Carpe Blue Highways

Sometime right after college I first read what has been hailed as a masterpiece of American travel writing: Blue Highways — William Least Heat-Moon’s travelog of his backroad travels around America.  It’s his chronicle of a three-month-long road trip that he took throughout the United States  He tells how he traveled 13,000 miles, as much as possible on secondary roads (often drawn on maps in blue), all while living out of his van with his dog.

It struck a chord with me because that’s exactly what my best friend Tim and I used to do (okay, not the living out of the van with a dog part)— first on bicycles and later in his Jeep.  Believe me, we never had reservations taking off and heading for parts unknown on those blue highways.  To this day, I still prefer the road less traveled.

That’s exactly what Suzanne and I decided to do for part of Labor Day Weekend.  We started out with one clear destination:  Loretta Lynn’s Ranch in Hurricane, Tennessee.  We figured we’d get there, explore everything it had to offer, and then catch her concert Saturday night.  Upon arrival, we quickly discovered that “Miss Loretta” — as she’s affectionately called by just about everyone there — had fallen earlier in the day and that, though okay, was not going to be performing that night.
Proof that even when you think everything is completely mapped everything out, disappointments happen.  What to do when life happens?  Carpe Diem Life happens. 

We quickly focused on evaluating the reality of the situation, choosing which direction we would go next, picking a blue highway, with the mindset of enjoying the journey.  We were now on a quest for "off the beaten path" treasures.  What did we discover that we would have never found on the interstate?

Benton County, TN, The Pearl Capitol of The U.S. A

Patsy Cline's Plane Crash Site Memorial (An engraved rock marks the spot where Cline's country music career ended abruptly on March 5, 1963)

The “famous” 30 Mile Bargain Highway

And the pièce de résistance: the12th largest Eiffel Tower replica in the world in Paris, TN

All topped off by a trip to Big Top drive-in in our own hometown

So, here’s the lesson: Carpe Diem Life is not only a map to achieve clearly defined goals, it’s also a map that encourages aimless wandering.  Of course, there’s still stopping to EVALUATE where you are and CHOOSING which DIRECTION you want to go next, ENJOYING THE JOURNEY. 

I think Mr. Heat-Moon would say, “Well done! Carpe Blue Highways!”