New York Archives - Mark Marchand blog

The route I took last summer, between Saratoga, N.Y., and Oshkosh, Wisconsin. (Credit: Google Maps, and my drawing.)

Road tripping west in post-COVID(?) summer of 2021

Post published:August 4, 2022

Last summer I set out from my home in upstate NY to search for an America readjusting to life as the COVID wildfire slowed down. Just as I was about to depart on a celebratory, wandering road trip through seven states the Delta variant began sweeping our country. I went anyway. Below is the first chapter of a four-part series on my sojourn. Like many of my road trips across America, it was a fun excursion— but the worsening news about COVID was an overhang on my mood, haunting me each mile along the way.

The walking venture and road trip as salves for the COVID-19 blues

Post published:July 10, 2020

The notion of solo walks and road trips as a cure for the pandemic blues occurred to me as I saw an uptick recently in readers visiting my blog here. Most navigated to posts on some of my personal travel exploits, especially New York City walks across the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges and a hike from Penn Station to the Guggenheim Museum on the upper East Side. Many visitors pointed their browser to the post on the book I wrote about my long, itinerary-less drive down U.S. Route 1 from Northern Maine to Key West during the summer…

Driving U.S. Route 1 from Northern Maine to Key West; a new book

Post published:May 22, 2018

During the summer of 2014, I embarked on a solo drive that had roots stretching all the way back to epic road trips with my family as we followed my Air Force father on assignments here and abroad. In late-June 2014, I set out from my home in upstate New York to drive the entire length of U.S. Route 1 from remote, forested northern Maine to artsy, bucolic Key West. As it snakes along the East Coast for over 2,400 miles, this famous -- but somewhat ignored -- highway winds through some…

Dispatches from March Madness in Brooklyn – 2014

Post published:March 31, 2014

As we approach the Final Four this weekend in North Dallas, I’m reminded that my bracket was trashed at about 4:30 p.m. on the first day of the tourney two weeks ago. But my journey into March Madness began a week earlier in the borough of Brooklyn… For almost anyone, doing the same thing for 12 hours straight – work, school, play, watching TV, reading, etc. – presents challenges that range from exhaustion to boredom. Yet this is exactly what I chose to do on March 14, focusing on one of…