As some readers may recall, I’ve driven across this country about a half-dozen times in the last half-dozen years. The last couple times have been with the whole family. My wife and I used to think we were crazy or that our little adventures were one-time larks. And, truth be told, there have been many times when we’ve been staring at the vast expanse of nothin’ on the open road when we’ve asked ourselves, “Why the heck are we doing this?” But, ultimately, the answer is we really like it. We love the adventure of it. We love the country. I don’t mean in some righteous patriotic sense (though I don’t exclude that). I mean we really just enjoy checking the place out. We like seeing the stuff. We like discovering cool places to eat and visit (and technology makes that a lot easier). And we really like leaving Washington. If I were Czar, we’d have moving sidewalks and Firefly would never have been canceled. But, more to the point, it would be a law that East Coast pundits and other commentators drive around the country every couple years just to appreciate a few things. Among them, off the top of my head:

A) America is a really big place.

B) Most Americans — God bless ‘em — don’t really care that much about Washington.

C) Diversity of communities is just as — if not more — vital than diversity of individuals.

D) The power of the federal government to change things is much more limited and blunt then a lot of inside-the-Beltway types on the left and right appreciate.

E) That politics isn’t everything.

And I don’t think it’s the kind of thing you can do once and then say you’ve done it and then never need to do again. When you come back to Washington, you go native very quick and you lock away a lot of the impressions you get driving around the country.

Anyway, I’m just clearing my throat before announcing that, once again, the Goldbergs are going to hit the road this Summer. We have an NR Cruise we have to join in Seattle and some other obligations in DC before we go. And we think we want to start out on 70 West, at least to Indiana. But, beyond that, we’re uncommitted. Nothing is set in stone. We may want to stop again some place for a few days, like we did in Taos last summer. Or, not. We just don’t know. But, unlike years past, we’re going to try to avoid bad food and bad motels as much as possible and actually plan our route via good eats and good places to stay as best we can.

So, suggestions from America are welcome. Please, please, please don’t send them to my normal email address. Send them to JonahResearch-at-aol.com. Thanks.