where to go for a Tour 
Climbing Jacob’s Ladder, Mass., the longest and hardest grade in the Berkshire 
Hills. Included in 1908 tour of the American Automobile Association 
Portsmouth and 
New Castle, 
m a d e t a m o u s 
by the R u s s o- 
Japanese peace 
conference, and 
southward along 
the coast of Mas¬ 
sac h u s e 11 s to 
Boston. There a 
stop of one day 
was made to per¬ 
mit side excur¬ 
sions to the his¬ 
toric environs. 
From the Huh 
the tourists rode 
over some of the 
finest macad¬ 
amized state 
highways in 
America, past 
beautiful coun¬ 
try estates, through Worcester and Springfield in 
the Bay State and Hartford, in the Nutmeg State, 
to Waterbury for the night. This was the longest 
day’s run, covering a distance of 158 miles. The 
last day of the trip was southward through Connecti¬ 
cut to the shore of Long Island Sound and hack to 
New York. 
It will be seen that this schedule provided the 
greatest diversity of pleasing scenery, a great mileage 
of excellent roads, one-day rests at most attractive 
summer resorts and one in Boston, night rests at 
places where superior hotel accommodations could 
be obtained, comparatively short runs where the 
roads were indifferent and the gradients steep, and a 
long run on the home trip where the roads were 
excellent and the land only rolling. There was 
plenty of sea, river and mountains in the trip, 
and many large cities 
were passed through, so 
that the tourists had no 
occasion to put up with 
poor food. All of the 
roads traversed are shown 
in carefully prepared 
automobile guide books 
that describe almost 
every mile of tbe way, 
giving minute directions 
as to turns, stating tbe 
distance from one town to 
the next, naming the 
best hotels and garages 
and giving other valuable 
information desired 
by the motor tourist. 
An Occasional Glimpse of the Sea Makes a Touring 
Route Attractive 
Such a g u i tl e 
book is almost 
indispensable to 
the enjoyment of 
a long trip, as it 
makes it possible 
to drive all day 
without s t o ja¬ 
ping to inquire 
the way of the 
natives, whose 
knowledge of 
the roads rarely 
extends beyond 
a few miles 
from their own 
villages and 
whose direc¬ 
tions at best are 
confusing and 
impossible to 
remember. 
When plan¬ 
ning a tour it is well to allow an excess of several 
days and not to insist upon sticking too rigidly to the 
schedule. The object of most tours, after all, is 
enjoyment, and if one finds a place that is super¬ 
latively delightful, it is wise to prolong the stay 
there for a day or two. Daily runs that are too long 
interfere with the pleasure, as long hours in the 
car become wearisome and fast driving prevents full 
enjoyment of tbe scenery. If there are two or more 
cars in the touring party they should keep well 
apart so that the dust raised by one will not bother 
the next following party and there will be no rivalry 
to take the lead, which develops racing, some¬ 
times with disastrous consequences, on unfamiliar 
roads. 
There are, of course, many good touring sec¬ 
tions and routes besides the ones mentioned. For 
example, one of the most 
interesting roads in the 
country, both scenically 
and historically, is the 
very good highway ex¬ 
tending westward from 
Philadelphia, through 
Lancaster, York and 
Gettysburg, which cities 
figured in both the Rev¬ 
olutionary War and the 
Civil War, and passes 
through a rugged moun¬ 
tain region. Kentucky 
offers some interesting 
touring country, although 
{Continued on page 12, 
Advertising Section.) 
99 
