As much as I like road trips, I've probably driven my last one. The route took my odometer up some 1880 miles over a week, traversing five states with two destination stops and two overnight motel rests. My one-day behind the wheel capacity now seems to be a bit over 400 miles, considerably less than in my 20s when school took me from the East Coast to school in the midwest about twice a year. If my sleep pattern as a Senior is interrupted in my own bed, the motel beds do not do much better.
In some ways, long drives have gotten easier over three decades. GPS far outperforms maps and written turn directions. The Interstate Highway System is reasonably complete and sophisticated. At each interchange there are separate signs for lodging, food, and gas to be found nearby. At the end of the ramps, signs indicate which direction the driver needs to turn for the chosen service. Smartphones have made setting up hotel reservations on short notice straightforward. The gas stations have affiliated convenience stores for coffee and refreshments, sometimes more substantial food. And all these places are economical, with gasoline costing less than at home and quick overnight motels less expensive than the places I booked for my intended destinations.
As I drove along the Interstates in Virginia's full north-south dimension and the eastern half of Tennessee's east-west dimension, there were places to stop such as state parks, wineries, or mini-historical sites, each providing brief rest to those who need to move on, though perhaps more of a destination to people who live near those places.
Modern automotive advances also make these journeys easier. My smartphone will read an audiobook as I drive or I can set Bluetooth to music. Radios have channel selectors that find local stations. Cruise control can be used for large sections of highway. Speed limits have gotten higher. Virginia made the scenery visible from the highway attractive. TN and WV did not.
The drive sometimes has its hassles. I like stopping at universities as the break option, visiting the bookstores, often purchasing a logo coffee mug. I didn't do well this time, as we visited close to moving day and signs for visitor parking were few. My long drives are always to some pre-determined attraction, this time Nashville and Great Smoky Mountains National Park. This always raises an important element in the analysis. Was the effort of getting there, whether a substantial time on the road or airport irritations, justified by the purpose of the trip? For the western national parks it always is. It usually is to visit an international attractions such as Niagara Falls or a unique city like Charleston. Nashville and the Smokies seemed less so. A lot of driving for a garish few blocks of loud country music and a park with limited geological uniqueness, to say nothing of the mostly annoying town that supports it. Parking provided by hotels, but something of a ripoff and ordeal when dealing with the municipalities. I think of Gatlinburg as rural, but parking fees may keep the town afloat. I avoided the expensive flat rate lots. In Nashville and in Gatlinburg, each city has automated parking validation by card, with a mechanism I delegated to my wife, as it was not obvious to me. Meters were better.
Travel also brings you to people. They were invariably pleasant. Our weekend at the Park coincided with a national convention of Jeep owners, thousands of them, so I got to chat with a few briefly about their interests. With the Grand Ole Opry I expected people wrapped in the Cross and the Flag. While it attracted almost no people of darker complexion, and some Gospel elements were built into the music, the experience seemed less sectarian than I expected. And The Hermitage, plantation of Andrew Jackson, offered much insight into the era and its economics, the estate required much walking.
While I considered driving all the way home from the park, about nine hours, safety concerns prevailed. I left the final three and a half hours, much through populated areas, for the following morning. I arrived home at mid-day, unpacked after some rest in my own bed, then picked up a few things I would need to make supper. I'm tired.
While I needed different scenery, which is what I got, the strain on me this time might have exceeded the benefits of the two destinations. And my wife, as passenger with a chance to amuse herself with her cell phone for hours as I drove, did not seem to tolerate the travel very well either. She developed a fever, testing positive for Covid. Likely our last multiday drive.
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