Fun With Numbers

[acamara]

We are a unique bunch of individuals. Have met over 20 Elio enthusiasts. Can't wait to have local and national get togethers.

Ahem!!!!

Do not forget your Neighbours to the North.

Can't wait to have Local, National and International get togethers

 

[wizard of ahs]

There are a few of us in in and around central Indiana who I'm sure would love to get a look, if you want to pass through.

Hey..I'm on the west side...but I can travel

 

[xtspode]

This is an essay on gravel roads, excerpted from my book Explorations in Photography. The Elio makes a lot of possibilities real -- but watch out for flats on those gravel roads! (maybe 6 ply tires if you're serious about it)


The Magic of Gravel Roads


My love affair with gravel roads begins in the gritty New England of my youth. In those days northwestern Connecticut was a land of dairy farms, rock-strewn cornfields, and hockey on the village pond. The Litchfield Hills were long wooded ridges with a stream in every valley, laced together by an intricate network of dirt roads. The nearby Berskhires were steeper and more rugged. A teenager seeking a little romance with his girlfriend quickly drew a detailed mental map of every dirt road within 50 miles of home … and was boastful of his knowledge.


The gravel roads of New England were a hoot to drive, except in mud season, when they became nerve-sapping mires. I remember a sign, back before all of Vermont 100 was paved, that read “choose yer ruts careful, you’ll be in ‘em a while.” And oh, ‘twas true, and thank God for newish snow tires. But mainly, driving these roads with their rocks, washboards, and potholes was just great fun. You never knew what you’d see — an abandoned village, a mountain lion (yes, in 1955 or 56 I truly did see one spring from a boulder and leap across the road in front of us).

My father, a well-known humorist and novelist, loved driving – it was where he did his thinking about the next day’s stint at the typewriter. If we were quiet, my brother and I could go along for the ride. The Colonel (as he was called by many) frequently had no idea of where he was in the physical world, being fully engaged in the world of his imagination. But as kids, we never worried. Dirt roads invariably did one of two things: they emerged onto a larger road, or they petered out.in a farm yard or trail head, in which case you just turned around and waited til Option One (“coming out somewhere”) occurred. Satellites had barely been invented, GPS lay five decades down the road, and we had a perfectly wonderful time “getting lost.”

These expeditions bred in me a genuine love of driving for the fun of it, for the adventure of finding something new, and for the occasional challenge of extricating yourself from any number of unforeseen situations. (I vividly remember backing up 5 miles of logging road in New Hampshire, and doing the same for about 2 miles of mountain shoulder in Jamaica 10 years later)

A few years ago I had occasion to drive through much of the Western States, and last year spent two months on the gravel in northern Canada and Alaska. This gave me plenty of time to reflect on the magic of gravel roads. Here are my conclusions:


Blacktop roads and interstates urge you to get from A to B as quickly as you can. They’re all about the result, a quick arrival, and minimum time on the road. On an interstate, you see virtually nothing but the semi in front of you – a boring view to say the least.


Gravel roads issue an engraved invitation to satisfy your curiosity. Where does this road go? What’s around the bend? What lake is that I’m glimpsing through the trees? Gravel roads trigger the imagination. They’re seductive, adventuresome, teasing.


Where concrete induces boredom, gravel incites a broad range of feelings. Gravel roads may intrigue, beguile, terrify, excite, and even flat-out astound you with some unexpected beauty.


Most of the time, especially in hilly or mountain areas, gravel roads follow the contours of the land, and because you’re going slowly, you have the opportunity to look around. New views are around every curve, and there are LOTS of curves. Where asphalt says, “hurry,” gravel says “slow down and enjoy the show.”

It is fun to hear of another person who likes the gravel road and the fact that they follow the countryside, not cut through it straight line between cities. The gravel roads feel like they started off as game tails and then graduated to wagon roads and then gravel roads. They always seem to be the more picturesque routes in most cases though. As you point out though, a lot of the good gravel roads have been upgraded to pavement. Maybe not high speed smooth pavement, but it takes some of the ruts out. They are great on a motorcycle, and I think they will be a blast in the Elio. They always come out somewhere, and it is almost always a pleasant surprise and a fun trip. They have to be taken with the intent to enjoy the ride without any schedule though. If you are in a hurry to get somewhere specific, you are on the wrong road. Thanks for the post.