Compulsively Aimless

I mentioned I liked roads. It's a recurring theme of this blog starting with my cross country drive of my own. I've collected a lot of books on roads. Here's one category of books on the history of roadbuilding and of particular American highways.    1.   First Highways of America: A Pictorial History of American Roads and Highways from 1900-1925 , John Butler (1994). A history of the dirt-rock-to-pavement of America's early roads.  Fantastic black and white pictures of early cars, road construction and landscapes.  Bought new. 2.   Coast to Coast by Automobile: The Pioneering Trips, 1899-1908 , Curt McConnell (2000).   A collection of early automobile adventures across the the U.S.  The appendix includes a great chronology of early automobile trips. Bought new.       3.   U.S. 1: America's Original Main Street , Andrew Malcolm, Photographs by Roger Straus III (1991). Sometimes called America's original Main St...

Given the time, I would roam every back road of the America.  In planning for that day, I collected some references guides to take with me.  Here's a short list.   1.  A Field Guide to America's History, Douglass L. Brownstone (1984).   A reference guide showing where to look at the land to find man-made footprints across America complete with a glossary and bibliography.  Bought used at BJ's Books, Warrenton, VA 2.  The Lost Towns & Roads of America: A Journey Revealing Early America Still Here Today, J.R. Humphreys (1961).  Humphries set out from the Atlantic Highlands of New Jersey westward across the country to following Indian and pioneer trails through the midwest and southwest all the way to Spanish settlements along the California coast.    Map of journey on inside boards.  Extensive black and white photos.  Bought used somewhere. 3.  America's Architectural Roots: Ethnic Groups that Built Amer...

Every bibliophile sooner or later gravitates toward some topic that defines who they are.  Roads west were one of my first interests.  In 1919, my maternal grandfather found three foolhardy friends and drove from Ohio to California in a 1915 FIAT.  This was still an adventure and in the days when there were still essentially wagon trails and very few paved roads.  I was captivated by the journal he left behind and retraced the trip 70 years later and tried to publish a book about the adventure.  The book never made it into print but the interest in roads west has always been strong.  I keep thinking I'll return to it and finish the job of publishing a book on my westward retracing.   1.  The Oregon Trail, Francis Parkman, Illustrated by Thomas Hart Benton (1946).   A classic story of pioneers pulled westward.  The Oregon trail set the scene for others to come west.  Parkman himself lived among native American tribes for a summer ...

I have a lot of books on roads, road trips and road adventures.  Trying to organize them into categories can be difficult.  There are cross country road trips, meandering road trips, and road races.  Then there are the purposes for which people travel roads---pilgrims set out to make a new life.  When I finished law school, the greatest freedom I could think of was to get in my car and drive across country.  Car + 26 year old, and lots of roads meant freedom.  That trip was part pilgrimage. I retraced a 1919 trip my maternal grandfather made at the same age.  I tried unsuccessfully to publish a book out of the adventure. This group is picked for some of the most adventurous road trips with a little history thrown in. 1.  The Wild Roads: The Story of Transcontinental Motoring , T.R. Nicholson (1969).   Stories of motoring firsts in the early age of the automobile.  Nicholson's expertise in early automobile adventures hit the sw...