Slow down and see the real America

Re “An end to ‘Are we there yet?’ ” Opinion, June 25

So, after decades of full-throttle “Cannonball runs,” reformed compulsive cross-country driver Robert Sullivan has finally discovered that travelers on Interstate 90 and other high-speed transcontinental routes usually find chain businesses instead of fresh local color at the offramps.

I won’t say duh too loudly, but I will offer a tip. If Sullivan invests in large-scale maps and a good local guidebook, and if instead of making a virtue of marathon coast-to-coast blasting, he and his wife take leisurely, 50-mile-per-hour giant loops through our nation’s centuries-old maze of two-lane back roads, he’ll discover an infinity of wonderful American “there” to enjoy traveling toward.

ERIC MANKIN

Venice