My step-brother, Paul, always likes to drive the blue roads. For years he drove my step-parents, when they had gotten too old to drive long distances safely, back and forth between North Dakota and Arizona. And he always traveled by way of the blue roads.
Now, I don’t know why they are called blue. They aren’t blue on my map. In fact, they are red. But they are the old U.S. highways that went out of vogue when the interstate highway system was built.
The interstates were built for efficiency and speed. They are “limited access,” meaning it is more difficult to get on and off of them. They are built for greater speeds (70-75mph in most of the country), which means there is not much time to see what is going on along the way.
I have spent most of my life on the interstates when driving, and, I hate to admit it, often when living.
Now I understand the difference. The nature of this sabbatical journey, in which I would take time to see, photograph, and write about fierce landscapes, has also allowed me to go back to another time when life was slower, and perhaps, in some significant ways, better.
Now, I don’t know why they are called blue. They aren’t blue on my map. In fact, they are red. But they are the old U.S. highways that went out of vogue when the interstate highway system was built.
The interstates were built for efficiency and speed. They are “limited access,” meaning it is more difficult to get on and off of them. They are built for greater speeds (70-75mph in most of the country), which means there is not much time to see what is going on along the way.
I have spent most of my life on the interstates when driving, and, I hate to admit it, often when living.
Now I understand the difference. The nature of this sabbatical journey, in which I would take time to see, photograph, and write about fierce landscapes, has also allowed me to go back to another time when life was slower, and perhaps, in some significant ways, better.
Blue roads take you through the center of most towns and cities, and you get a feel for what life is like there today. I stayed in locally owned motels, like the delightful North Winds in Bowman, North Dakota, run by a husband and wife and their three children. I ate in locally owned restaurants, like the Thai Mini Cafe in Poncha Spring, Colorado. I not only had a fantastic meal of Pad Thai and Bangkok Shrimp (in a marvelous chili sauce), but I bought products from the owners and they told me how to cook my own Pad Thai and Bangkok Shrimp.
The blue roads also give you a chance to photograph along the way. Death and/or a ticket awaits you if you stop on an interstate for anything other than an emergency, and most sheriffs do not consider the desire to take a picture an emergency. On the blue roads I was able to stop over and over again, to photograph deserts, mountains, clouds, sand dunes, plains, prairie, ducks, antelope, and horses. I was traveling slow enough and able to observe life closely enough to begin to formulate ideas of things I wanted to write about.
I plan to take a lot more blue roads in the future, and I pray the Spirit will remind me to live more of a blue road life.
The blue roads also give you a chance to photograph along the way. Death and/or a ticket awaits you if you stop on an interstate for anything other than an emergency, and most sheriffs do not consider the desire to take a picture an emergency. On the blue roads I was able to stop over and over again, to photograph deserts, mountains, clouds, sand dunes, plains, prairie, ducks, antelope, and horses. I was traveling slow enough and able to observe life closely enough to begin to formulate ideas of things I wanted to write about.
I plan to take a lot more blue roads in the future, and I pray the Spirit will remind me to live more of a blue road life.
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