Happiness is . . . (roads edition)

[kphoger]

Fill in the blank:  Happiness is _______.

Make it about roads, or driving on them.

To start with, I'll quote Scott:

. . . any time someone drives like a maniac to pass me and then I end up right behind them at the next light.

[Max Rockatansky]

Happiness is finding some weird eight foot wide mountain road which straddles along cliffs to drive along.

[pderocco]

Fill in the blank:  Happiness is _______.

Make it about roads, or driving on them.

To start with, I'll quote Scott:

. . . any time someone drives like a maniac to pass me and then I end up right behind them at the next light.

Driving like a maniac, and just barely making it through the yellow light ahead of the guy  I passed.

[Scott5114]

A stretch of road with a big batch of classic signage (more than just one or two signs) still intact. Button copy, old KDOT demountable copy...anything cool like that.

An old highway alignment still paved with 1920s Bates concrete that is in good repair, especially if it still has truss bridges along it. (I've never found one with classic signage still along it, but in theory it's possible.)

[pderocco]

Happiness is finding some weird eight foot wide mountain road which straddles along cliffs to drive along.

I second that.

Seeing an "elevation" sign with five digits.

Finding a really interesting bridge to drive over.

Any road with a spectacular view. The best views have plenty of water in them. And perhaps lights reflected in the water around dusk.

Roads with lots of wildflowers.

Suddenly finding myself on new, quiet asphalt, after being on an old rough stretch.

Seeing the jammed up traffic going the other way on the freeway.

[Great Lakes Roads]

Happiness is when I pay my tolls with a transponder that works with other agencies so that I don't have to either pay cash or get a bill in the mail.

[Molandfreak]

A freshly-paved concrete highway.

[Concrete Bob]

Happiness is......THIS:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxquj614dlM

[epzik8]

Getting to fly down an open highway. Clinching a highway. The sounds of the road, like bridges or concrete pavement.

[webny99]

To start with, I'll quote Scott:

. . . any time someone drives like a maniac to pass me and then I end up right behind them at the next light.

So, are we just assuming that a smug feeling of vindication = happiness ...?

[74/171FAN]

Happiness is clinching 100% of US 17.

[Bruce]

Open road, smooth pavement, good tunes, fine weather, and scenery that makes you burn all the time that you have.

[kurumi]

Discovering new (old) planning maps from a more ambitious time.

Here's a beauty from 1961: a 360-degree I-291; a CT 20 outer beltway; extended CT 190 both ways:



On the road: discovering old signs, interesting grade separations or interchanges... anything pleasantly surprising.

Also: that feeling when you're on a solo road trip and you wake up to the hum of nearby freeway traffic. The sun is rising, you grab some breakfast, and you get on the road.

[webny99]

My actual answer(s) would be:

• Driving on a long, straight, open stretch of freeway with light (but present) traffic
• Driving 75+ mph and getting passed by a whole string of faster traffic
• Driving on any non-freeway with a speed limit greater than 55 mph (due to nonexistence of such in NY)
• Passing on a two-lane road with cruise control set
• Skyline views on a clear day

[CoreySamson]

- Driving 75 mph at sunset in SW Texas on a 2-lane road with no traffic with 3 friends in the car jamming out to "Life is a Highway."
- When you are on a 2 lane behind a slowpoke but a passing lane appears so you can pass them safely.
- Driving and clinching a toll road before it starts collecting tolls.
- When you have a really strong tailwind on the highway that lets your car coast and save tons of gas.

[Henry]

Letting your imagination run wild by marking up your Rand McNally atlases with a bunch of fantasy highways that will likely never exist IRL, and then creating signs and/or exit lists for these highways.

Riding towards the downtown of any large city (Chicago, New York, L.A., etc.) during the off-peak hours and admiring the ever-looming skyline that grows before you.

Watching YouTube videos of a fellow road geek and envying their creativity, especially in the choice of music as the soundtrack for their setting.

[Rothman]

Charles Schulz already defined it.

[Hunty2022]

— Looking at your _____ state road map from the welcome center and planning road trips, or thinking of ways you could've done them.

— Taking road pictures in areas you've never been before.

— Looking at really old road pictures from your area.

[Scott5114]

Charles Schulz already defined it.

Happiness is a warm map?

[Big John]

When construction season ends.

[ozarkman417]

I'll sum it up using two signs:

[GaryV]

When construction season ends.

"Tomorrow never comes"

Happiness is going to your destination without worrying that your route isn't in the grid.

[I-55]

Driving in a state without winter.

[JayhawkCO]

Crossing off a bucket list road, however mundane that bucket list might be.

[triplemultiplex]

The song sung by one's tires on concrete with transverse grooves.


The first trip on a new bypass you've been waiting years for.  A gauntlet of stop lights before, now you don't even need to tap off the cruise.


Placing interstate shields on fictional maps.