In his 1995 movie Braveheart, Mel Gibson’s character leads a band of Scottish rebels against a larger English army. They’re clearly outmanned by the English force, and a soldier meekly asks Gibson how he intends to fight against such odds. Gibson replies, “We’ll use the old ways!” 

I’ve always loved that line. The movie isn’t really related to my road trips or writing, except that I’ll be mapping all my routes using “the old ways.”

Like everything in our technology-laden lives today, information is often received instantaneously with a few taps on our phones. Using Google Maps, I typed in my road trip destination and received three options for the drive to Amenia, New York. Each one listed the distance and time required for the drive, and, I must point out, each included using an interstate highway — but that’s not allowed on my excursions! My goal is to use “the old ways” on my road trips, which means no Google Maps, no GPS, and no highways. Here’s how I plan to navigate instead.

 An Unexpected Gift

It’s strange how small gestures from your past reappear at unusual times. To lay a foundation for what I am about to write, you need to know that my late brother, Keith, was a yard sale warrior. 

Every Saturday, he and his best friend would get up early and head out to various yard sales or flea markets in the area. He was always on the lookout for unique items, and he enjoyed giving them as quirky gifts to family and friends. On a summer day some 15 years ago, it was my turn to receive one of Keith’s yard sale finds. 

He walked into my office in the middle of a work day — he thoroughly enjoyed making an entrance — and placed a tiny box on my desk. It contained a measuring wheel, a relic from a time when you had to measure distances on scale-drawn paper maps. Having no use for it, I put it in my desk drawer. It stayed there until last year when I retired, closed my office, and cleaned out my desk. 

It’s been almost two years since my brother passed from this life, and when I pulled out the measuring wheel he gave me all those years ago to plot my first road trip, I clearly heard him say, “Well, it’s about time you used it — that thing cost me a buck!”

Planning My Trip to Amenia

Every map in the DeLorme Gazetteer and Atlas collection is drawn to a scale depicted on the page. While planning out the route I planned to take on my first road trip to Amenia, I copied each of the pages and taped them together to create a single map. Then, using the measuring wheel from my brother, I traced the route: 126.5 miles. Just like that, I had calculated the distance using the old ways!

Knowing the entirety of the route is along two-lane roads, which typically have speed limits between 25-35mph, it was pretty easy to estimate the time needed for the drive. With an average speed of 30mph, the nonstop trip should take about four and half hours, give or take. Of course, who knows what might catch my eye along the way to force a detour. Remember, there are no hard schedules on my road trips.