Sasha Stone is traveling across America, and all she seems to care about is following Google and Waze and driving no longer than six or seven hours. I love her but we just had an argument about the best route from Shreveport (where she stayed last night) to Savannah, and she has this insane notion about driving northeast from Meridian, Mississippi to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and then past Birmingham and crashing in Leeds, Alabama.

Leeds is on the road to Atlanta…Atlanta! Who would want to come within 50 miles of that godforsaken over-developed sprawl when you’re driving across America, which most people do for the purpose of filling their hearts and enrichening their souls?

Google Maps and Waze are life-savers when you’re trying to find a specific spot in a big city, but they kill the joy of travelling if you follow their suggestions during long journeys. Because all they care about is getting you to a destination within a short time-frame. Nine times out of ten that means driving on big ugly freeways and commercial boulevards and gassing up at big corporate rest-stops.

Yesterday I had to twist Sasha’s arm to visit Dealey Plaza, and she didn’t even pull her car over when she got there. She just drove on through while glancing at the grassy knoll and the big red building that used to be the Texas School Book Depository. I’m not even sure she noticed the two big X stencils that mark the position of the the JFK limo when the first and third shots were fired.

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