As I set out for a 500-mile power run from eastern Tennessee to the middle of Missouri, I realized that these daylong drives are some of my favorites. As a solo traveler without a relief driver to take the wheel every now and then, 500 to 600 miles is the most anyone should put in behind the wheel in a 24-hour stretch. Somehow though, I feel pretty comfortable putting in all that time day after day – which is why I’m especially grateful for cruise control. This is the only way to travel. For me at least.
Even when I was a kid on family vacations to Florida, I frowned upon stopping unless it was absolutely necessary. I still feel that way, but now I don’t have to stop until I’m damn good and ready. I love watching the scenery change. I love owning the journey and all that I do along the way. I love just feeling the car go. I could drive forever… that is, if I didn’t need a hot shower and a warm bed after a long day on the road.
Driving for hundreds of miles in one day is all about knowing your limits (and keeping the gas tank at least half full, because once you start heading west into the great wide open, pit stops get harder and harder to come by). Part of the trick to setting boundaries is simple math. Most major highway speed limits are at least 60 miles per hour (65 to 70 on average), so even factoring in construction speed zones and safety corridors (which seem to crop up at frustratingly regular intervals every 20 miles or so), you’re probably averaging about a mile a minute. And there’s your formula for plotting where the day will take you: divide the total number of miles to be traveled by 60 and you’ll have a decent estimate how long you’ll be on the road. For example, using that equation, 300 miles will take somewhere around five hours (adding any stops into that time frame, of course).
This is just one variable that constantly needs to be considered and reevaluated when undertaking a trip like this. Almost two full hours every night has been spent coordinating the next day’s route, stops, sight-seeing, and accommodations. With a general plan, it’s hard to plot more than a couple days in advance, but careful planning is how I’ve been able to maximize how I spend my time each day.
This makes all the difference when you want to see something that isn’t going to take a whole day (or even half of one) to see, but you want to catch it while you’re on the go. Like my next stop.
Metropolis is home to 6,500 people just across the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illinois. My next big stops are in Kansas, so why am I making such a sharp turn north? Only a true Superman fan would understand. Metropolis, Ill. is not the birthplace of Superman, and the town has no official claim to the original mainstream comic book superhero. However, bearing the same name of the city where Superman (aka Clark Kent) makes his home, the real Metropolis has adopted the American icon.
Though this town looks and feels more like Bayonne than New York City (Metropolis’ movie stand-in), the county court house sits in Superman Square with a statue of World’s Greatest Superhero standing proudly outside (I’ve seen a photo of Obama posing in front of it in the same stance – after all, this is his home state) with the words “Truth – justice – and the American way” engraved in the stone pedestal.
“Even when I was a kid on family vacations to Florida, I frowned upon stopping unless it was absolutely necessary.”
– Mary Paul
________
If you’re a diehard fan, the admission price of $3 is worth it. Consider even arranging your visit for the second weekend in June when Metropolis hosts its annual Superman festival and some of the “Super” stars have appeared, including Helen Slater (the movie Supergirl) and Noel Neill (one of the original TV Lois Lanes). If you’re a more casual Superman fan, you’ll probably be satisfied just to walk around the store, which has a lot of stuff you can find on the Internet, but some things you may never find anywhere else.
It’s worth noting that on the way to Metropolis, crossing the state line into Kentucky, I was greeted by a welcome sign that read, “Birthplace of Abraham Lincoln,” followed by signs for the Jefferson Davis memorial… Crossing the Mississippi River again on the way into Missouri, I hit St. Louis at a comparatively mild rush hour (like weekdays on the LIE, but actually moving), and I got to see the famous Arch.
Next stop: the Land of Oz (Dorothy – not Hugh Jackman). Columnist Mary Paul is a former staff writer of the Hudson Reporter and Jersey City resident. Comments on this piece can be sent to: current@hudsonreporter.com.