Song
Of The Road

by Lin Stone

Roads have fascinated me all my life.  When I was a little bitty thing there was a family 42 miles away that we visited occasionally.  Only two roads led there and Daddy would give us a choice.  "Which road do you want to take?"

We always chose the Gillespie Road.  
It had a tree on it, and therefore we called it the "scenic route."
The old scenic roads of my youth still call to me; 
how much has changed around them over the years?

It’s easy to hook ourselves on the thought of seeing the big ones such as the Grand Canyon or Niagara Falls. But there are hundreds of sights tucked away sights that are a sheer delight to “discover” when you just come across them in your cross country car trip.

It the 1950s, when car travel was pretty much the norm, a real mystique developed about taking car trips for vacation.  Good motels rented rooms out for a mere $6 per night.  I remember curving through the Ozarks with little what-not shops set up all along the way, appearing like magic. 

It was during that time, when the interstate highway systems were first being developed in America, that the famous “Route 66” came into being.

Before too long “route 66” became a metaphor for getting out and seeing America. That is really when the idea of sight seeing and trying to take in the really great things this country has to offer became possible.

Getting out there and discovering the world of America surfaced in a lot of popular ways. The book “On the Road” by Jack Kerouac, while about more than just travel and sightseeing, spoke to an exploding need and desire in all Americans to know their country better face to face. A little later that urge to travel that was bubbling to the surface in all kinds of ways became more popularized by a TV show “Route 66”.

That part of being American which comes out as the urge to travel and see everything there is to see is part of our patriotism. But it is also a big part of the American spirit of adventure that is what brought our ancestors over here from the home country. The courage and desire to explore is just part of what makes Americans tick and it is one of the many reasons we love to get out there and see everything we can see.

That desire to get out there “on the road” is just as much part of how Americans tick today as it was when travel was new. Even though we have ample travel options, especially by zipping there by air, there is something irreplaceable about driving across the country, discovering its amazing sights from the front seat of an automobile.

Small towns and out of the way highways and byways have some unique and unforgettable sights of their own. Think of how you will wow your friends when you come back from your road trip adventure with pictures of...

• The strange but oddly beautiful Cadillac Ranch of song fame. As you drive along the badlands of Texas, don’t drive off the road when you look out and see a field full of Cadillacs buried upside down in the Texas soil back ends sticking up like some bizarre experiment in farming.

• An off the road spot where you can actually mine for gold in the black hills of South Dakota.

• A desert in the middle of Oklahoma with sand dunes suitable for dune buggy rides.

• A massive replica of the pyramids of Egypt. And you don’t need a turban to see it. Just take a few minutes off from the Grand Ol' Opry and visit this sight in the heart of Nashville Tennessee.

One place in New Mexico put up a string of signs twenty miles out.  The one that fascinated me most was advertising for a Desert Reptiles shop.  The sign that did me in was the one that said, "Baby Rattlers, just $1.00 each."  When I entered the dirt dauber infested store there they were, inside a cardboard box with a six inch hole in the top.  "Baby Rattlers, $1.00 each:  Just reach in and take your pick."   

The fun sights you can see on the road in a car trip across the majestic expanse of America will be sights that will stand out in your mind as much as the great and very well known sights that everybody else enjoys. And don’t be surprised if you see a look of envy in your friend’s eyes when they realize you were the one who had the guts to get out there and put your tires to the road and discover America all over again.

It is self evident all roads were built for some live purpose.  

When a strange country road beckons I wonder if that ribbon will lead to an old gold mine or to a lush field of lilies.  If I pass it by, the question always comes back to haunt me: Is that road still as important to someone?  Or is it now a relic to someone's needs in the distant past. 

Dirt roads, logging roads, paved roads, express ways across the burning sand; all of them hold that same romantic fascination for me. 

One day daughter #5 showed up at my door and said:  "Daddy, it's your birthday.  What kind of gift can I get you?"

It only took a moment's thought and I grinned.  "Let's go get lost."

That's just what we did too.  Down one strange road and branching off to another, we twisted and turned until we were hopelessly lost.  "Do we take the road less traveled? Or do we head down the one that looks like it loops through the mountains?"  Left or right, flip a coin, the decisions were made and soon we didn't even know what state we were in, much less what county.

What a wonderful time we had that day.  Look at that tree.  Look at that lake.  Look at that tractor.  Look at that house.  Look at that truck.  Look at that sunset.

We had been out all day long.  When at last we had worked our way home I was so happy that I glowed

For me it isn't where the road goes to that counts the most.  I look at the grass and the weeds.  I relish the meadows that roll and the glinting sunlight through the rain-drenched leaves.  My heart bumps to see an Indigo Bunting flash from a tree limb or even a buzzard rising on the thermals of the summer sky.

I'll stop to talk to a beautiful king snake on his way across the road.

I'll climb over the fence and into the ring with the bull to smell a fresh cow pattie.

I watch for the deer and I listen for the frogs and even to this day my old ruptured heart goes bump, bump when my tires are thumping down the road.