Index by State
Take the Back Roads: Travel by State
Explore road trips, historic sites, scenic drives, photography destinations, personal journeys, and forgotten places across America.
Take the Back Roads is a collection of travel essays, photography, history, and personal reflections gathered from years of wandering America's highways and back roads. Browse the archive by state to discover scenic landscapes, small towns, historic landmarks, cemeteries, roadside attractions, pilgrimage destinations, and stories from the Journey.
Browse by State:
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Florida
Georgia
Illinois
Kansas
- A Tango Into A Trio - The OK-KS-MO Tri-State Monument
- Learning About Laura - A Visit to the Little House on the Prairie Museum in Independence, Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Mexico
Missouri
- Finding Precious Moments: An Accidental Pilgrimage to the Precious Moments Chapel in Carthage, Missouri
- The Little House in Missouri - A Visit to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Home and Museum
Nevada
- A "Naked" Las Vegas Strip
- Driving Nevada's Extraterrestrial Highway (Route 375)
- I Took the Dam Picture – A Visit to Hoover Dam
- Petroglyphs in the Valley of Fire
Ohio
Oklahoma
- 2021 - Greeting the New Year with New Hope
- A Date With Doggo - The Best Places to Walk Your Dog In Tulsa
- A Little Lent on the Prairie
- A Penny for Your Walks: Finding Small Abundance in Everyday Life
- Attempts at Okie Acclimation - The Sooner Saga
- Awkwardly Seeking Solace: A Visit To Tulsa's Holy Family Cathedral
- Banjos in Bricktown: A Visit to the American Banjo Museum in Oklahoma City
- Calling On The Capitol: A Weekday Getaway to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
- Don't Waste the Moments That Matter: A Rainy Road Trip to Tulsa
- Filling Up At The Philbrook - A Visit to Tulsa, Oklahoma's Philbrook Museum
- Finding Something Spooky - The Search for the Ozark Spook Light
- Finding a Purpose (In Spite Of Living With Chronic Pain)
- Folk Art in Foyil, Oklahoma - A Visit to Ed Galloway's Totem Pole Park
- Osage Hills State Park - An Outstanding Oklahoma Outdoor Adventure (even though it rained)
- Remembering 9:02 AM, April 19, 1995 - Visiting the Oklahoma City National Memorial
- Rhema Christmas Lights - A Tulsa Holiday Tradition
- Seeking Out a Sapphire Cetacean - A Visit to the Blue Whale On Route 66 in Catoosa, Oklahoma
- Serendipity and Schoenmakers Window - A Visit to the Osage Nation's Immaculate Conception Church in Pawhuska
- Sitting At St. Scholastica's - (Im)Patiently Waiting on the Powers That Be
- Staying Gold - Stopping By The Outsiders House Museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma
- Stopping by St. Wenceslaus - A Visit to the National Shrine of the Infant Jesus of Prague, Oklahoma
- Toodaloo Tulsa! We're Relocating to Roanoke!
- Trekking Up Turkey Mountain - Tulsa's Sanctuary in the City
- Turner Falls, Oklahoma: The Waterfall and the Unfinished Castle
- Wondering About Woody's Wanderings: A Visit to the Woody Guthrie Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma
Spain
- Calle Flor, Rota, Spain — A Reflection on Life, Birth, and the Passage of Time
- Spanish Trails - There's More Than One Way to Walk a Camino
United States
- Around the World In Seven Days - Wiley Post's Globe-Trotting Adventure
- The Army Motors Across America - The Tale of the First Transcontinental Motor Convoy (a road trip)
- The Cost of the Roads I've Traveled: How Interstates Changed Every Place I've Lived
- The Sassigassity of Some Authors.
Utah
- Driving I-70 Through Utah's San Rafael Swell: One of America's Most Remote Highway Stretches
- Ms. Elliott Leaves Home – A Reflection on Family, Boundaries, and Healing
- Roads I've Traveled: The Spiral Jetty and the Beauty That Survives a Hostile Land
Virginia
- 2024 — Another Year of No Resolutions: A Take the Back Roads Reflection
- A Library for the Apocalypse – Why I'm Rebuilding My Bookshelf | Take the Back Roads
- A Quick Tour of Mountain Lake Lodge – The Real Kellerman's from Dirty Dancing
- A Road Trip to Historic Jamestown: A Journey into America's Past
- A Visit to the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia
- All Aboard the USS Wisconsin - A Road Trip to a Retired Battleship in Norfolk, Virginia
- Cars & Confederate Flags – A Visit to Cooter's Dukes of Hazzard Museum in Luray, Virginia
- Climbing a New Mountain - A First Look at the Appalachians
- Discovering Appomattox Court House: A Road Trip to Civil War History
- Discovering History: A Road Trip to the MacArthur Memorial, in Norfolk, Virginia
- Diving Deep Into the Foothills of the Fort Lewis Mountains, Courtesy of Dixie - A Visit To Dixie Caverns in Salem, Virginia
- Exploring Lexington, Virginia – A Weekend Getaway Through History and the Blue Ridge Mountains
- Exploring Natural Bridge State Park – Virginia's 215-Foot Limestone Arch
- FE and Felonies - The Story of Virginia's Fairy Stone State Park
- Filling the Bucket: Revisiting Dreams, Pilgrimage Plans, and Life Goals
- Finding God in Gomorrah: The Books That Led Me Toward Faith
- For Shame! – Reflections on Healing, Grace, and the Weight of the Past
- Going Down! Exploring Natural Tunnel State Park
- Judas and the Onions – Reflections on Excuses, Faith, and the Small Acts of Love
- Meanwhile in the Vineyard of Good and Evil — Reflections on Work, Faith, and Purpose
- Ms. Elliott Goes to Washington, D.C
- Remembering June 6, 1944 – A Visit to the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford, Virginia
- Riding the Rails into Roanoke, Visiting the Virginia Museum of Transportation
- Sacred Ground and Civic Memory: The Berglund Center Site Explained
- Seeing Shrine Mont – Virginia's Holy Hike at the Cathedral Shrine of the Transfiguration
- The Camino Reimagined: How a Hip Injury Led to a New Perspective on Adventure
- The Great Gift of St. Joseph of Arimathea
- The Priest on the Plane - A Tale of Momento Mori
- The Real Story of Roanoke, Virginia – History, Railroads, Highways & Renewal
- The Resurrection of the Old Lick Cemetery In Roanoke, Virginia
- The Story of Salem, Virginia – Discovering My New Hometown in the Blue Ridge Mountains
- The Story of the Great Roanoke County Sourdough Bread Drive
- Touring the Jackson House Museum in Lexington, Virginia
- Uncovering America's Past: A Road Trip to the Revolutionary War Museum in Yorktown, Virginia
- Unpacking the Secret Sin of My Scornful Suitcase
- Virginia Beach Sunrise – The Final Scratch on a 27-Year Road Trip
- Visiting the Blue Ridge Institute and Museum in Ferrum, Virginia – Appalachian Heritage and Moonshine History
- What Kind of Fudge Is Forgiveness, Anyway? A Personal Reflection on Healing and Faith
Washington DC
- A Pilgrimage to the Saint Pope John Paul II National Shrine – Washington, D.C.
- A Visit to the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception – History, Art, and Marian Devotion
- Ms. Elliott Goes to Washington, D.C. (Again!)
- There Once Was a Hyena Named Bill - Tales of Presidential Pets
