“The fragility and fantasy of old America.”
road trip
Route 66 Is Turning 100 This Year. It Still Has Stories to Tell About America.
“The country’s legendary main street celebrates its centennial against the backdrop of the nation’s 250th birthday. Could there be a better time for a road trip?”
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
In this edition: inside a cyberscam compound, behind bars but ahead of the times, up into the beyond, away from home, and under the night sky.
Will Dad and I Ever See Texas the Same Way?
“A noted Texas historian and his adult child get behind the wheel to see if they can finally view their home state the same way.”
I Tried to Toughen Up My Son. Things Didn’t Go as Planned.
“A trip to the Badlands with my 8-year old offered lessons in boyhood — and manhood.”
Dislodged
In this beautiful personal essay, Josh McColough recounts a road trip with his daughter along the coast of California and makes poignant observations about humanity and our vulnerable environment. Still, we too often move through life not considering our size and stature relative to forces and objects that humble us. Geologic time. Plate tectonics. A […]
Notes for a Post-apocalyptic Novel
When things get hard, we look to our most fundamental relationships. This is the story of a son, a father, a camper van, a pandemic, and the ties that bind.
When Zora and Langston Took a Road Trip
In 1927, Zora Neale Hurston gave Langston Hughes a lift to Tuskegee in her Nash coupe, nicknamed “Sassy Susie.” It was one of most fortuitous hangouts in literary history.
‘The South Is Different Now. So Are We.’
On two tours of the South, taken 20 years apart, Pete Candler uncovers truths about his family and the place he comes from.
