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Matt Paxton
My wife, Lynne, and I got back last weekend from a 10-day road trip out through the Midwest, riding our bicycles on trails, and visiting museums and airshows. We put 2,200 miles on our car and rode on trails in Oh io, Illinois and Wisconsin. We visited and stayed in large cities and small towns. We crossed mountains, rivers, and miles of some of the richest farmland in the world.
We enjoy exploring this big, beautiful country of ours, and, besides the upper Midwest, have over the years driven the roads of the Great Plains, the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and the West Coast. Mostly, we stayed in Airbnbs, and we enjoy the diversity and sometimes quirkiness of that experience. Doing so allows you to stay in an old store nicely converted to a three-bedroom apartment in a small town in Wisconsin, with a great deck overlooking a river; or just down the street from the house where the movie “A Christmas Story” was filmed in Cleveland, Ohio.
Road-tripping as opposed to taking the airlines allows you to stop anytime you see something out of the ordinary. This trip, we stopped at the Mars Cheese Castle, outside Kenosha, Wis. – the store resembles a medieval castle complete with drawbridge, and features the state’s iconic cheese and local beers. In Point Pleasant, W.Va., there is a statue of the mothman, a local legend that supposedly terrorized the area in the 1960s. We discovered vibrant downtowns in Dayton, Ohio and New Buffalo, Mich., and saw sand dunes 150 feet high on the south shore of Lake Michigan.
The people we met were almost universally friendly, and proud of their hometowns. Our Airbnb hosts left us recommendations of places to eat, shop and visit. We prefer finding local restaurants rather than chain eateries when possible, and found our servers friendly and ready to suggest their favorite menu items. We had several memorable meals along the way.
Several of the towns we stayed in have Main Street programs working to revitalize their downtowns, much like Lexington and Buena Vista. Ripon, Wis., has several blocks of great late 19th century storefronts, in various colors of brick, most with arched windows and decorative flourishes. Ice cream parlors, boutique shops, brew pubs and clothing stores are reclaiming what were once pharmacies, hardware and furniture stores. At night, most of the buildings were outlined in white lights. We actually stayed on the second floor of one of those buildings, overlooking the main street.
It’s a truism that travel is a broadening experience. I think there is great value in foreign travel to expose one to other cultures and people, besides seeing the sights. But there’s nothing like exploring this country, with its vastness and its regional diversity in food, accents, nature and traditions. Travelling by car allows you to interact with lots of people, and I have to say that, in general, the people we met make me optimistic about America.
I’m impressed with the hard work, imagination and local pride evidenced in so many of the communities we visited. Social media and television thrive on emphasizing what divides us – and I don’t deny that divisions exist. But in day-to-day life, most of us get along with each other pretty well. I think most people want to be helpful and welcoming, if given the chance.
Long road trips may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but a well-planned itinerary coupled with a bit of spontaneity can result in a week or so of great memories. We look forward to our next adventure.
