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CNN Saturday Morning News
Interview With Jamie Jensen
Aired May 18, 2002 - 09:19 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: No doubt many Americans are making plans for the Memorial Day weekend. Some may be interested in spending their time off -- or on the road. The Road Trip USA series may be of help to those hitting the highways. The author of that series, Jamie Jensen, joins us now from San Francisco.
Jamie, good to have you with us.
JAMIE JENSEN, AUTHOR, ROAD TRIP USA: Thanks for having me.
O'BRIEN: All right, what's the matter with interstates, Jamie? You don't like them, do you?
JENSEN: Well, there's not a lot to see. I mean, they're very efficient for getting you from A to B, but if you want to have fun along the way, they're the wrong place to be.
O'BRIEN: Well, that's a good point. I mean, you kind of see the same fast-food places, they're separated, you don't see any interesting sights along the way. You have made it -- well, I guess not an avocation, a vocation to take the road less traveled.
What is so great about it?
JENSEN: Well, I mean, the first thing about it, if you find something interesting along these roads, the kind of Route 66s, et cetera, that used to be the main roads across the country, you're actually allowed to stop and look at something, rather than going past and going, I wonder what that was? which you're zooming past at 75 miles an hour.
So it's just a kind of more enjoyable mode of getting around.
O'BRIEN: All right. Now, you brought a few home movies, or I guess away-from-home movies, some video of your journeys. And this was U.S. 20, this looks like -- gosh, it looks like the Amish country.
JENSEN: The Pennsylvania Dutch country, I think, indeed.
O'BRIEN: Amish country, yes.
JENSEN: Yes.
O'BRIEN: And the alternative, of course, might have been the Pennsylvania Turnpike in this case.
JENSEN: Not much fun.
O'BRIEN: What did you see on this trip? Yes, what did you see on this trip that you wouldn't have seen otherwise?
JENSEN: Well, lots of -- I mean, that's actually the old Lincoln Highway. That was the very first transcontinental highway. It goes right through the Dutch country. It goes past Gettysburg battlefield, where I'm going to be next week for Memorial Day. And you can just see these places that you've heard about, whereas on the interstate, you just kind of zoom past. You might get a sign saying Exit. But when you're traveling on these two-lane roads, you can actually feel the landscape, see these places, read the historic plaques, stop, meet some people in a local diner, and really get in touch with America.
O'BRIEN: You know, what road is this that we're seeing? Oh, it just shifted now...
JENSEN: That's the loneliest road...
O'BRIEN: ... (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the desert to somewhere else. But the loneliest road in the country, was that what that was?
JENSEN: Yes. Well, these are just sort of samples of kind of what these roads offer to you that you're not going to see on the superslabs.
O'BRIEN: You know...
JENSEN: Looks like the Grand Canyon to me.
O'BRIEN: I always make fun with my family that, you know, from "National Lampoon's Vacation," Chevy Chase's line, "Quick kids, let's hurry so we can see the world's second largest ball of twine."
But there is a lot of stuff like that if you take the back roads, isn't there? What kinds of things have you seen?
JENSEN: All sorts of things like that. I mean, one of my favorites is the world's largest ketchup bottle, which is kind of right in the middle of the country off Route 66 east of St. Louis. And it's an old water tower, used to be part of a ketchup factory. They used to grow tomatoes around there. But it is there, larger than life. You know, take your picture, wave at the -- you know, for the camera or whatever.
But it's beautiful, and -- if you like that kind of stuff.
O'BRIEN: And is -- do you know where the world's largest mustard jar is? I mean, I'm just...
JENSEN: I don't know, and the world's largest cheeseburger? I'm not sure. There's one that gets fried up somewhere in Oklahoma every summer. O'BRIEN: Yes. Let's look at some of these -- some of your home movies here. Now, this is one -- what is this we're seeing right here?
JENSEN: Roadside America...
O'BRIEN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) -- oh, Roadside America.
JENSEN: ... another great Pennsylvania attraction.
O'BRIEN: What is it?
JENSEN: It's the world's largest model village, I think, of America. And it's a great little -- you know, like small-town America, if you ever liked kind of Jimmy Stewart movies or whatever, this is it, built in a sort of model-railway layout. But they've got, you know, sunrise, sunsets...
O'BRIEN: Oh, (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Look at that great...
JENSEN: ... (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
O'BRIEN: ... diner. This is the best part about going on the off-roads are those diners.
JENSEN: Yes, absolutely, and just local food. You get to taste, you know, different things in Montana than you'd get in Mississippi. And diners, cafes, you know, hanging out with the farmers and stuff. And the history is there and alive. That's Harriet Tubman. These sort of places that, you know, Underground Railway. You can stop for 15 minutes and learn a whole lot about our country that, you know, you just -- in that 15 minutes, you might have got another 15 miles down the road, but you'll never remember those 15 miles on the interstate.
O'BRIEN: Well, now, this requires, however, of our viewers to change their mindset a little bit. And what you are doing is making the journey part of the whole thing. Whereas we, as you said at the beginning of this, are very, you know, point A to point B people. Let's get there in a hurry as quickly as we can, just do it that way.
Do you think, do you get the sense that more and more Americans are doing this?
JENSEN: I think so. I mean, the main thing about it -- traveling on these roads is a whole lot more fun. And the whole point of going on a road trip, going on a trip, spending your vacation time, is to enjoy it. And so often people, I think, kind of say, Right, we're going to Disney World or We're going to Disneyland, and they just kind of get in the car, lock down for six hours, and then at the end of the day they kind of get there and they think, that was a long day on the road.
Whereas if you take, you know, a little bit longer...
O'BRIEN: Where were we? (UNINTELLIGIBLE), where were we just now? JENSEN: Yes. And...
O'BRIEN: Hey, but quickly, though, before we get away, is this a good way to travel with children? Because, you know, sometimes they get carsick, they want to get there, How many more minutes? -- that kind of stuff. Is it a good way to break it up?
JENSEN: It's a wonderful thing. I mean, I've got 3-year-old twins, so I know all about the travails of traveling with small kids. And, you know, the fact that you can stop for -- even for five minutes, get out, stretch your legs, do whatever you need to do, and then get back in the car and get on your way.
But it makes such a difference being able to break it up, little chunks, say, Right, this is what we're doing now, rather than say, Well, we got six hours to sit here. You know, you'd say, Well, 15 minutes, we're going to do this, and hour later...
And they can learn a lot, have some fun, and feel involved in the trip rather than just being locked down in their car seats or whatever.
O'BRIEN: All right, it sounds good to me. Jamie Jensen, that's the way I like to travel. I appreciate your insights. And the book is "Road Trip USA." If you're planning a Memorial Day trip, you might want to rethink the triptych you got in your hands.
Jamie Jensen joining us from San Francisco. Have a good day.
JENSEN: Thank you.
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