Where will a 500-mile road trip land you?
By Jim Sawyer
Remember the good old days, when you could just hop behind the wheel on little more than a whim and just drive? For most of us, those carefree road trips are a vanishing speck in the rearview mirror. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that an old-fashioned road trip is totally off the plate. If that sense of adventure is still stirring inside of you, why not pick a direction and distance and see where life’s highway takes you? Okay, a little pre-planning probably makes sense, but you know what that old road warrior Ralph Waldo Emerson said: It’s not the destination…it’s the journey.
A solid day’s drive, say eight to nine hours, puts you in 500-mile territory. Where those 500 miles take you depends on the direction you choose, but—using the EDGE parking lot as a starting point—I found quite a variety of places that fall neatly within that range.
SNAPSHOT: The population of North Carolina’s state capital has quadrupled since the early 1970s, and it has transformed every conceivable aspect of the city—particularly in the last decade or so. It used to be a place you drove through (as quickly as possible) to get from college towns to the beach. Now it is young, diverse and vibrant. Forbes rated Raleigh the #2 city in America to run a business or build a career.
Alex Israel
Must See: The North Carolina Museum of Art—one of several superb museums in the city—recently underwent a lovely renovation. It features dozens of galleries and a 164-acre museum park.
Must Do: Lunch, dinner and after-hours Downtown. Young, upwardly mobile urbanites and foodies from the surrounding ‘burbs have kicked the restaurant and club scene up a notch.
Christian Geischeder
Must Eat: Carolina Barbecue. It’s vinegar-based in this part of the state with no tomato and uses every edible part of the pig. The Pit is one of several go-to spots in Raleigh.
Keith McDuffee
Hometown Hero: Dexter star Michael C. Hall
Little Known Fact: Raleigh’s pro hockey team, the Carolina Hurricanes, was established in 1972 as the Hartford Whalers. The ’Canes won the NHL’s Stanley Cup in 2007.
SNAPSHOT: A sleepy town of 13,000 on the North Carolina border, Martinsville snaps to life twice a year when NASCAR rolls in. The town is named in honor of Joseph Martin, a Revolutionary War general, and became known for its chewing tobacco and, more recently, its furniture and textile manufacturing. For many years, it proudly called itself the “Sweatshirt Capital of the World.”
Must See: Virginia Museum of Natural History—an affiliate of the Smithsonian in Washington—has 22 million items in its collection, including an Allosaurus skeleton that towers over visitors entering the building.
Dough4872
Must Do: Race weekend at Martinsville Speedway. One of the first paved NASCAR tracks—and the only one still in existence since the organization was founded in 1948—it is also the shortest at just over a half-mile. The turns are banked only 12 degrees, testing drivers’ braking and accelerating skills and making for precious little passing room.
Must Eat: Soul Food at Walsh’s Chicken 
Hometown Hero: Founding Father Patrick Henry
Little Known Fact: During the Cold War, Martinsville’s nylon factory put it high on the list of targets for a Soviet missile attack.
SNAPSHOT: Located on Lake Erie between Toledo and Cleveland, Sandusky has a permanent population of 25,000 that swells during the summer months, as tourists travel from all over the region to visit its amusement parks and off-shore islands. In 2011, Forbes ranked the city the #1 “Place to Live Cheaply” in America.
Ken Winters
Must See: The Merry-Go-Round Museum, located in a stately old post office building, features a 1939 carousel you can ride for free with admission.
Must Do: Ride the roller coasters at Cedar Point. At last count there were 17 of them—six taller than 200 feet—making the park the self-proclaimed roller coaster capital of the world.
Must Eat: Toft’s Ice Cream, produced by the state’s oldest dairy.
Hometown Hero: 1963 Miss America Jackie Mayer
Little Known Fact: The name Sandusky is not of Eastern European origin. It is derived from a Native American word meaning “cold water.”
SNAPSHOT: Toronto is the best city you’ve never been to. Forget what you picture when you picture Canada. Half the people in Toronto proper are probably from somewhere else. It informs the food, the arts, the street life and just about everything else. The country’s most populous city is clean, safe and gorgeous—even when the February wind off Lake Ontario makes you cry for your mommy.
Must See: A ballgame from a hotel room at the Rodgers Center, the city’s famous domed stadium. The Marriott City Centre features guest rooms with views from high up in the outfield. Just remember, those 50,000 fans have as good a view of you as you do of them, so keep the kimono closed, please.
Must Do: Ride to the top of the CN Tower, at 1,815 feet the world’s tallest tower until 2009, when it was surpassed by the Canton Tower in China.
Leventio
Must Eat: Pemeal Bacon Sandwich. Warning: if you love bacon your head might explode. There are several places that make it in St. Lawrence Market.
Hometown Hero: Drake
Courtesy of The Come Up Show
Little Known Fact: The Toronto Argonauts have won more Grey Cups (the Canadian Football League version of the Super Bowl) than the 49ers, Cowboys and Patriots have won Super Bowls…combined.
SNAPSHOT: Bar Harbor is the main town on Mount Desert Island, so part of your 500-mile journey will require a car ferry. Part of Maine’s heralded Down East region, Bar Harbor has a long history as a summer and fall tourist haven, and has become a destination for lovers of the outdoors. A portion of Acadia National Park sits within the town’s borders. The harbor itself was an important stop for transatlantic schooners in the 18th and early 19th centuries.
Must See: Stained glass at St. Saviour’s
Wladyslaw
Must Do: Summit Mt. Cadillac in Acadia National Park
Must Eat: Breakfast at Everyday Joe’s
Hometown Hero: Sportswriter Shirley Povich
Little Known Fact: Bar Harbor previously went by the name Eden, and once rivaled Newport as a playground of the rich and famous—including the Astors, Vanderbilts and Rockefellers. In the fall of 1947, following a summer of drought, a wildfire burned for nearly a month and destroyed several hotels and dozens of summer homes.
Brian Snelson
SNAPSHOT: Bar Harbor is the main town on Mount Desert Island, so part of your 500-mile journey will require a car ferry. Part of Maine’s heralded Down East region, Bar Harbor has a long history as a summer and fall tourist haven, and has become a destination for lovers of the outdoors. A portion of Acadia National Park sits within the town’s borders. 
The harbor itself was an important stop for transatlantic schooners in the 18th and early 19th centuries.
Must See: Stained glass at St. Saviour’s
Must Do: Summit Mt. Cadillac in Acadia National Park
Must Eat: Breakfast at Everyday Joe’s
Hometown Hero: Sportswriter Shirley Povich
Little Known Fact: Bar Harbor previously went by the name Eden, and once rivaled Newport as a playground of the rich and famous—including the Astors, Vanderbilts and Rockefellers. In the fall of 1947, following a summer of drought, a wildfire burned for nearly a month and destroyed several hotels and dozens of summer homes.
Are You Too Cool for Coolville?
One of the more intriguing spots at the 500-mile mark is a town of 500 people, called Coolville. It’s situated on the Hocking River in Ohio. The village celebrated its 200th anniversary in 2018. Coolville was laid out by Simeon Cooley, a New Englander who opened a flour mill with his brother, Herman. If you decide to stay, land is a bargain: The taxes on a 60-acre wooded lot currently for sale run a whopping $23 a year. While you’re in the area, why not visit the nearby towns of Torch and Frost?
