My Favorite Places are Gas Stations and Highways
When my car is up to road spec, I’ll drive aimlessly for hundreds of miles at a time. GPS is the true hero in these instances. I’ve driven through 10 states alone, and during those times I’ve realized why I carry a high level of appreciation for these particular places.
Firstly, gas stations are micro-hubs of local life and travelers abroad. Usually they’re more of the former than the latter and offer both an interaction with the familiar and the foreign. You can usually find interesting local trinkets and souvenirs, which are both cool to collect and also offer a view of what the locals value or invest in. A sense of the food and culture, ideologies and lifestyles are presented in quick, unwatered down encounters which most often will present an unmasked, casual and informative experience if your eyes are open.
Rest stops in particular are interesting. The parking lot is peppered with the sleepy and wide-eyed alike, and those stopping by or passing through. Depending on the amenities provided at any given location, you can either take a quick nap or get a full night’s 8 hours, if need be. There will be truckers with loads or on their way home. Rest stops are almost always going to be located reliably by three things: gas stations, on and off-ramps, and the greater highway system.
The highway.
Interstate of insanity.
I’ve witnessed everything from military convoys to burning vehicles on the side of the road, multi-section transport vehicles, and equally fast (and/or terrible) drivers. The highways offer an open view to the flow of the world in a dynamic and white-knuckled, hyper-attentive kind of way. While the latest safety features dull the acute awareness that you’re driving a gasoline-filled, shrapnel bomb around at high speeds across large swathes of land, it remains no less impressive a feat to be occurring 24/7/365.
The highway is an intense place to be regardless of your destination. I can lose myself in the sound of traffic and wind, my own thoughts or loud music. I load myself with coffee for hours at a time if I’m going longer distances.
Perhaps it caters exclusively to my perspective and overwhelming desire to travel as much as possible. It’s a small fragment of the way my own perception works in the world. The atmosphere of the open road carries with it a heavy, dreamlike pull, beckoning into the kind of mind that leaves you in quiet awe.
