Long drive through freedom
Chris Moss rounds up the options for a US fly-drive
THE mythology of the American highway is as deep and long as the Grand Canyon — which you can, incidentally, drive along. Books, music and films have added glamour, ghosts and grit to what in other countries would be merely a long drive. Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, Bob Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited and Dennis Hopper’s
Easy Rider are perhaps the bestknown celebrations of the US ideal of freedom as an open road.
The challenge may well be to turn off the myths — and turn down the music — and make your own experience out of the journey.
The vast, varied landscapes, small towns and big cities drivers pass through make the practical matters of hiring a car and driving on the right well worth it.
The American highway celebrated its centenary last month. On October 31 1913, the Lincoln Highway was established. This was the first “improved” — hard-topped, occasionally graded — road to cross the continent, running for 5 454km from New York to San Francisco. In the ’50s, President Eisenhower championed the creation of the comprehensive Interstate highway network. The celebrated American journalist Charles Kuralt noted in his 1990 book A Life on the Road that the Interstate “makes it possible to go from coast to coast without seeing anything or meeting anybody. If the US interests you, stay off the Interstates.” This advice still holds good.
Those with time can try one of the long-distance epics, but if you have only a week, you can still do some very photogenic shorter routes. Here are our favourites.
EPIC DRIVES
California State Route 1 The route along the Pacific coast between Dana Point, north of San Diego, and Leggett, in the heart of California’s redwood country, is an exciting introduction to American road culture. Though the road skirts Greater Los Angeles and its gridlocks, it does pass through Long Beach, Santa Monica, Malibu, Santa Barbara’s wine country, Santa Cruz, Big Sur, San Francisco and the Point Reyes National Seashore. If you enjoyed Sideways and like to be beside the seaside, this is the one to do.
Route 66
One highway that ends in California is the most famous of all — Route 66, created in 1926 as one of the first numbered highways. Before then, American roads were recognised by coloured bands on telegraph poles and were often maintained by private individuals. Originally stretching 3 944km from Chicago to Santa Monica, Route 66 has lost sections to state roads, local roads, private drives and grass, and dwindled to a series of discontinuous “historic” byways. Some stretches remain open, most notably the 515km southwestern
Arizona section from the Petrified Forest to Kingman, via Winslow and Flagstaff — stay en route at the atmospheric La Posada hotel, where the 66 meets the equally celebrated Santa Fe railroad. To see what’s open, see historic66.com and check 66in2weeks.com for distances.
■ Highway 61 This one connects New Orleans and Wyoming, Minnesota, and runs south-north for 2 250km. It’s often nicknamed the “Blues Highway” in recognition of the region’s musical culture. According to legend, the great blues guitarist Robert Johnson met the devil at the crossroads of highways 61 and 49.
■ Coast to coast For those who want to travel coast to coast, there are several options. US Route 20, the longest road in the country, runs for 5 400km between Newport in Oregon and Boston, but is broken at Yellowstone National Park. Running parallel to the north is the 4 990km Interstate 90. To the south is Route 6, at 5 157km the longest continuous route. All these are useful for those aiming to cross the US in two or three weeks.
US Route 30, which crosses Route 20, runs from Oregon to Atlantic City, New Jersey, and incorporates large sections of the Lincoln Highway — a sort of national “Main Street” that passes (or runs close to) the National Automobile Museum in Reno, Nevada, Lincoln’s cabin in Illinois, and the Big Mac Museum and giant Coffee Pot in Pennsylvania. The southernmost route — a good winter option — is Interstate 10, from Santa Monica to Jacksonville, Florida. SMALL DRIVES, BIG VIEWS
■ Monument Valley Use Route 17 out of Phoenix, visit Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon, then head up the 160 to the cowboy-film-scape of the Arizona/Utah border. Then come down the 191 and across Interstate 40 to enter Winslow on Route 66.
If you can, combine with a Jeep drive along Diamond Creek Road, which goes along the bottom of the Grand Canyon.
■ Florida Keys The 240km US 1 from Miami to Key West skirts the Everglades and takes the “Ocean Highway” linking a series of keys with the Gulf of Mexico on the right and the Atlantic on the left; the most spectacular section is the Seven Mile Bridge.
■ Fall drives For a leaf-themed drive, choose between the 754km Blue Ridge Parkway ( blueridgeparkway.org) in southern Appalachia and the 222km Scenic Route 100 Byway along the edge of Vermont’s Green Mountains.
HOW TO DO IT
Cruising across the US in a classic car can be arranged — at a price. Blacktop Candy’s ( blacktopcandys.com/classic-car
hire) has a vintage Mustang and a Chevy Bel Air and offers 19-day self-drives along Route 66 from about $12 000 (R122 000, accommodation, mechanic and fuel included) per car. Ride Free ( ridefree.com/classic–car–tours– rentals) offers guided tours (in ’60s Mustang convertibles or a vintage 1932 Ford Roadster) along Route 66, California’s Route 1 or from LA to Vegas, as well as guided and self-guided motorcycle tours across the US.
All the usual suspects rent cars in the US, and websites such as
kayak.co.uk, 66rentacar.com and vroomvroomvroom.com are handy for comparing deals. Rates vary greatly depending on the season, model and pick-up point; circular drives are always cheaper than “one-way” routes. Driveaways — driving someone else’s car from A to B and paying for the fuel — are an option: autodriveaway.com. A refundable deposit of $350 (R3 550) is payable, the first tank of fuel is free and drivers must be over 23 and hold an international licence and an exit visa.
For the completist, TrekAmerica recently announced a one-off 80-day tour of all the 48 contiguous American states, departing Miami on May 8 2014. From £6 469 (R105 000), including flights and all accommodation, a tour guide and transport by private van (up to 13 people).
If you want to avoid the hassle of hotels/motels, a motorhome or RV is an option; try Cruise America ( cruiseamerica.com).
Greyhound ( greyhound.com) operates 16 000 daily bus departures to 3 100 destinations. Celebrating its 100th birthday in 2014, Greyhound has competitive prices: a three-night trip in December from Miami to San Diego, costs from $179 (R1 800).
Grand American Adventures
( grandamericanadventures.com) does a range of group tours by bus: see the Association of Independent Tour Operators’ website ( aito.com) for a list of American holiday specialists. —© The Sunday Telegraph