Taking the Scenic Route

Last year I posted about my plans to hike the Appalachian Trail from Maine to Georgia after I graduated college. Now, this was more of a back-up plan, and one that ultimately did not come to fruition.

I have this odd fascination with driving (or hiking) the entirety of a road. During one spring break in high school two of my friends and I drove from my house across the state on Highway 60 just to say we did it. There are plenty of faster ways to get across the state of Wisconsin, but most of the routes are dull. Sure, many of them allow you to go more than 55 mph, but the scenery just doesn't compare.

If we had taken major freeways or an interstate on that adventure we never would have driven through creepy, seemingly abandoned towns, stopped at any historical markers, eaten a Rumble Burger, or driven through the town where they were filming "Public Enemies."

In college, I almost always took I-43 from Green Bay back to my house, but on occasion I would take Highway 57. I got to travel through small Wisconsin towns and not have to worry about pushing my car to keep up with traffic.

I enjoy driving, and if I am going to be in my car for a couple hours, I figure I might as well make the most of it. If I'm driving for six hours, is one more going to make that much of a difference? No, because I'm already spending a good portion of my waking hours driving anyway.

It was this philosophy I took with me when my friend and I drove back from Minneapolis two weeks ago. Sure we could have just taken I-94 most of the way, but I've done that drive before. It's boring.

Back roads make you pay attention to your driving too. You never know when you might stumble upon a town, go from two lanes down to one or find the speed limit drop from 55 to 25 in the blink of an eye.

We got off of I-94 just outside of St. Paul and took Highway 61 all the way down to La Crosse. It was a beautiful drive filled with amazing scenery of the Mississippi River, which we followed most of the way. Then at La Crosse we took Highway 33 all the way back across the state.

This part of the drive was much more challenging as the first two hours consisted of nothing but windy single-lane roads with wildly varying speed limits. There was a lot of corn, but unlike driving through Indiana, this corn was planted on rolling hills. Plus, we saw six Amish (I'm guessing) buggies. When was the last time you saw six buggies in one trip?

The back roads are nice break from typical long hauls on interstates, offering more interesting scenery and a more engaging drive.