It’s really difficult to get lost these days. Not that I want to get lost but I also wouldn’t mind exploring unexplored territory, or at least having to rely on something other than technology to figure out where I am. I thought about this looking at Atlas Obscura’s map of “The Loneliest Road In Every State In America”. I have questions about that map, mainly since it just looked for the roads with the lowest average traffic. What about roads with the fewest houses, or the smallest number of places you can stop? I’ve never actually seen a filling station with a sign that said something like, “Last chance for gas next 100 miles”, but then I’ve never been to Death Valley, which seems to be where you find those.
At least I did have a small adventure the other night when I went out for a to-go order. We’re well into the time of year now when the sun sets early and the darkness that settles in seems so much deeper. I went out to pick up a to-go order from a Thai restaurant that’s in a small shopping center on a major road but, thanks to some weird urban planning, there aren’t any major intersections near it. To get there I have to wind through neighborhoods, something I didn’t really think about until I’d been on the road for about fifteen minutes and realized the way I was going wasn’t wrong but it was still taking me farther out of the way than I needed to go. It was a route I was taking out of habit, really.
Then, on the way back, with a couple of orders of curry and pad Thai as my copilot, I decided to take a different route, a way I’d never gone before, but, since it was roughly the right direction I thought I’d try it.
And I ended up disappearing down a series of cul-de-sacs and winding roads, through old neighborhoods of dimly lit houses set well back from the road. But almost every house had Halloween decorations in their yard. I may not have known where I was but I knew I was among my kind of people.
I’m glad you found a good area to explore and get lost for a little while. I enjoy doing that too. One of my favorite drives was somewhere out in the middle of BFE, Texas style. Was trying to get back home from the Hill Country and the main highway was super congested. So David, Ryan, Lauren and I took the back roads. It felt like we’d traveled back through time because of how sparse it was. There were buildings along the way, those were sparse, too, and old. It was a good couple of hours of traveling off the beaten path. Enjoyed this very much, Chris! Mona
It’s fun to go off the beaten path, isn’t it? And if the traffic is heavy the side roads might even save you a bit of time as well as offering a nicer view. Although I wouldn’t want to break down out there in BFE, especially Texas.
I love taking the back streets and isolated roads. You never know what you might discover—cool Halloween decorations, a beautiful tree, a haunted looking mansion, a lake you didn’t know existed…so much better than cookie cutter houses!
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With the growing number of cookie-cutter houses in our neighborhood–every house that sells gets torn down and replaced with one that’s white with black trim–I enjoy taking the occasional back road and finding that there are still places where the older, smaller houses are still standing. It’s funny that I’ve lived here my whole life and I’m still discovering places I consider hidden gems.
I always feel like I’m among my kind of people when I visit you, Chris. For whatever reason, this post evoked memories of when we were trying to meet up for dinner in Nashville and we missed each other, only to connect for lunch on another day.
I’m so glad you were reminded of that, Ann, and I think it’s because we are each other’s kind of people.
