When I was growing up…and I still do this today, I enjoyed stopping at the State Welcome Center or Rest Area and would pick up a state highway map. Even in this digital age, I have found that a good map recon is the best way to understand the world around you. As I prepare to go home, I am thinking more and more about what life will be like in the states. One of the things that I want to do is to travel and that plan leads me back to the maps..
I am not a distance traveler. I am a local sight seer. I like to see the local places, those area that are not too far to drive in under an hour. I love those brochures that provide information on the small local places. And I have seen my share of little know tourist attractions of the 1960s that miraculously still in business. One day, I would love to stay in those little road side motels along major highways of the 1960s and 1970s before the interstates and modern hotels ended their reign.
I like to visit common history. Too many people spend their lives trying to find vacations away from where they live, and never discovering the riches that they pass every day. I have found many little historical markers and sites that many people pass by every day without wondering, “What is that building or monument or plague?” These little things bring adventure to my life.
It takes more planning than I thought. When I come into a new town, I begin to visit the higher profile areas until I seen what I wanted to see. Then, I begin digging. I dig into local histories, I dig into maps. I pay attention to what is around me. I had a crazy goal during my last assignment to El Paso—I wanted to eat in and photograph ever McDonald’s in El Paso. This quirky little project took me all around that wonderful city. I went into less visited places, I drove through old sections and new sections of town. I went to places that spoke 100% English and I went to spots where English was the second language of most that where eating around me-if they used English at all. Finding every McDonald’s took research, bt it also got me into the maps and into the city.
Traveling is one of those things that I look forward to experiencing when I get home. All with a map in hand, ready for adventure.
—–
Photo from Unspalsh.com