Remember how, when reading comics or watching TV shows that involved children or teenagers, there’d always be a “back-to-school” episode where the obligatory English assignment was “What I Did on My Summer Vacation.” I don’t necessarily remember what happened during those moments, but they were one easy way to mark the difference between Summer’s “blank slate” and Fall’s regular schedule of classes and other things (the question being what was done to fill in the time when you had it).
Well, this is that sort of essay with a difference – the sort of trips I took recently have slowly become harder and harder to schedule over time as I accomplished what I had set out to do, plus a bit more than planned.
Anyway…this summer I’ve been doing a set of day/weekend trips with the goal of covering the whole of the Great Lakes area. Michigan was definitely planned to be fully driven through, alongside with Indiana and Illinois (although Illinois was seen as more of a stretch). I had certain areas designated in Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky and Wisconsin, as well, given my travels from the past two years.
I ended up doing a bit more than I planned.
At first, I covered various isolated counties that had somehow squeezed in between the major routes in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky. I also did some driving through Missouri (decided to take a certain route I remember had been talked about when I was a youth). It didn’t hurt that there were events planned during the early part of the summer so I could work some stuff around them.
Things started moving when I did a major drive through Illinois and Missouri. The counties between US 67 and the Mississippi river that I hadn’t driven through yet were driven through, and I covered various chunks of Illinois on the western sides of the state (along with a few yet-unvisited counties in Tennessee and Kentucky). A couple weeks later, I drove through Posey County in Indiana and another stretch of counties in Illinois.
Then came the focus on Wisconsin, for some reason. After clinching Michigan (again, there were counties that were off the main driving routes or north enough that I had no reason to visit them before), I found myself focusing on Wisconsin and a bit further west. By the end of July I had clinched Wisconsin, filled in some empty spots in Minnesota and expanded the covered area in Iowa to the west.
After a visit in Iowa (other reasons, although there was some driving done), I then shifted my focus on the remaining areas (east and south). First I took care of what was left of the intended area in Ohio along with some parts of Pennsylvania and West Virginia (could have gone into Maryland and deeper into WV, but fun called elsewhere). Then – after a couple of weeks – I clinched both Indiana and Illinois, covered the spaces in Western Kentucky I wished to do, and even knocked out a few extra counties in Tennessee. Finally, after Thanksgiving I finished off Ohio with a couple of trips to the Southeastern sections of Ohio.
In the end, this is the area I’ve pretty much covered – the medium green is what I’ve driven over the past five years:
Map off mob-rule.com, you may want to consider doing your own map by using the site.
Was there anything learned by these travels? Yes.
Probably the biggest thing I learned is that there are differences in various areas that you can sense by driving through them. The Upper Peninsula and Northern Wisconsin have pretty much the same feel, and the Upper Peninsula part of Michigan would feel more like Wisconsin were it not for the fact it belongs to the State of Michigan. Other areas that have their own feel are western Kentucky and much of Central Ohio – similar feels, but enough difference that you know where you are (can be the same as between Michigan’s Lower peninsula and much of Florida).
You can also tell how a state border affect the area. There’s often a shift in the impression in the area, and while much of the impression depends on one’s opinion on the state, there’s a residual shift that sometimes can be sensed. A slight change in how things are kept up, the human imprint being maybe a bit more sparse on one side of the border, even the impression of landscapes changing over what seems to be an arbitrary border (instead of something separated by water, a straight line radiating from some point which was intended to be a point where the state border crossed another border).
And that’s just the statewide (or area-wide) differences. Driving up and down the counties along the Wabash it’s interesting to see them still pumping out oil from the ground, and there’s an area in Clay and Owen county of Indiana where the landowners put in lots of retaining ponds all around.
Another thing I learned most clearly about wast hotels. There’s a definite range in hotels, from A Bed and A Prayer to Emulating Luxury, and while the upper end is definitely to be avoided for obvious reasons (unless you’re of a standard of living that makes on-the-road luxury hotels as the low end of where you stay at), there’s also the issue of staying at a place where you can imagine someone breaking in (a lot of the lower-level hotels have been assigned the unenviable job of housing people who would be homeless otherwise, sadly thoughts like that enter in places like them). I’ve found that middle-level hotels seem to be at the sweet spot – you get your toiletries, breakfast (preferably with bacon, sausage and eggs) and a basic cleanliness and solidity to the building. Presently (as of 2023) we’re talking in the range of $90-110/night for that sweet spot of overnighting well without overpaying. Anything above I consider overpaying (although sometimes that can’t be helped, nor should it as the reason for the hotel stay is important enough to “overpay” for the hotel), anything below that would be slumming (and while I have no problem doing THAT, it should be avoided as a steady habit if one can).
I have for future travels. In addition to the finishing off of Florida (a few counties in a few spots, but they’re scattered about – much like counties in Ohio, Illinois and Michigan when I started doing this), I can see a few areas in Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Kentucky, Ohio, and even Tennessee that could use some filling in, at least in part. There’s also the DelMarVa area along with other spots in Maryland and Virginia that I have an eye on, and even West Virginia has a section that makes sense when considered alongside what I’ve done/am thinking of doing.
However, my focus at this point will more likely involve goals and specific destinations. I will want to see something at someplace first before considering side trips and alternate ways of getting there/back. And, in fact, the hour of easy weekend trips with plenty of time to figure out how to cover certain areas (with the ability to change the route mid-stream) has passed with the filling in of all the immediately surrounding areas ten-twenty counties deep – at this point, just getting there’s the issue more times than not, never mind the twists and turns in the routing once I get there.
I can see one trip I’ve wanted to do for years – The Agawa Canyon Tour Train. One whole day’s tour from Sault Saint Marie to the canyon and back, starting around sunrise (at least in the fall, when this blog was written) and finishing well into the afternoon so one whole day is pretty much taken up. More importantly, we’re talking about a seven hour-plus trip (I’m assuming eight or nine hours, including various stops for food, gas and other things) or a flight going through at least three airports (no, nothing direct to Sault St. Marie from Chicago) – meaning, of course, that we’re talking about a three-day trek for just going there and back. One day off work, and that’s just for a daylong train trip.
Minneapolis would be an 8 hour trip, to Duluth would be 9 hours.
Portsmouth, Ohio would be a 7 hour trip by itself, Charleston WV would be 9 hours.
Buffalo, New York would take 9-10 hours, whatever route you take.
Kansas City works out to about 9 hours, as does Knoxville and Memphis.
Locations further out would require a week (or more) off and, most likely, a car rental (after a flight or two).
(And yes, there are closer spots. Even those take planning, and would quickly become exhausted after a visit or two (or three) unless I’m willing to take blocks of time to travel beyond the area.
So yes, in a way this is the end of an era – the idea of driving around just to fill in spots I hadn’t been to just because I could do so on a whim. An interesting way to spend a summer, if you ask me.
Sorry I'm Late… 