1500 Spring Miles

Author Larry McMurtry once said of his desire to drive US highways, "There's no particular reason for these travels—just the old desire to be on the move. My destination is also my route." Growing up in Archer City, Texas in the 1940s as a bit of a cowboy, McMurtry went on to become a voracious reader, a bookseller and Pulitzer Prize-winning author. He also spent a lot of time on the road, not in an attempt to recreate Steinbeck's Travels With Charley or On the Road in a Kerouac-esque adventure, but to "merely roll along the great roads." He ultimately summed it all up with sweet simplicity: "What I really want to do is look."

This recent trip shares that sentiment—the desire to see more. McMurtry wasn't a photographer, but like most entries in the Porchlight Photo Journal, the desire to see comes with the desire to share. This route consisted of mostly those lesser-known highways, starting in Seattle, going through Central Oregon, onto Reno and back to the much more populated Grants Pass and I-5. There was a lot to be seen: neon signs, dusty casinos, farmland, one of the most beautiful libraries in the country and of course a couple drive-ins. The conversation was sparse, but friendly and luckily the skies were sunny and clear.

-Zack