Miata Mailing List: March 1996, Message #35
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   From: fvpdda@web.apc.org (David Allen)
Subject: "Great Drives" on PBS
   Date: Fri, 1 Mar 1996 12:54:01 -0500

Pat Frank observed that:

>it's just that the producers of that show don't see a "great drive" the
>same way we do.  We think about the "drive" part of it.  They think about
>what you see when you go there.  

This is a complaint I have about all of the five episodes in this PBS
series.  It's also the complaint I have about all the dozens of books and
most magazine articles I have on the topic of "great drives" or "scenic
byways". They seem to be tailored to the "tourist" rather than the "driving
enthusiast".

Admittedly, the task of capturing the allure of a great "driver's" road
(which, according to my standards, most of the five chosen for this series
are not) is a dificult task.  Filling an hour's airtime or a full length
book with narrative about that allure is even more challenging.  It has to
be more than "the road sweeps over gentle undulations for the first few
miles, taking you alongside a roaring river and under the shadows of giant
redwoods..." etc.  It has to capture the sensual pleasure of the
relationship between car, driver and road.  I know it can be done - though
the audience would probably be pretty small (just us road buffs) - but I'm
beginning to wonder if anyobne has ever done it in an extended form.

The closest I've found is a few of the non-racing focused essays in Denise
McCluggage's book, "By Brooks Too Broad For Leaping".  She knows what I'm
talking about.

Has anyone come across any book or TV program that really captures the joy
of driving per se, as opposed to the pleasures of just exploring the
curiosities alongside a roadway? 

-  Dave Allen, Ottawa
       and
    The RoadSurfer  
               /\      Surfing the Blue Highway Net 
              /  \
             / (( \       So many roads ....so little time
            /   )) \
           /   ((   \
           \    ))  /
            \  ((  /
             \  ))/
              \  /
               \/