Driving across the USA
I frequently receive e-mail questions concerning driving on extensive road trips across the USA and about buying a car to drive around the USA. Here are a few things I have learned after many years of driving in the USA and a few tips on how to best plan a driving vacation in the USA.
First of all, you must understand that the USA is a large country. The 48 contiguous states of the USA cover a land mass that is 4,000 km wide from east to west and nearly 3,000 km from north to south. The huge seperated landmass known as the state of Alaska lies over 4,000 km north of the other states. Driving across the USA or between widely seperate sites can be quite a daunting task.
Driving along the East Coast from New York City in the North to Miami Florida at its southern tip is a typical journey for vacationing motorists. The trip is about 2,000 km long and requires nearly 20 hours of continuous driving. It can be done in a single day if you forgo sleep and stop only for refueling, eating and restroom breaks. Some adventuresome people, such as carloads of students on Spring Break during March, have done this, but it tends to be a grueling and exhausting pace. Most people take two days to complete the trip with an overnight stop near the midpoint. It still requires two days of extensive driving. If you are on a leisurely vaction, and prefer to see many of the attractions along the way, this becomes a three-day drive.
Driving cross country from the East Coast to the West Coast, such as a trip from New York City to Los Angeles, is a 5,000 km journey that requres at least 50 hours of continuous driving. Theoretically, it could be done in little more than two days, but most people would spend at least four or five days to complete such a journey. If you are on a leisurely vacation and intent on seeing some of the attractions along the way, you would make it a two week journey. Few residents of the USA would attempt such a journey. It requires too much driving time, and you would spend most of your vacation behind the steering wheel of the car with little time to enjoy your vacation. US natives would rather take an airplane from New York to Los Angeles, then rent a car to explore the West Coast.
Some overseas visitors write to me saying, "I want to see the country and to meet the people by driving across the USA". I personally have seen much of my country and met many of its people. I believe we have many wonderful thing to see and to do in the USA, but not every part of our country is very interesting. When you drive across the Great Plains of the Midwest, and you have spent ten hours staring out of your windshield at a road that stretches straight ahead until it disappears on the horizon with both sides lined by mile after mile of monotonous grain fields, you will eventually say, "Why am I doing this?"
If you really want to see the USA and to meet the people, just choose an interesting part of the country and spend a week or two in that area, Then, hop on an airplane and go to another interesting area of the USA and spend another week or two exploring that.
People constantly ask me about the feasability of buying a car in the USA to explore the country, then selling it. Here is my succinct response: "Do not do it!" It is not difficult to buy or sell a car in the USA, but it is very difficult to obtain the necessary permits to drive that car. If you are not a resident of the USA with a permanent adress in one of the states, it can be nearly impossible to register a car and legally drive it. I know that renting a car for an extended period can be expensive, but it will be far easier than trying to drive a car that you purchase.
Other people ask me about buying a car in the USA to ship overseas. This is a much easier task as long as you do not drive the car in the USA. You could fly to New York City, take a bus or drive a rental car to the largest Corvette dealer in the USA near Atlantic City, purchase a new or used Corvette in less than an hour, have the Corvette delivered to the seaport in Newark New Jersey or in Baltimore Maryland, and have it shipped overseas. All of this could easily be accomplished in one day.
Memorial Day
Next Monday, May 26, is Memorial Day in the USA. This federal holiday is annually held on the last Monday in May. It was originally instituted to commemorate all the US soldiers that died in battle. Now, it has many meanings for the citizens of the USA. It is still a day of rememberance for our fallen soldiers. It is also a day when many people visit the cemetaries to plant flowers on the graves of their deceased friends and relatives. For most people, it is the official beginning of the Summer vacation season. Schools all over the USA begin their annual Summer vacation breaks soon after Memorial Day. In the northern states, swimming pools, amusement parks and other vacation attractions open on this day. For many people this is an occasion for the first picnic or outdoor party of the season.
Cities and towns across the USA hold commemoration ceremonies and parades on Memorial Day weekend. One of the most poignant ceremonies on this weekend is held in Washington DC at the Vietnam Memorial.
The Vietnam War was a deeply devisive event in modern US history that occured between 1959 and 1975. To this day, many people believe that it was an unnecessary conflict that sacrificed over 50,000 US soldiers for an ambiguous and useless cause. To this day, many other people believe that the Vietnam war was an essential battle for freedom and democracy angainst communism.
The Vietnam Memorial was completed in 1982 to commemorate those who fell in battle during this long period of combat. It is a monument of simplistic design located near the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC. It is composed of two 75 meter long walls of black granite forming a "V" sunken below ground level. Each wall tapers from 20 cm to 3 meters at their junction. Each wall has 72 highly polished black granite panels engraved with the names of the 58,256 soldiers who died in Vietnam. The names are arranged chronologically by the date they fell.
The monument itself was born in controversy. Many Vietnam War veterans thought this simplistic design was too insignificantt, that it demeaned the memory of their fallen comrades. They called it "the wall of shame" and "the black ditch". They demanded a more traditional war memorial monument. The planners compromised by adding a bronze statue depicting three Vietnam combat soldiers near the wall. A few years later, a second bronze statue depicting three women veterans was added in the vicinity.
From the moment it was completed, this monument proved to be the most emotionally inspiring war memorial in the USA. At first, some of the Vietnam veterans were afraid to approach it. They stood in the trees one hundred meters away and stared at the monument for hours. Other veterans came to the wall and searched out the names of their fallen comrades. When they found the name, they touched it and wept openly. Friends and family members came from across the USA, sought out the names of their loved ones and made tracings of the inscription. They began to leave mementos at the base of the wall.
