"Can you keep an eye out for cars up the road?" he said, "I really gotta avoid these potholes." I dutifully obliged and fixed my eyes down the narrow, dusty trail, shaded by a canopy of Douglas Firs and beset by a steep, imposing bluffs on one side and an even steeper dropoff on the …
Continue reading GOTH 2018 Part VII: Scaling the Mountain in a Sports Car
I had peculiar moment the other day. It was my second full day in Rosburg, WA; I had gotten in late (around 1:30 in the AM) after spending the previous day visiting friends in Seattle. The drive from Seattle to Rosburg is about 3 and a half hours, and after a long day of driving …
Continue reading GOTH 2018 Part VI: This is a Long Drive for Someone with Too Much To Think About
Longtime readers of this blog may have noticed that when it comes to cities I'm attracted to a particular aesthetic. Whereas most of the world seems to prefer their surroundings to be sleek, polished, and new; I like things that are older, more weathered, more gritty. I like things to be rough. Not rough to …
Continue reading GOTH 2018 Part V: The Beastly Beauty of Butte
After spending the night in the back of my rental car at a Montana rest area, I awoke to this... I sauntered over to the rest area Men's room and gave myself a quick shower of baby wipes and Mitchum deodorant. I have some incentive to minimize the offensiveness of my aroma as later tonight …
Starting Point: Madison, WI Ending Point: Hot Springs, SD Miles: 827 Approximate Driving Hours: 13 In spite of all the butterflies I had in my stomach last night I still managed to bang out a reasonable 4 hours of sleep. I resisted the urge to get coffee for as long as I could possibly …
Continue reading GOTH 2018 Part III: I Found a Hunting Knife in a Women’s Restroom
It's 10:15 PM as I write this. I'm due to leave around 5 AM tomorrow morning. I'm tired and slightly tipsy and my room is a total mess. God, this is going to be one hell of a shitshow... In last year's "Ghost on the Highway" I did a similar "night before" post, focusing on …
Continue reading GOTH 2018 Part II: The Night Before a.k.a. What the Hell am I doing?
“Hello my ghost, I’m here, I’m home I hope you know about the long lazy road Behold, the stone it gleams like gold Out of control the beasts unknown and untold” -from the song “Build Voice” by Dan Deacon I started with an epigram because frankly, I don’t know where else to start. I don’t …
46 days. 23 states. Nearly 9,000 miles. And now here I am, sipping coffee on a cool September morning in the house I grew up in, wondering whether it was all just a dream. A hundred years ago the vast majority of Americans never ventured within 20 miles of their birthplace. These people were probably …
It's almost over, ghostlings! Within a couple days I'll be back in my hometown of Madison, WI. Driving through the Midwestern landscapes of Ohio and Indiana - as the rugged hills gave way to flat stretches of farmland - I already began to feel a bit more at home. Before I share my thoughts on …
When I first planned the Ghost on the Highway Tour, I hadn't even though to include Pittsburgh in my itinerary. It came about late in the game, as I decided to take it slow driving back West from Baltimore. But stopping there was one of the best decisions I've made on the trip. I thoroughly …
Continue reading Grittsburgh: Searching for Soul in the Steel City
Ghost on the Highway 