"Light out for the Territory"

A few years ago Jim read a travel memoir, Ghost Rider: Travels on the Healing Road, by Neil Peart, drummer of the Canadian rock band Rush. After losing his daughter and then his wife to death, Neil takes off on a motorcycle through North America.

So when Jim suggested driving all of US Route 1 as soon as possible, I was ecstatic. Jim mused, “So if I want you to react with immediate enthusiasm all I need to do is suggest something you’ve wanted to do for years?” Duh!

After my epic Cross Country trip (15,900 miles pulling a pop-up tent trailer with six kids, ages 4 to 14, through 48 states, Mexico, and 3 Canadian provinces), I dreamt of another road trip: drive all of US Route 1. I grew up near Route 1 in New Jersey. Actually, we lived near 1 and 9: they share a roadbed in northeast Jersey.
Route 1 has a weird kind of romance: cheap motels and commercial strips. But it’s got Americana potential that interstates lack.
                                                                 

Why do I want to do it? I love the idea of doing all of something. I’ve daydreamed about hiking the Appalachian Trail, but reading Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods opened my eyes to the massive undertaking it is. The Trail is specifically laid out to go over as many peaks as possible, and my ability to handle elevation changes, never extraordinary, is now sub-par. Also, I once got very lost and disoriented in the Lower Vine Brook conservation land right here in Lexington. How hard can it be to keep track of yourself in 110 acres of town woods, surrounded by paved streets?


But driving, driving I can do. On the Cross Country trip I learned something about myself: I don’t mind long drives. If I had a cubicle job, I might spend 8 hours sitting in front of a computer. Sitting in a driver’s seat, the windshield is very much like a computer screen. Driving rains and darkness are a challenge, but the dry daylight hours are easy.
Jim wants an unplanned trip: just get in the car and go. If it weren’t for Advent and Christmas, we’d be on the road already.
So, on December 29th we’ll drop Annie and Shawn off at Logan airport pick up Route 1 South and “light out for the Territory” like Huck Finn.