Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Lake Superior.
Everyone should drive all the way across the contiguous states. (Long-haul truckers are asked to just humor me.) You should do it several times, and in several different ways. You should do it in a rush, do it at your leisure, do it in increments even. Do with friends or family, do it solo, do it in winter, spring, summer, and fall if you can. A trip doesn't have to be from Key West to Seattle, or Portland Maine to Portland Oregon. Atlanta to Vegas will do, or Knoxville to San Francisco. You should also do it at a couple of different latitudes, I-10, I-40, I70/80, I-90. With opportunities created for pleasure or for work, I have been fortunate to do it several times, and each experience is an inspiration. This friggin' country is awesome!
North Cascades, Washington
The Piedmont, the eastern hardwood forests, the southern pines, the Appalachian Mountains have biological diversity that rivals or exceeds any on the planet. You have secluded valleys where a ten mile detour off the interstate will still take you back 40 years, and you have panoramic vistas like the Cherohala Skyway on the border to Tennessee and North Carolina. The density of the vegetation gradually diminishes as you approach and then cross the big river. The country between the Mississippi and the Missouri is a definite transition, and then you find yourself headed into the Great Plains. For me there is a definite change in mood when things start to open up. I'm a Rocky Mountains guy, and the plains induce a subtle sort of "I'm headed home" euphoria that at least temporarily negates the need for a Red Bull.
This is where it is most important to do the crossing under different circumstances, and at different times of the year. On the trips with a short schedule you get to experience the Milky Way at 2 a.m. and far away from the light pollution that diminishes its brightness near cities. (This is when it used to be fun to listen to Art Bell talk about Area 51 and other mysterious stuff.) You get to see sunrise progress to the morning brightness, and the entirety of the sunset from late afternoon shadows to the eerie moment between dusk and dark. You can also get a sense of what rest areas and truck stops are like after midnight--not for the timid. In winter you will definitely want to try to time your trip between blizzards, and on the more southern routes there is always the exciting possibility of a good ol' ice storm. Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle are often good for 600 miles or so of white knuckle driving where a big gust of wind or a change in the slope of the road might put you in the ditch. A recent trip across Kansas highlighted the improbable green fields of winter wheat contrasted with fields where there are tiny snowdrifts stacked behind the wind-whipped stubbles of corn.
This fall I made the trip from Tennessee to Washington state. At about sunset somewhere near the border of Nebraska and Iowa I noticed a bit of haze in the air. At first I thought I was still far enough east and close enough to big water that I was seeing air heavy with humidity. A bit later I discovered that what I was really seeing was combine dust. I started thinking about what this really meant and about the agricultural magnificence of this country. Farther west I started thinking about the pioneers who essentially followed the rivers as far as they could until they reached a point where the route of the water and the routes of their destinies no longer coincided. What compelled them to leave civilization and push a hand cart or follow the ass of an ox across hundreds of miles of unknown territory? Did they really think the land of milk and honey was out there? Or were the circumstances they were fleeing so desperate that no amount of risk seemed like too much? (There are numerous places where you can still see the ruts of the Oregon and California trails worn into the sandstone bluffs or sagebrush flats.) These musings led to more, and those led to more yet, until I was just dumbfounded about how really remarkable this country is, and about how remarkable are the people that comprise the human aspect of it. It is important to me that we realize that the human and natural aspects are inextricably linked, yet separate.
One of the best things about this country is our system of public lands. Our opportunities to recreate and to educate ourselves and our children on these diverse reservations are endless. You could spend a lifetime trying to enjoy all these opportunities, and have enough left over for another lifetime. We have National Parks and National Monuments where there is access to natural marvels beyond our wildest imaginings, and historical parks where you can learn things about our country that would fill volumes upon volumes. These are administered by the National Park Service under the Department of the Interior. The link above will give some idea of the scope of these opportunities.
Another classification of public lands is land administered by the National Forest Service which is under the Department of Agriculture. (The fact that the forests are managed by an agricultural entity might shed some light on government's attitude toward forests when the system was established). Once again, the opportunities to enjoy and explore these lands are nationwide and extraordinarily diverse. The NFS administers 193 million acres of forests and grasslands!
Also under the umbrella of the Interior Department are lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management. The bulk of these lands lie in the western states, and they are diverse, magnificent, and huge. They include deserts, canyons, forests, mountain peaks, grasslands, lakes, and rivers. They offer opportunities for almost any outdoor recreational activity you can think of, including motorized and nonmotorized activities from hunting and fishing to rafting, hang gliding, skiing, hiking, camping, canyoneering, rock climbing, four wheeling, horseback riding, and on and on. BLM administers 245 million acres of public land and 700 million acres of mineral resources.
The most remarkable thing about all of these lands is that they belong to me. And they belong to you. And they belong to our children and to their children. We don't need membership in an exclusive club. We don't need to own an automobile company, or social media platform, or to be on the board of some oil industry conglomerate. We don't need permission from anyone. We can use them virtually any time, and access to the vast majority of it is free.
This is looking south from I 70 just west of Grand Junction, CO. Foreground is a bunch of BLM land, The La Sal Mountains are in the Manti-La Sal National Forest, and the plateau in the middle is some red rock country in the vicinity of
Fisher Towers. About any
Western movie you can name from the 50's, 60's, or early 70's was likely, at least in part, filmed near there. It is all public land, all awesome, and at least so far, I own it and I can go there any time I want. You can go there too,
but you best hurry.
This Land Is Your Land
This land is your land, and this land is my land
From California to the New York island
From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me
As I went walking that ribbon of highway
And I saw above me that endless skyway
I saw below me that golden valley
This land was made for you and me
I roamed and rambled, and I've followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts
All around me, a voice was sounding
This land was made for you and me
There was a big, high wall there that tried to stop me
A sign was painted said "Private Property"
But on the backside, it didn't say nothing
This land was made for you and me
When the sun come shining, then I was strolling
And the wheat fields waving, and the dust clouds rolling
The voice was chanting as the fog was lifting
This land was made for you and me
This land is your land, and this land is my land
From California to the New York island
From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me
Woody Guthrie wrote this song in 1940 as a protest against the obvious unequal distribution of wealth that he saw when he traveled across the country. Our unfettered access to public lands is perhaps our most potent wealth equalizer.
Our public lands and our access to them are under constant assault. One of the best ways to battle for our land is to go out and use it. In that way we gain an appreciation that will cause us to defend it with vigor. I said earlier that this friggin' country is awesome, and the availability of our public lands is a major reason. So when you do the recommended cross country trip, or when you just want to get off the sofa, check out some public land. I guarantee there is some near by.
