The Driving Thread

There really isn't a thread for all things driving in terms of our love of driving, the cars we drive, the roads and (The) freeways we drive, the things we see while driving etc etc.

Spent the weekend at my dad's again. Left about 9:10. Traffic on the 405 south was nonexistent. Open road. Blue sky. Sunshine galore. Made to Long Beach in less than 30 minutes.




Before getting on the 405 I was on the 10 west, behind this blonde chick in an old school Futura convertible, a rare rolling avatar of our national life of leisure. You don't see these kinds of beauties on the road anymore.



Have at it on this thread. Most of us drive. Any favorite roads, streets, freeways, highways, biways, boulevards, diagonals that you love? Any funky driving stories? For those who love (The) L.A. freeways, what's your favorite numbered freeway? 405? 605? 91? Hollywood Freeway? Harbor Freeway? 22? 57? 710?

 

My wife and I drove 1 from Santa Monica and crossed the Golden Gate Bridge before turning right and ending up in Napa (not all the same day, stopped for a couple days each in Cambria, Carmel and SF). I've wanted to drive 1 south as far as I could go, but it gets confusing around Palos Verdes.

From Downtown L.A., I've driven Sunset Blvd. to PCH and Wilshire Blvd. to Ocean Ave. in Santa Monica.

395 is a very cool drive, from the High Desert to the Sierra Nevadas. It starts in Victorville. We've gone as far as Reno.

 

The top photo looks like a scene from "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood," when there was no traffic on the freeway shots.

Sweet ride. No way a car that old still exists in WNY, where I grew up. Road salt would have eaten it alive in less than 10 years.

There are days when SoCal is the most beautiful place on Earth. You can see why so many servicemen flocked there after WWII, before it got so crowded.

 

Here's a recent photo from Central Washington. Who can name what interstate highway this sign sits on?



More highway trivia: I never thought of U.S. 12 as a quasi-continental highway, but it goes from the Pacific Coast all the way to Detroit.

 

This is perhaps driving adjacent, but this article really resonates with me. Most of us have probably out in some heavy miles on hard roads. From National Geographic, 1992.

https://www.prosebox.net/entry/243529/

 

I believe that would be I-82.

Many years ago I had to entertain myself in Ellensburg on a Sunday for about 5 hours while my wife had a business trip there. One of the longest days of my life.

 

My favorite drive is Route 9 -- Molly Stark Trail -- between Bennington and Brattleboro.

It's 45 miles of mountain climbs and curves and swerves and drops -- and a big climb in the middle -- and more curves and swerves and pretty views.

Chock-full of hollows and lakes and national forest while passing thru artsy fartsy Main Street Wilmington at the crossroads of Route 100, the spine of Vermont.

It's the best little drive in America. Best to drive both ways the same day.

 

One Sunday in October, 2020, when my pandemic cabin fever reached a peak, I drove up to Blount County, Ala., which has three different covered bridges. Didn’t stop at the middle one because a family was already there making portraits and I didn’t want to interrupt.

 

That's an incredibly good read. Thanks for posting it.

 

I will get in my car and drive to wherever one lives and punch one in the throat if one says the 91 is one’s favorite freeway.

 

In May, at the end of the cross country drive, I almost road raged because of bumper to bumper on the 91 near Corona.