Road-Less-Traveled-Trip-Bob Davis Podcast 840

Streaming The Road

I get a big kick out of myself once and a while. Join me on the road In this most noteworthy podcast a stream of consciousness trip through Southwestern Virginia on the way to Tennessee. Learn more in Road-Less-Traveled-Trip-Bob Davis Podcast 840.

Back Roads Only Take 2

This road trip started with rolling from Minneapolis and Saint Paul to Western Virginia to see family. You know I love the back roads. Even more, I have now made a permanent commitment to travel only on the back roads.

Only Car On The Road

These days on America’s old national highways and state roads when I say it’s the road less traveled I am not kidding. Especially relevant, most of the time I am the only vehicle on the highway.

History

In addition there’s a lot of history. From the Hatfield’s and McCoy’s in Pikeville Kentucky, to passing General Lee’s Headquarters on a dingy street in Petersburg, Virginia. A rainy drive at dusk, on an empty road, took me through Appomattox, where the Civil War ended.

Here’s the Path

This podcast opens at Pikeville, Kentucky on the way to Virginia. The main focus is Route 1 South to US 58 West. 58 is a twisting and turning snake through the Blue Ridge Mountains. Heading through Danville, Martinsville, Damascus, South Boston Virginia and more. We end in Bristol, Virginia, the Birthplace of Country Music. I did a podcast on Bristol a few years ago. Learn more by clicking here. By the way, I kept calling it Bristol, Tennessee and there is part of Bristol in the Volunteer State, but country music was born on the Virginia side.

Heading To Tennessee

First of all, thanks for all the donations I have received for fuel. Second, from here it’s onto Tennessee, a corner of Arkansas, and up through Missouri to the Ozarks and Highway 61 through Iowa, on home to Minnesota.

Good For The Soul

In conclusion, travel is good for the soul. Consequently the road less traveled can only be great for the soul.

Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul

Road-Less-Traveled-Trip-Bob Davis Podcast 840

 

 

Road-Trip-Back-Roads-Only-Bob Davis Podcast 839

Whenever I feel like I am in a rut these days, a road trip is always the best medicine. Even more a road trip on the back roads. I’ll tell you all about it in Road-Trip-Back-Roads-Only-Bob Davis Podcast 839.

Mobile Podcast Command has been up and down both coasts. I’ve traveled in this old ambulance across the Midwest, out west, out east, around Florida and the gulf coast many times. Lately though I have become a back roads snob.

Especially relevant is my new mantra. Unless it is absolutely necessary, I prefer the old National Highway system, state roads, county roads or even rural routes. I feel this is where you really get a feel for what’s going on in this country.

Moreover big city people and especially big city media people seem to harbor a belief that there is something sinister and dangerous about rural America.

In Road-Trip-Back-Roads-Only-Bob Davis Podcast 839 I wonder whether some people can travel back roads, and see small town and rural America for what it is, without judgement. Because there is a lot to like about some of the places I have been.

It’s most noteworthy that the lessons you learn hitting America’s back roads seem to coalesce in your mind a few weeks after the trip is over. In addition, I have crisscrossed parts of this country so many times I’ll remember an experience I had, but forget just exactly where it happened.

What’s important in rural America? For one thing, small business and local business.

As I blog I am sitting in a shopping center parking lot about fifty miles south of Roanoke. I’ve rolled through Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and now Virginia.

Truth is some of those back roads are really back roads. Switchbacks through the mountains.

In conclusion, the best part of it all? You get to enjoy all this amazing scenery without being bothered. Usually you’re the only vehicle on the road.

It’s been that way most of this trip, and it’s well worth the effort.

Sponsored by Reliafund Payment Processors

Road-Trip-Back-Roads-Only-Bob Davis Podcast 839

 

Privacy-Profound Experiences-Bob Davis Podcast 823

These days we live in a world where our first reaction to an amazing experience is to share it. Does sharing the intimate, profound and sublime degrade their value? Learn more in Privacy-Profound Experiences-Bob Davis Podcast 823.

Over Sharing

We’re talking about your shots from Coachella or Burning Man but also pics and posts from the hospital where grandma is dying. Rants about bad service from restaurants and crazy neighbors. Beat down videos on You Tube.

Intimacy and Privacy

Especially relevant are those sublime and sometimes profound human experiences. Intimate experiences. Is it possible that sharing those experiences cancels out the integrity of the moment? Find out why I say this in Privacy-Profound Experiences-Bob Davis Podcast 823.

What Is Special

Furthermore to be intimate is to be private. Certainly there’s a lot of talk these days about privacy. In contrast look at all the people taking selfies at that amazing concert, or taking videos at the beach at sunset or the Grand Canyon.

Ours Alone

What would happen if all these most noteworthy experiences remained ours and ours alone? I think we as human beings have profound and exceptional experiences, or witness these kinds of interactions all the time.

Friends Keep Secrets

Finally what do you call someone who keeps your secret? A friend. Can we keep our own secrets?

Our Unique Experiences Become Content

Above all our personal experiences shared out to social media, become the property of FaceBook, Twitter, Instagram or other platforms. By extension they become the property of the world. We lose the pristine nature of those experiences. We turn something unique and hard to define into a mass experience.

Restoring Integrity

In conclusion, I’m not saying don’t share at all. What I am saying is maybe we save some intimate experiences for ourselves, alone. And by doing so restore some of the integrity society seems to have lost.

(Photo By Jenna Dailey)

Sponsored by WhiteTail Builders and Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul

Privacy-Profound Experiences-Bob Davis Podcast 823