Simanaitis Says
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SOME SCENIC DRIVES
IN THESE CLIMATE-CHANGE-SENSITIZED DAYS, the phrase “Let’s take a drive” sounds vaguely subversive. On the other hand, the exhaust of a modern car may well be cleaner than the air it ingests. And the beauty of a scenic drive is enriching.
The dailypassport website posted Nicole Villeneuve’s “7 of the Most Scenic Drives in the U.S.” Here are tidbits from this article, together with personal recollections of several of the venues.
Going-to-the-Sun Road—Montana. Villeneuve says that this route “spans almost 50 miles through the heart of Montana’s Glacier National Park—with some of the most spectacular landscapes in the country.”
This and the following images from dailypassport.
I’ve visited Montana only a couple of times in winter tire evaluations, once with testing specialist/Monsterati vintage racer Bill Janowski, the other with R&T Art Director Bill Motta. Neither trip involved Glacier National Park, but I recall “open sky” scenery with real mountains. (See my discussion of a mountain’s prominence here at SimanaitisSays.
Blue Ridge Parkway—Virginia and North Carolina. “Nicknamed ‘America’s Favorite Drive,’ ” Villeneuve writes, “the Blue Ridge Parkway spans 469 scenic miles from the Shenandoah National Park in Virginia to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina.”
This was one of the high points of my Mini Moke’s “From Sea to Shining Sea” adventure. Oft-told but worth repeating is the cordial interaction in a gift shop along the route: One of the ladies remarked, “That car of yours doesn’t have any windows or doors. What do you plan to do when it rains?”
“I guess I’ll just have to trust in the Lord,” I offered.
“Yes,” the other lady said brightly, “the Good Lord looks after babies and fools.”
Pacific Coast Highway—California. Villeneuve cites cogently, “From the dramatic cliffs and coastal bridges of Big Sur to the golden sands of Malibu, the unique rock formations at Morro Bay, and the natural splendor of Monterey, the Pacific Coast Highway is one of the most beloved and breathtaking scenic drives in the country.… This drive isn’t just a passage—it’s basically poetry come to life.”
Personal recollections overflow. One of them: Wife Dottie and I were admiring the wildflowers as we drove past the Hearst Castle turnoff. Then she said “There’s some penguins.”
I knew that Hearst had accumulated an odd assortment of wild life on the castle grounds—but penguins??
No, she actually said, “There’s some pink ones.”
For more recent PCH adventures, see “Wagner’s Norns and PCH Memories.”
Highway 163—Utah and Arizona. Villeneuve writes, “The 64-mile drive offers unobstructed views of the region’s iconic red rock formations, with the highlight undoubtedly being Monument Valley, known for its towering sandstone pillars that stand over 1,000 feet tall and date back millions of years.”
Yes, I recall spectacular scenery through Monument Valley as seen through our Morgan Four-Passenger Family Tourer on the Arizona Copperstate 1000. As described in “Copperstate Lore,” “As is customary on such events, participants have helpful escorts of the state highway patrol…. However, before entering the Navajo Nation our escorts warned that they had no particular juice in this semi-autonomous territory. We had to obey all speed limits—everywhere within the Nation.”
“So Wife Dottie and I were motoring along in the Morgan, solo on a desolate stretch of highway. I had no eye out for Navajo policemen because we were traveling at precisely the posted 55 mph. Then—WHOOSH—quick as can be, we were passed by a Navajo School Bus. The driver tooted and kids all waved as they blew by.”
Villeneuve’s other scenic drives are the road to Hana, Hawaii (I’ve done the Big Island’s Hilo drive only, quite separate of Oahu arrival/departure from the mainland); Seward Highway, Alaska (not this far north: my Fairbanks/Vancouver fuel-cell adventure); and the Overseas Highway—Florida (tempting though the Keys are, I’ve never been). ds
© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2023
Simanaitis Says 
Good to see mention of Bill Janowski. My father and future brother-in-law were on Bill’s pit crew for the Monsterati “back in the day.” When Bill located the Monster, bought it back and restored it for vintage racing, he added a dash plaque with their names. A classy touch.
Memorable! Thanks,
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Dennis,
I don’t think you’ve done a Honolulu/Hilo drive unless it was in some type of amphibious craft.
Agg! Brain fade. Right you are, Jack. The Toyota press trip routed us to a Big Island drive involving Hilo, quite separate from the Oahu arrival/departure from the mainland. I’ll update this apparent swim.
Wonderful picks. Not a single billboard nor advertising of any sort allowed on the entire Blue Ridge Parkway, its 45-mph speed limit fostering relaxed civility and the ability to admire mile after mile of stunning scenery.
California’s Highway One speaks for itself, wending as it does above what Robert Louis Stevenson called “the most dramatic meeting of land and water in creation.”
ps. Re: your intro, and in all seriousity, as Steve Allen used to say, didn’t Michael May, a Swiss engineer with Jaguar 30 years ago manage a lab cylinder/engine which exhaust cleaner than the ambient air?
Actually, years ago Honda demonstrated that its SLEV (Super Low Emission Vehicle) exhaust was cleaner than ambient Tokyo. I recall Volvo making a similar claim.
Volvo truck engineers I know say the same about the (aftertreatment) truck exhaust.
Thank you, sir. As Road & Track’s longtime, always interesting tech editor, as well as former editor of the SAE’s Automotive Engineering, you would surely know. But wasn’t Jaguar’s Michael May among these clean burning worthies?