THE JUNE 2024 SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE CELEBRATES “THE WHEEL DEAL: This space-age sensation kicked the American road trip into high gear.” Its topic by Steven Melendez is a familiar one to long-time SimanaitisSays readers: “Airstream Travel Trailers,” nine years ago. A sidebar to the Smithsonian article, “Taking the Scenic Route” by Teddy Brokaw is another familiar theme: “The Best Trips Around the World—Including Personal Ones, SimanaitisSays, August 30, 2023.
Teddy Brokaw’s piece has overlap with my own travels; it’s fun to glean tidbits identifying them.
Image from Smithsonian, June 2024.
Alaska Highway, AK. “Rumble over the Sikanni Chief River Bridge,” Brokaw writes, “scan the river for caribou and grizzles, and salute the 95th Regiment, a Black outfit of the Army Corps of Engineers, who won a bet against their white counterparts by finishing the bridge in three days.”
Image from “Best Trips,” SimanaitisSays.
My Alaskan adventure came in 2007 when I co-drove a Toyota hydrogen fuel-cell-powered electric vehicle from Fairbanks to Vancouver. Next time I’m passing through Beaver, YT, it would be fun to stop at Buckshot Betty’s for another of her Yukon Burgers. (It looks like it’s named the Discovery Burger now.)
Highway 101, CA. “ ‘The 101,’ as it’s affectionately known,” Brokaw says, “is a drivable California postcard that carries you past the Hollywood sign and over the Golden Gate Bridge.”
Image from “An Ultimate Ice Cream Car.”
The 101 was our regular route to and from the Monterey Historics. It also gave R&T a novel comparison test of rooms at the famed Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo. Oh yes, there were cars being compared as well, including my favorite, a “Continuation Series” Cunningham C4R.
Along with its themed accommodations, Madonna Inn is renowned for its Alex Madonna’s Steakhouse. My fav is the bacon-wrapped French Filet Mignon.
Hana Highway, HI. Of this Maui attraction, Brokaw notes, “Each of its 617 switchbacks seems to hide a waterfall….”
I’ve never visited Maui, but do recall a Toyota press junket to the big island when I toured portions of it with pal Denise McCluggage, rest her soul. By the way, the University of Hawai’i at Hilo seemed like another dream job when I was teaching at College of the Virgin Islands.
Going-to-the-Sun Road, MT. My particular Montana adventure was a working one: performing the snow and ice portions of testing All-Season verses dedicated Snow (one even studded) tires. “At West Yellowstone,” I wrote, “I found the surface more difficult to walk on than to drive on.”
Image from R&T, November 1994.
Bill Janowski was pal, vintage racer of his Monsterati, and proprietor of DataMotive, Inc., doing such testing there. He’s retired in Reno now, age 89, having sold DataMotive to Clint Humpherys in 2004.
I recall my tire-test article recommendation of John Bozeman’s Bistro and its Lobster Wontons and Thai Seafood Pizza.
Trail of the Ancients, AZ/CO/NM/UT. “Pairing natural beauty with indigenous history,” Brokaw writes, “this route winds its way around the sun-drenched Four Corners.”
This and the following image from “Copperstate Lore.”
The Trail’s Arizona portion was focus of the Copperstate 1000’s 1993 tour, with Wife Dottie and I participating in our Morgan Four-Passenger Family Tourer (its rear seat handling snacks and suitcases admirably).
Copperstate friends the Sanborns (both, rest their souls) gifted us with this Navaho school bus after a real one blew past us, the Morgan running a territory-police-encourged 55 mph.
Overseas Highway, FL. Brokaw describes, “The southernmost highway in the continental U.S. traverses the turquoise waters of the Florida Keys via 42 low-sling bridges.”
When we moved back to the Mainland in 1975, it passed through our minds to add this detour to our trip back to Ohio. However, we had already enjoyed even more splendidly turquoise waters for years. And young daughters Suz and Beth had never visited Orlando’s Disneyworld….
Mt. Washington Auto Road, NH. Brokaw writes, “The road to the summit of the Northeast’s tallest mountain climbs 4,600 vertical feet….”
Images from “Mount Equinox F3.”
I’ve never been to Mt. Washington. But what about racing up Vermont’s Mt. Equinox in a vintage Formula 3 car? ds
© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2024