road trip thread

borzoi

Well-known member
endless smell of cow shit along the i5 from san francisco to LA. listening to the local evangelical station as a joke and becoming slowly horrified. thinking you're going to see the country and just seeing the country along the major interstates, ie not the country at all. not being able to figure out cruise control and regulating your speed manually for eight hours. gatorade and weird new snacks from the giant trucker gas stations.

church-or-deviljpg-c504daf0a7a0ac16.jpg
 

borzoi

Well-known member

this is THE road song. an infinitely spiraling fractal. a dream highway that never ends. an ever forward propulsion bc the arc is actually a mandala underneath. time starts to shimmer and bend and then just as soon as it started it’s over and you have to pull over to get gas and stop for wendys.
 

borzoi

Well-known member
china -> rider by the dead is up there too bc of how it just inhabits the liquid space between, going from the goofy nuggets psych bounce beginning to the driving mythic end. i wish i was a headlight on a northbound train etc.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
Cheap at half the price.
The road trip is alien to the British of course cos you can drive from Lands End to John O'Groats in less than three hours. However, now I live in Europe and I have a car, I'd seriously like to strike out across the continent one the inconvenience of the virus has finally gone. And if I can find someone to look after the cats. I truly think it would be a wonderful experience especially when you get to parts where you can whip through countries and see constantly changing cultures and languages, although maybe I'll get bored of driving by the time I get to Seville, who knows?
 

muser

Well-known member
I had big plans for a road trip across USA when a friend was living in ATL we were going to buy guns and take meth but it never materialised sadly, something I'd love to do with with or without the guns and meth.
 

Slothrop

Tight but Polite
The British road trip exists, it's just different. American road trips are focused, linear, oriented towards a destination. British road trips are digressive, exploratory, a fractal pattern of detours off detours off detours to see ever more marginal bits of Local Interest. An American road trips cuts a slice across a the country, a British road trip weaves itself into a region, becoming space-like rather than linear, like a situationist drift through South Devon.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
What are you on about rich, lands end to John o groats in 3 hours???
Slight exaggeration for the benefit of our US friends.... but the point is the UK is too small for a proper road trip. You could do it in less than 24 hours of driving I reckon, whereas now, if I got the car and headed East I could theoretically drive to, I dunno, Vladivostok or something and it would take weeks.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
The British road trip exists, it's just different. American road trips are focused, linear, oriented towards a destination. British road trips are digressive, exploratory, a fractal pattern of detours off detours off detours to see ever more marginal bits of Local Interest. An American road trips cuts a slice across a the country, a British road trip weaves itself into a region, becoming space-like rather than linear, like a situationist drift through South Devon.
A bummel you could call it.
"A 'Bummel'," I explained, "I should describe as a journey, long or short, without an end; the only thing regulating it being the necessity of getting back within a given time to the point from which one started. Sometimes it is through busy streets, and sometimes through the fields and lanes; sometimes we can be spared for a few hours, and sometimes for a few days. But long or short, but here or there, our thoughts are ever on the running of the sand. We nod and smile to many as we pass; with some we stop and talk awhile; and with a few we walk a little way. We have been much interested, and often a little tired. But on the whole we have had a pleasant time, and are sorry when it's over."
But you're right of course, normally the direct route isn't the interesting one. Especially here in Portugal where if you take the motorways you don't really see much and you have to pay a load of tolls, so we often plot an alternative route to places which ends up taking much longer and probably doesn't save you anything cos of the extra petrol and so on, but you see a lot more.
 

sufi

lala
My neighbours head off to Turkey and Bulgaria every summer in their motors, i think that would be a great trip. It's always a balance between needing to get somewhere and actually enjoying the journey tho

i was wondering if we need a thread on migration - in Music section tho
 

borzoi

Well-known member
The British road trip exists, it's just different. American road trips are focused, linear, oriented towards a destination. British road trips are digressive, exploratory, a fractal pattern of detours off detours off detours to see ever more marginal bits of Local Interest. An American road trips cuts a slice across a the country, a British road trip weaves itself into a region, becoming space-like rather than linear, like a situationist drift through South Devon.

america's wider and UK is deeper so it seems like the other spiritual equivalent is those walks people do following the ancient romans or celts or whatever. thats very appealing to me too, i'd like to do something like that. but its a different vibe. no time for the radio.
 

luka

Well-known member
Slight exaggeration for the benefit of our US friends.... but the point is the UK is too small for a proper road trip. You could do it in less than 24 hours of driving I reckon, whereas now, if I got the car and headed East I could theoretically drive to, I dunno, Vladivostok or something and it would take weeks.

The downside being you'd then be in Vladivostok
 
We're aiming to do Kent to South Portugal next year if we're ever allowed to travel again. Any recommendations for tiny cool villages with good food/scenery on the way would certainly be appreciated.

UK Road trips can be cool as long as you stay away from the motorways. London to Cornwall through all those A roads and past Stonehenge etc is a nice easy one, 5 hours or whatever. Pretty.
 
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