Arm Chair Explorer

My father was an explorer.

He had a wife and two kids and a day job and little disposable income, but that did not keep him from venturing into the unknown whenever the opportunity presented itself.

Usually the opportunity to explore would present itself while the family was in the car and driving from point A to point B (often on the 300+ mile trips to or from either set of grandparents). Tom (we called our dad by his first name for some forgotten reason) would spot a road sign and declare to the captive audience that this was undoubtedly a short cut to our destination. Despite any protests (and we soon learned not to bother offering any) my father would veer off from the safe-and-narrow and head our car down the pavement towards "the unknown".

We discovered some really great places, and some not so great places, and we discovered that paved roads don't always stay paved for their whole length. Many times we'd end up on dusty dirt roads and seldom if ever would "the short cut" take less time than the beaten path.

Long after my brother and I left home, my dad continued his driving explorations along with my mom. On one infamous journey to find out what was in Pandale Texas the locals told him that his was the first stranger's car to head into town over the dirt road from Ozona in collective memory.

My dad is gone now... but that wanderlust is alive and well in the next generation. I love maps, and I long to drive down every side road with an interesting name.

That's why I love Google Maps and Google Earth. When I pass an interesting road sign, I can keep on going (much to my wife's relief) safe in the knowledge that as soon as I can get to a Browser I can "go back" and find out where that road really went.

My most interesting recent discover has been "Radar Road" out in West Texas to the Southwest of Van Horn. If you look carefully, you will see that Radar Road is one of those anomalous roads that leaves the Interstate as a dirt road, but which miraculously becomes paved many miles further on. Perhaps this is a little known relic of the Cold War, guarding our borders from Soviet sneak attacks via Mexico. I will probably never know the story behind "Radar Road" for sure, but I do love dreaming up my own conjectures.

My "Google-Based" explorations don't completely satisfy my wanderlust, but they do save a lot of wear and tear on the car and the budget. I'm sure my dad would approve.