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This American Road

Experience America this summer with Andrew Burmon

From the Road

Introducing Traveling the American Road

July 24th, 2011

Six Driving Tips from a Summer Spent on the American Road

This summer, I've driven more than 5,000 miles, from the Great Lakes to New England to Florida and beyond. Operating my car for more than 150 hours in about six weeks doesn't make me a professional driver, but it certainly has exposed me to heaps of stupidity on ...

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July 22nd, 2011

In Search of Serendipity in Savannah

Sitting in the passenger seat of a lime green Mustang, driving out of the historic center of Savannah, I started to wonder what I'd gotten myself into. A guy in a black suit was taking me, well, somewhere. I asked where we were headed. "Bonaventure," said ...

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July 20th, 2011

Folly Beach, South Carolina: The Country's Greatest Fourth of July

This most recent Fourth of July, on a beach in South Carolina, a guy named Freddie handed me a beer after I took his photo in front of his American flag. He'd just done his best Iwo Jima pose, and as I tapped his email address into my phone, promising to send him the ...

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July 18th, 2011

Off the Road: Kayaking Conway, South Carolina

The guy at the marina told us that alligators are usually scared of people, so we probably didn't have much to worry about after the kayaks were in the river. But the Waccamaw flows with what's called black water--water turned dark by tannins leeched from cypress ...

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July 17th, 2011

The Greatest Road Trip Radio Show in History

The best radio station I've listened to on this road trip is Road Dog Trucking on SiriusXM. It's a channel dedicated to truckers, with an ample time for call-ins and opinion-and a plethora of regional dialects, a selective sample that seems to indicate that most of ...

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July 15th, 2011

The Country's Biggest Tourist Trap: South of the Border

There is a tourist trap in South Carolina called South of the Border. A combination truck stop, motel, roadside attraction, carnival and snack stand, it's high kitsch of the first order, bordering on exploitative with its stereotypically Mexican "mascot" Pedro. A couple ...

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July 14th, 2011

Staying with Friends: On the Porch in Raleigh, North Carolina

One thing you won't find in New York City, at least at my apartment, is a screened-in porch. But in the summer in the south, the porch is the living room, kitchen, dining room and bar, a focal point of a home to rival the greatest of fireplaces. I know because I had ...

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July 12th, 2011

Six Reasons to Love the Outer Banks

You've seen the stickers. White ovals, with the trio of letters "OBX," an American riff on European nationality decals, they're a sign of allegiance to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. I always found them annoying: How could some mid-Atlantic beach really be that ...

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July 11th, 2011

The Ultimate Road Trip Detour: Go Kart Racing?

At the outset of this road trip, I invited friends and readers to jump in the car with me. After more than a month on the road, one of my buddies finally took me up on the offer, planning to meet me in Virginia Beach after I toured Colonial Williamsburg. I've known ...

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July 8th, 2011

Inside STS135: The Experience at the Final Shuttle Launch

I got to William J. Menzo Park in Titusville at about 3 am, in a bad mood and not sure if the shuttle would even launch. NASA said the odds for departure were only 30 percent. But until NASA officially scrubbed the Friday morning liftoff, I'd be here, set up in a ...

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July 8th, 2011

Colonial Williamsburg: Made in America

The last time I visited Colonial Williamsburg, I was about half as tall as I am now. Would it still be worth seeing-or as fantastic as I remembered-now that I'm a grown up? I drove south from Washington, D.C. to find out, without doing a lick of planning or advance ...

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July 8th, 2011

How to Navigate Washington, D.C. Without Going Nuts

I've been on the road for more than a month, and here's my number one tip: Don't drive in Washington, D.C. Nightmare would be a measure too generous. As soon as I could park my ride, I did, content to not touch it until I pulled out of the District two days later. ...

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July 7th, 2011

Exploring the Baltimore Beyond the Inner Harbor

To me, a huge fan of Baltimore but still a tourist, it seemed like a random Saturday in the early summer. But in Charles Village, a neighborhood between Johns Hopkins and the harbor, it was the weekend of the "Pile of Craft" fair at St. John's church. I found out ...

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July 5th, 2011

Finding Philadelphia's Hotbed of Creativity

Sitting in a kitchen in a loft on Third Street in Old City, talking to one of the most enthusiastic and driven people I've met in years, I began to wonder what would happen if I quit my job, moved to Philadelphia and started my own business. Alex Hillman, wearing a t-shirt ...

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July 4th, 2011

Summer Monday giveaway: stay in touch with an iPad

Nobody loves summer more than your friendly neighborhood Gadling bloggers. It's the perfect time to plan an escape from the mundane trials of daily life, or maximize your adventures in the outdoors. And if you're planning on flying the coop this summer, you're going to need ...

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July 4th, 2011

Atlantic City Is a Hard Place to Love

Somewhere around Indiana and Pacific avenues, I had a sinking feeling. Atlantic City seemed to consist entirely of strip clubs and skin dens, convenience stores and empty store fronts. The beach was a few blocks away, true. But would a sparkling bit of ocean be enough ...

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June 30th, 2011

Five Tips for Successful Last-Minute Hotel Booking

One of the best things about a road trip are the last-minute detours, whether that's stumbling across an antique car club meeting in Western Massachusetts or deciding to speed to Boston to see a million people cheer for a hockey team. Even along my planned route, I ...

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June 29th, 2011

Naming My Traveling the American Road Ride

After more than 1,000 wonderful suggestions, I'm finally ready to take the major step of naming my car. After all, I've already logged more than 2,500 miles on the beast after starting this epic road trip. If not now, when? There were a number of strong entries. ...

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June 29th, 2011

Why Plymouth Rock Is New England's Biggest Tourist Trap

Have you ever been to a tourist trap? A scam of a site, something over-hyped and talked about until it can't possibly be worth it? The sort of thing you walk up to, snap a photo of and curse as you walk back to your car? I saw one just the other day. It was ...

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June 26th, 2011

A Day of Rebuilding at New York's Ground Zero

While in New York, I was thrilled to check out the High Line, a newly expanded elevated park that's captivated city-dwellers. But there's bigger and more meaningful construction happening downtown, at the site of the former World Trade Center-and the soon-to-be home of ...

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