An introduction to Traveling the American Road

by Paul Brady on

It’s a tradition seemingly older than the ribbons of pavement drawn across the country, the byways that incubated the road trip and inspired everything from Travels with Charley to, well, Road Trip.

Can the great American journey survive the era of $4-a-gallon gas-and an economy that’s still not fully recovered? I think so.

This summer, I’m taking to the country’s interstates, highways and back roads to prove it can, exploring both famous Americana and the little-known, roadside inns and road houses, national parks and parking lot flea markets, searching out the stories making so many places in America unique.

I’ll also be profiling the people confronting the change head on, whether they live in a city in recovery, a town facing an uncertain future or a Gulf Coast beach still negotiating the aftermath of the oil spill. From gas station worker to tech-savvy CEO, I intend to find out and to share their stories.

Jump in my digital passenger seat and maybe even in the real thing if you need to hitch a ride. Just don’t bring an axe. Or be some freaky hitch hiker. I’d like to keep all my limbs in place thank you very much.

I’ll be sharing the trip in blog posts and in videos right here. You’ll also find updates on Twitter, Facebook and Gowalla, a mobile check-in service where you can track my location in real time.

While traveling these American roads I’ll have meet-ups to swap stories and tips face-to-face with readers and followers. Even if you miss out on meeting, the entire journey will be chronicled here, in the great halls of AOL Travel’s Gadling.

You can follow the entire series at travelingtheamericanroad.com

Time to travel the great American road.

Blogger Paul Brady

by Paul Brady on

Introducing a new blogger at Gadling, Paul Brady…

Where was your photo taken: This photo was taken on the Arizona side of the Hoover Dam by a Spanish tourist who ended up covering part of the lens with his finger. (I cropped it out here.) It always makes me wonder about how many other funny, weird or otherwise imperfect pictures are out there, taken by tourists for tourists at places like the Hoover Dam or the Eiffel Tower or the Pyramids.

Where do you live now: I live in Manhattan and I love it.

Scariest airline flown: It wasn’t the airline as much as it was the anticipation of the flight that scared me: I was looking at a roughly 24-hour trip from Singapore to New York in the middle seat of an aging Singapore Airlines 747, crammed full of people. I was terrified that I’d just lose it about 16 hours in but amazingly, I made it. Something about flying that far puts me into a state of suspended animation. I probably could’ve gone another 12 hours, though I’m not rushing to test the theory.

Favorite city/country/place: The eastern beaches of Uruguay are wild, raw, beautiful and, except for one month a year, almost entirely devoid of other visitors. They also serve really great steaks in Uruguay, which is always a plus in any destination.

Most remote corner of the globe visited: Easter Island vies for the title of most remote inhabited island on the planet, even if flights frequently come in from Tahiti, Santiago and Lima and there are internet cafes in Hanga Roa. But once those jets take off, it’s hard not to feel like you’re hopelessly adrift on a tiny boat in the big blue Pacific, wondering if anyone will remember that you’re still out there.

Favorite guidebook series: My current faves are the endlessly researched and exhaustively written Moon Handbooks, by authors who actually know what they’re talking about.

Have you ever had an unexpected layover? If so, what did you do? After an airport fire in Miami this spring, I was re-routed to Buenos Aires for 25 hours, where I did A LOT of walking, some decent eating and got a great deal on a really great hotel, the Moreno.

Favorite foreign dish? Restaurant? Singaporean chilli crab is one of the greatest inventions in human history. You can get a pale imitation of the real thing at Fatty Crab in New York but you really do need to go to Singapore and pick your live crab out of an aquarium.

Worst place to catch a stomach bug? Every place you catch a stomach bug is the new worst place you catch a stomach bug. (Northwestern Nicaragua takes second place.)

Favorite travel book: I am still mad at Leonardo DiCaprio for ruining the novel of a generation in the film adaptation of The Beach.