“Going for a drive” is alive and well
I remember seeing black and white tv ads from the 50s talking about the joys of “going for a drive”. Whole families hopping into these giant boat sized cars that got like 10 mpg and just “going for a drive”. The way the ads addressed it it was as if this was a totally normal thing for families to do.
Until I started getting into motorcycles I’d thought that the tradition was essentially dead except for the few people who drive through Vermont when the leaves turn every year. And, while the environmentalist in me isn’t thrilled with the idea of using gas just for the hell of it, I absolutely can’t deny how wonderful it is to just pick a destination, or even a direction, and go. The fact that motorcycles typically get 40-80 Mpg doesn’t hurt either. 
I feel that we’ve lost something, as a people, in loosing this tradition. Without it I think we become even more isolated and cut off from the wonderful beauty this country holds. The more cut off we become, the less of a loss it is when pieces of that beauty get cut down, or bulldozed over, and the less of a connection we have with our neighboring towns. Right now, if Wyoming was wiped from the map I’d be surprised but wouldn’t feel any personal sense of loss. It’s got some of the most beautiful National Parks, and used to be my home… but without having physically been there in so many years it has faded and become just another place “over there.” Even worse, are the states I’ve never visited. It’s like what’s happening in Rwanda… it’s so far removed from my life that I just can’t emotionally relate.
Motorcycling not only brings us back into contact with the lands that surround us, but does so in a very immersive way. You’re not sitting still in some moving box. You’re leaning and pushing your way through the twists and turns of the land with a totally unobstructed field of view. When it’s wet, you feel it, when it’s hot, you feel it. You actually experience the world you’re in in a very visceral sense.
We drive so much as a people, with individuals in vehicles that seat 5, or more, that I think it would be an environmental catastrophe if we were to revive this tradition without first addressing how we use cars as a whole. But I’m glad that my fellow riders are keeping the tradition alive, and aren’t being persecuted for doing so.
I keep attempting to capture that feeling, and I think I’ve failed miserably in this attempt. Actually, I don’t like the drawing much at all… But, there’s only so much time in an evening to work on these.