OTHER UNBEATEN PATHS
Touring on Your Own
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Lonely roads wouldn't be lonely if everyone knew where they were. We did a little detective work and came up with five scenic roads where you'll find little traffic -- but lots to see.
Want other ideas? Check out AAA's Web site, http:/
-- Margaret Roth
VIRGINIA
THE DRIVE: The Virginia Coal Heritage Trail winds for 300-plus miles through seven counties in the state's far southwestern region, mostly on U.S. highways 421, 58 and 58A, and 23, and state highways 63, 65 and 72.
ALONG THE WAY: Signs of coal mining past and present, including Pocahontas, Virginia's first coal boomtown, and the modern operations in Buchanan County to the northwest. . . . The landmark Pocahontas Exhibition Coal Mine & Museum, open from April through October, preserving the town's history and describing early methods of mining and an 1884 cave-in. . . . The family-run Red Caboose Inn and Dennis E. Reedy Railroad and Coal Mining Museum in Clinchco.
INFO: Virginia Department of Transportation, http:/
PENNSYLVANIA
THE DRIVE: Head for 184 miles along U.S. 6 (Grand Army of the Republic Highway) from Meadville at Interstate 79 east to Mansfield at U.S. 15.
ALONG THE WAY: Six counties of hamlets and backwoods rich with fall foliage in the Allegheny Forest, where the elk vie for space with the people. . . . Meadville's grand houses, once home to oil and lumber barons. . . . On a side trip to Titusville, the Drake Well Museum, site of the nation's first oil strike in 1859 and a boarding point for the 1930s-vintage Oil Creek and Titusville Railroad, which travels for three hours through the creek canyon. . . . The 179-foot-high Kinzua Dam in Warren. . . . Also in Warren, the northern edge of the Allegheny National Forest, with more than 700 miles of hiking trails.
INFO: VisitPA, 800-847-4872, http:/
MICHIGAN
THE DRIVE: Take U.S. 2 for 142 miles on the state's Upper Peninsula, from St. Ignace west to Escanaba. The northernmost east-west U.S. highway hugs the shore of Lake Michigan through several small towns.
ALONG THE WAY: Castle Rock in St. Ignace, at 200 feet high a good perch from which to see Lake Huron to the east and Lake Michigan to the west. . . . The aurora borealis, in spring and fall from the waterfront in Naubinway. . . . Seul Choix Point Lighthouse in Gulliver, open Memorial Day to mid-October and said to be haunted by a cigar-smoking former lighthouse keeper. . . . The Big Spring (Kitch-iti-kipi) in Thompson, 30 to 40 feet deep with clear, emerald-green, 45-degree water. . . . The 20,834-acre Hiawatha National Forest, with six lighthouses, access to beaches and lakeshore dunes.
INFO: Michigan Economic Development Corp., 800-644-2489, http:/
TEXAS
THE DRIVE: It's a 710-mile haul on U.S. 83 through most of the state, from Canadian in the northwest to Laredo in the southeast, the only major city being Abilene.
ALONG THE WAY: From north to south, Gene Cockrell's giant concrete sculptures in the town of Canadian, including a 50-foot-long brontosaurus named Audrey. . . . The WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots) Museum in Sweetwater, dedicated to the first women in U.S. military aviation. . . . South of Abilene, Stonehenge II in Hunt, created by two men with leftover limestone from a patio job (if you want to spend more time looking, you can stay at the Holiday Inn Express in nearby Kerrville with a Texas-shaped swimming pool). . . . And the Popeye statue at the city hall in Crystal City, self-proclaimed "spinach capital of the world."
INFO: Texas Tourism, 800-888-8839, http:/
CALIFORNIA
THE DRIVE: Try the 130-mile stretch on U.S. 395 (Three Flags Highway) between Mono City and Lone Pine, Calif., straddling the Sierra Nevada and Death Valley mountain ranges.
ALONG THE WAY: Mono Lake and its tufa spires, pictured on Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here." . . . Winnedumah, an 80-foot-high obelisk built by the Paiute Indians that is said to embody the spirit of a fallen Indian. . . . The bristlecone pines, the world's oldest known trees, in Inyo National Forest. . . . Manzanar National Historic Site, a World War II internment camp. . . . Mount Whitney, at 14,491 feet the highest point in the Lower 48.
INFO: California Travel & Tourism Commission, 800-862-2543, http:/
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