More Observations and Reflections
I undertook a two-month, 9200-mile student affairs professional development tour from mid-September through early November of this year, in which I travelled throughout the country. I kept track of many of my observations as I drove around the country and have reflected a bit on what I saw and experienced. Previously, I shared some specifics here and some larger observations here. In this post, I share a few more, though briefer, observations:
• Most beautiful place: Northern Pacific Coast (California and Oregon). Absolutely spectacular and breathtaking (especially one early morning, when fog blanketed part of the coast and all you could see were the boulders jutting up through the mist).
• Close second for most beautiful place: Columbia River Gorge (the border between Oregon and Washington). The vastness of the gorge is breathtaking!
• Ugliest place: Highway 101 from Carpinteria, CA to San Diego. Big ugly freeway, overbuilt suburbs, dry scrub, smog.
• Biggest surprise: That the Badlands (South Dakota), Devil's Tower (Wyoming), and the Redwoods (California) still blew me away, despite the fact that I'd seen them before.
• While the rest of the country seems to hold to the "rule" that you can safely go 10 miles an hour above the posted speed limit and not get a ticket, the drivers in Chicago operate 15 miles an hour (at least) above the speed limit. (I say that as someone who learned to drive in NY and now live in MA, two states known for aggressive drivers!)
• I was surprised by the lack of cops I saw on the road. Until I got to Arkansas, I only saw cops who had stopped to assist in some accident or other situation. However, as I travelled through Arkansas, Tennessee, and Kentucky, suddenly there were speed traps (although still not pulling over anyone not exceeding the 10 MPH above the speed limit rule!).
• The Pacific Northwest (I visited Spokane, Portland, and Eugene) deserves its crunchy, progressive reputation--it is a place and culture apart from the rest of the country.
• Least dog-friendly place: Chicago (they don't allow dogs in most city parks!)
• Most dog friendly place: Pacific Northwest: Bayley was allowed in indoor markets and restaurants!
• Most expensive gas - Southern Cal ($5.89/gallon).
• Least expensive gas - Azle, TX ($2.49/gallon).
• The barren, brown, rocky hills and mountains of the Southwest are just not that beautiful or interesting. I found that I rarely wanted to stop and take a picture of them.
• Parts of Arizona and New Mexico are breathtakingly flat. One night, a car started to approach in the distance, so I dimmed my brights and glanced at the odometer. I then drove 3.9 miles before the car passed by me, meaning that he was almost 8 miles away when I first saw him and dimmed my lights! Not only is the land pancake flat, but some of the roads are straight for miles and miles and miles.
• The most dangerous states in which to be a deer are Tennessee and Kentucky, based on the amount of roadkill I observed while driving through these states.
It is hard to draw any overarching conclusions based on my observations, except that the US is a very big, spectacularly beautiful, and geographically, geologically, and culturally diverse country. (Thank you, Captain Obvious!) And, I highly recommend a cross country trip to everyone! If you have any questions feel free to reach out to me either here or at patrick@drpatricklove.org.