394 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



October, 1907 



The writer has always found it preferable to lay out the 

 route intended to be followed. He has also found it a con- 

 venient practice to have a leather case made with a celluloid 

 front in which the road directions can be placed. The map 

 or directions can be read through the celluloid, which, how- 

 ever, protects them in case of rain. The easiest way to get 

 along when asking road directions of natives in various towns 

 is to know the name of the next following town and then ask 

 the best road to it, if the road book directions are not explicit. 

 For instance, before starting on a trip I generally take a map 

 of the country through which I am going to travel and 

 ascertain the various small towns 

 through which I have to pass. 

 These are listed, and as I proceed 

 I inquire the way from one to an- 

 other. This method has been found 

 satisfactory, for when one asks the 

 road directions to the larger cities, 

 which may be ten, twenty, or more 

 miles apart, it is difficult to find 

 anyone who can direct you prop- 

 erly, but any boy or girl can tell you 

 the best road to the next town, 

 which will probably be from three 

 to five miles away. 



Having selected a route that you 

 wish to travel, it is well to make out 

 a time schedule and try to follow it, 

 making due allowance in advance 

 for delays en route and for the time 

 that will be spent in viewing the 

 scenery and points of interest. 



You may have a fifty horsepower 

 car, capable of a mile a minute 

 speed, but if you are going to use 

 the car for touring and expect to 

 get any pleasure out of the tour, it 

 would be better to have the ma- 

 chine geared down to forty miles an hour, so that it will have 

 additional hill-clinihing power. It is not the car that can go 

 fastest on the lc\el that can cover the greatest distance in a 

 day, but rather the machine that is consistent in its perform- 

 ance and keeps "plugging" along, up hill and down, hour in 

 and hour out, and always drawing steadily toward its desti- 

 nation. The tourist who really wants to see the country 

 through which he is passing and to enjoy a sensible ride 

 rather than a mad dash against time, would do well to plan 

 his schedule on the basis of covering twenty miles an hour — 

 or less, if he does not ha\'e a high-powered car. This would 

 be slow on the smooth, level roads, but where the country is 



A Handy Refreshment Kit for the Tourist 



rolling, an average of twenty miles an hour is a good one, and 

 to maintain it the car will be going at twenty-five and even 

 thirty miles at many places. Besides, twenty miles is the legal 

 limit in most States. Connecticut's new law, however, abol- 

 ishes the speed limit but makes arrest possible for reckless 

 driving if one travels over twenty-five miles an hour. 



It is safe to presume that every motorist seeks to get as 

 much pleasure and comfort out of touring as possible. The 

 States of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, 

 Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire 

 and Maine offer not only the most beautiful and varied 



scenery but the finest of roads. One 

 particularly beautiful route which 

 I have had the pleasure of taking 

 leads from New York City up 

 along the west side of the Hudson 

 River to Newburg and Pine Hill, 

 N. Y., and then to Binghamton, 

 Bath and Buffalo, whence last 

 year's Glidden Tour route may be 

 followed to Rochester, Syracuse, 

 Utica, Albany, Saratoga and Lake 

 Champlain, N. Y.; Three Rivers, 

 Montreal and Quebec, Canada; 

 Jackman, Maine; Rangeley Lakes, 

 and then to Bretton Woods in the 

 famous White Mountains of New 

 Hampshire. The roads, with the 

 exception of some stretches in Can- 

 ada, are good. The return jour- 

 ney may be made by the way of 

 Concord, N. H. ; Boston, Worces- 

 ter and Springfield, Mass.; then to 

 Lenox in the Berkshire Hills, down 

 through the beautiful Housatonic 

 Valley, across to Poughkeepsie, and 

 down along the east shore of the 

 Hudson River to New York. This 

 route can be considerably shortened and many bad roads 

 avoided by following directly up the west side of the river 

 from Newburg through Kingston, Albany, Schenectady, Sar- 

 atoga, Glens Falls, Ticonderoga and Plattsburg to Montreal. 



Taking a trip like this, which is one of the most attractive 

 in point of scenic grandeur in the eastern United States, the 

 itinerary can be laid out so that each day's run can be made 

 easily and comfortably, allowing time for a noonday stop for 

 luncheon, and confining the riding to daylight. The shorter 

 trip could be made with ease in from two to three weeks, al- 

 lowing plenty of opportunity to jog along easily, rest each 

 Sunday, and enjoy the tour without hurry or bustle. 



