What is Your Favorite Driving Road?
Roads give us freedom. They take us to our destination, whether that’s an actual place or a metaphorical reference to the thrills and fulfillment of the perfect combination of automobile and path. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a miles-long straight, a gravel farm road, mountain pass, or canyon asphalt, we all have at least a few favorites on our lists.
So we humbly ask members of the Hagerty Community one question to help us celebrate next week’s special award: What is your favorite driving road?
This is normally where your humble author chimes in with a suggestion in hopes of spurring conversation. But good driving roads are over an hour away from me, and I rarely get the chance to drive that far just to drive some more.
Don’t Look At Me
Instead I have this monstrosity, the Katy Freeway, just a couple of miles from me. I admit the flyovers can give you a giddy little thrill sometimes, but otherwise my life as a car enthusiast revolves around visits to other places with better roads, smaller highways, elevation changes, and a lack of streets designed around a grid.
So help me out here, Hagerty Community, and tell me your thoughts on the matter. What are some good driving roads, and what is your favorite driving road?
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The biggest problem is that you have to drive at least half an hour to an hour to reach some nice winding roads in wooden and farmland areas. Since mostly I don’t have the time for a longer trip. Lately I discovered two shorter round trips closer to home along a little creek even though there are a lot of single family homes hidden on each side. For short relaxing drives I sometimes do two rounds before I have to drive back. Best advice I have is really to get lost , don’t use gps, just drive without setting a time frame to reach a certain location.
“Tail of the Dragon” on the Nort Carolina / Tennessee border!
Hines Park in metro Detroit is my favorite place. They also have the best cruise in late August, one week after the big Woodward cruise. The cruise is only for classic cars, all other are not allowed.
Agree that Hines is a beautiful drive as it was my route to and from work from the suburbs to my office in Dearborn (before I retired). It was a much more enjoyable and calming ride than taking I-96 to The Southfield.
The only issue is that the road is heavily patrolled by the Wayne County Sheriff and they have been known to pull you over even if you are a couple miles over the posted 40 mph speed limit. Several years ago they even patrolled with a Camaro and Challenger with no markings aside from ghost lettering on one side. They would sit on the side of a blind curve and hit you with radar as soon as they saw you. Surprising many as who would be watchful of a Camaro or Challenger sitting on the shoulder.
Having said that, there was no better attitude adjustment after a long day driving that road on a sunny 80 degree spring/summer day.
The Loop in Daytona Beach and the Tail of the Dragon.
A couple of my favorite driving roads are in Southwest Michigan from Saint Joseph, Michigan to Dowagic, Mi. That beautiful drive takes you through an area called sister Lakes, which consists of about eight small lakes populated by both year-round and weekend residence. Another great drive is from St. Joseph Michigan through the grape Vineyards headed south toward Berrien Springs, Mi
Chagrin River Road on the East side of Cleveland is a nice drive for being in a metropolis.
Two lane country roads ……………. For the 2023 All-Cal meet, I set up the 2 days of touring. The closest we got to a freeway was passing over it. The oldest car was a 1923 survivor.
A few hours west of Houston, Sajeev’s location, is Wimberley, Texas. The Devil’s Backbone is a famous run. There is a tavern with the same name, and a roadside park to watch the sunset.
Oh wow, haven’t been there yet. Gonna add that to my personal list!
In BC, Canada there are many great roads to drive. The one closest to me and the Pacific Crossing, the border between the US and Canada is the Sea to Sky Highway. This runs from Vancouver to Whistler. Lots of twists and turns with straights you can blow the cobwebs out of your turbo. (just make sure you watch for the RCMP, checking for speeders) Gas stations at both ends with 93 / 94 octane.
https://happiestoutdoors.ca/sea-to-sky-highway/
I live in St. Louis, and just south in Jefferson county, there are numerous good roads, but my favorite one is further south. Highway 32, from Banner to Bixby (and on to Salem, if I’m honest). I teasingly call it the “Tail of the Possum”.
Minnesota 1, between Ely and Lake Superior (near Finland, Minn.) was a pleasant discovery in the C8 Corvette last summer.
Highly recommended, lightly traveled.
An obscure road near Port Ludlow, Washington state, Thorndyke Rd. That, and the Olympic Peninsula Hwy 101 Loop. Also the North Cascades Scenic Highway .
We’ll be taking a group of 8 to 10 “Jet Age” cars around the Olympic Peninsula Hwy 101 Loop during late June. Can’t wait!
Rt 7 runs along the Ohio River and there are several others in that area . Great on Harley
Driving the Oregon Coast on a clear day from north to south has great curves, incredible scenery, tree lined hills and along the edge of the ocean. huge bridges, small and large towns and end up at Crescent beach CA.
There are surely better driving roads to mention, but the best I use on any regular basis is a segment through a short tunnel, hard left up a hill and then curve to the right to get to my house. That stretch is so much fun that I literally have dreams of charging up that road in my old e-type, straight six roaring through the triple Webers, and skinny tires squealing through the turns. I have a video of that run on YouTube titled “Jaguar E-Type, 1971 FHC Favorite Hill Climb.” I still enjoy that hill in my C8, but the e-type did it better.