling onto interesting things.
The mountain time zone is just nonstop scenery. The Midwest, I’ve enjoyed traveling with my dog over the summer long weekends while my family is in Japan (they want nothing to do with my road trips). I see some interesting scenery there …my favorite was in eastern Kentucky and southern West Virginia since moving to Chicago. I meet a lot of people and chat for a while at the various small restaurants…people tend to be amused when I order a burger for my dog and we talk for a bit. I avoid politics because these are rural people after all. I took a ferry across the Ohio river from Ohio to Augusta, Kentucky. What a nice little town that was. Very pretty riverfront with 18th century mansions on the river bank. Ran in to it by total happenstance! That’s the best part. Or the cave and limestone cliffs near the southern tip of Illinois…or the actual absolute southern tip past the near ghost town of Cairo to see the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers….or northern Wisconsin near Rhinelander needing a place that takes dogs, I stayed at a random resort on a lake. The owners adult son invited my dog and I to their outdoor campfire party. About 20 people…chatting about everything, drinking beers, hanging with my dog, meeting his Native American friends and just getting a better feel for our country. Lots of that sort of thing!
I’ll post some pics later.
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