The mourners left flowers, cards, letters, photos, death notices and press clippings. They left flags, hats, items of clothing, military medals and patches, toys, dolls, stuffed animals and every imaginable personal item. They even left packs of cigarettes, bottles of Jack Daniels whiskey, packs of playing cards, cans of food, and all sorts of items that had special significance to their memory of the lost comrade. A group of veterans from Wisconsin left a Harley Davidson motorcycle decorated with the names of all their MIA (missimg in action) comrades. At first, the National Park Service kept the items in a storage shed. Now, they routinely place items in an historical archive and display some of them in a hastily constructed museum near the monument. The NPS plans to construct an underground museum to house and display this growing archive near the Vietnam memorial.
In May 1987, several motorcycle riding Vietnam War veterans suggested a way to commemorate their fallen comrades and to raise people's awareness of the prisoners or war and missing in action (POW-MIA) that remain unaccounted for. They organized a motorcycle rally for the memorial day weekend and named it "Rolling Thunder". Every memorial day since then, Washington DC has become the destination for tens of thousands of motocycle riders on the memorial day weekend.
This weekend, motorcycles will be on the highways from all across the USA. They will come by ones and twos, by groups of a dozen or more and in packs of hundreds. All of them will be heading to Washington DC. As many as 50,000 motorcycles will converge there for the weekend. On Friday evening, they will hold a candlelight vigil at the Vietnam Memorial. On Saturday, they will attend concerts, and outdoor barbeques. On Sunday morning, the motorcycles will assemble at the Pentagon; then precisely at noon, tens of thousands of motorcyles will slowly ride to the Vietnam Memorial. Many of them will be flying large US flags and black POW-MIA flags. Washington DC will truly hear the sound of Rolling Thunder.
There will be speeches and ceremonies commemorating the fallen and missing Vietnam War dead. That is the typical fare of memorial day ceremonies. You can find that in every city.
If you want to see the real poinancy of war and remembrance, just go to the Vietnam Memorial anytime during the Memorial Day weekend. You will see the grizzled veterans with their gray hair and their long gray beards, dressed in combinations of Vietnam era uniforms adorned with medals, combat fatigues covered with military patches and black leather motorcycle attire decorated with Vietnam War scenes. They still go to the wall to touch the names of their comrades fallen over forty years ago. They still weep openly.
Car Cruises
With Spring weather approaching in the Northern States, some of the usual Summertime activities are starting once again. One of these typical summer activities is the car cruises. They are popular all over the USA, and they usually occur on weekends. Every town seems to have at least one weekly rendevous spot for car cruising. The larger towns and cities have several. Usually they take place at a local drive-in restaurant or drive-in ice cream shop. Sometimes, they convene at an old drive-in theater or even at a local baseball field or parking lot.
Local residents come to show off their cars. Some of them have classic cars, or old-time antiques. Some of them have hot rods, street racers or modified stock cars. Some have muscle cars or simply stock cars that are particularly fine. It is not uncommon to see hundreds or even thousands of cars at some of the larger cruises. Typically, they line up their cars in rows, then open their hoods to reveal their souped up, crome plated, decked out powerhouse engines.
Sometimes, the owners of similar vehicles cluster together in a certain area. You may see dozens of Corvettes lined up on one side of the field. There will be new ones, older ones and some real classics. They will be in every color, even some with custom candy apple red paint, pearlescent glow or metallic sparkle paint. Some will have modifications of the engine or even the body of the car. Their hoods will be open and the glow of chromium plated engine components will glitter in the sun. The proud owners will be sitting in lawn chairs next to their vehicle or will be hovering over it with a cloth to keep the dust from dampening the sheen of their baby.
There are usually numerous muscle cars and plenty of old classics like the 55 Chevy, the 56 Ford Thunderbird, any model of the Ford Mustang and the GTO. You can even spot some rare classics like the old Nash Rambler, the Henry J, or the Hudson. The Hot Rods will be there, especially the modified 32 Ford Coupe and the old Pickup Truck. There will be chopped and channeled 49 Mercuries and severely modified classics from the 50s and 60s. The owners of these old-time, classics and hot rods will typically be middle aged or greater with gray hair.
Most of these older car afficianados have lovingly restored these old classic cars of their youth, and they bring them to the car cruise to show them off to their friends and their neighbors.
The younger crowd will also be at the car cruises. They will typically bring big wheeled trucks with massive off-road tires and chrome decorations, or they will bring low riders and souped up street racers.
Most of the car cruises are very informal affairs. Everyone sits around and drinks beer from their personal cooler, or wanders around visiting the other car owners and sharing drinks. Radios or boom boxes will be playing music at many locations. For the classic car owners, the preferred music is usually old time rock and roll and pop music from the 50s and 60s. The younger crowd usually prefers rap or current hit parade music. Some folks will be blaring country and western.
Guests are always welcome. There is typically no admission charge. You can park your car on the sidelines, unless it is really fine; in that case, you line it up with all the other beauties. You can walk around, take photos and visit with the car owners. Most owners are more than eager to show you their pride and joy.
When visiting the USA, if you are in a town or city on a weekend, just ask around about local car cruises. If you search hard enough, you will likely find the location of one or more car cruises that take place on a regular basis.