This is a newsletter about the interstate. I live in a 1978 townhouse nestled among many other ‘70s-era housing developments over here on the Northside of Missoula. Sunken living room, stackable washer/dryer retroactively installed into the downstairs coat closet, *original* stove hood and all. Not far from my house, but well above it, cut into the side of the North Hills, runs I-90. From where I sit on my couch typing this, I can see it through the glass of my storm door: semis and cars fast on their way to somewhere. I have a lot of thoughts about the interstate and the traffic on it. But mainly, I think of I-90 as
So much to unpack but I’ll say I drove my dad to Alaska and at my mother’s insistence (she had lived in AK on and off for 20 years with her husband) I took a Milepost that she gave me. Check it out, IMHO it’s a must have to drive the AlCan highway and that’s all I’ll say.
Oh, the days of reading and deciphering a map and the jubilation at being able to properly fold one back up when done consulting it! Those days of navigating by road signs and exit numbers…these kids today have no concept of where they are, what direction they’re traveling in, etc. Not saying Siri or Google Maps navigation is bad, just that something is lost along the way with technology…
From my backyard I can hear I-75. Sometimes an obnoxiously loud truck will screech by or a motorcycle will blast through, but most of the time it’s sort of a gentle background thrumming and I honestly don’t mind it. I didn’t know those faces about interstates & I didn’t use trip tik, but I definitely remember driving to Mississippi with a friend in college using printed mapquest directions!
So much to unpack but I’ll say I drove my dad to Alaska and at my mother’s insistence (she had lived in AK on and off for 20 years with her husband) I took a Milepost that she gave me. Check it out, IMHO it’s a must have to drive the AlCan highway and that’s all I’ll say.
Oh, the days of reading and deciphering a map and the jubilation at being able to properly fold one back up when done consulting it! Those days of navigating by road signs and exit numbers…these kids today have no concept of where they are, what direction they’re traveling in, etc. Not saying Siri or Google Maps navigation is bad, just that something is lost along the way with technology…
I miss the Zoo. There truly is no place like it on Earth [certainly, nowhere I’ve been…]
From my backyard I can hear I-75. Sometimes an obnoxiously loud truck will screech by or a motorcycle will blast through, but most of the time it’s sort of a gentle background thrumming and I honestly don’t mind it. I didn’t know those faces about interstates & I didn’t use trip tik, but I definitely remember driving to Mississippi with a friend in college using printed mapquest directions!