Our country is huge. Amazingly so. Sure, it's exciting to be able to get on a plane and be thousands of miles away in a couple of hours -- no, wait, TSA has kind of taken the "exciting" out of that... Okay, you could get on a plane and be thousands of miles away from your starting point in a couple of hours. But you can't get a real sense of the United States that way.
Driving the roads from here to there helps you to understand what makes our country tick. You interact with people from places that you're not from, even it's just for a few seconds while you pay for gas. Are they friendly? Do they have an accent? Do they call pop "soda"? Do they measure distance in miles or time?
And if you get off the Interstates, you really get to meet the locals. Ask for a recommendation for food. Is there a local point of pride? How about local history? Did George Washington sleep there? All you have to do is slow down and ask.
My favorite hobby is travel. I couldn't wait to get on a plane, pre-9/11, and go somewhere. But I realized that I wasn't seeing the country that I live in, just airports and the destination I'd chosen. So I'm on a quest now to visit every state in the country, mostly by car. (My trusty 2003 Saturn VUE cannot make the trip to Hawai'i. And Alaska might be a stretch.) I've already driven Interstate road trips that have taken me through the middle of our the country, as well as the Dakotas and the Great Lakes states. I've learned more than any Wikipedia article could ever tell me, just by being there. And I want to share what I've learned with you, and maybe encourage you to drive it, rather than fly.
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