“Ford Model T Coast to Coast: A Slow Drive across a Fast Country”, by Tom Cotter

 

224 pages, Motorbooks, ISBN-13: ‎ 978-0760359464

In Ford Model T Coast to Coast: A Slow Drive across a Fast Country, author Tom Cotter recounts his trip on the historic Lincoln Highway in his Ford Model T and all of the people whom he encounters along the way. This was without question an interesting read in which his iconic Model T served as the ultimate ice-breaker along this timeless road. Incidentally, the Lincoln Highway was the first road designed with automobiles in mind across the United States and runs coast-to-coast from Times Square in New York City to Lincoln Park in San Francisco, originally through 13 states: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada and California (but not Michigan?!). His stops along the way are a perfect alternative to the fast-moving superhighways, and the many small-town he visits show that he has an interest in out-of-the-way America and all it has to offer – although a map of his route and the places he stopped at would have been nice.

With all that positivity, there are some negatives, the most glaring of which is his banging on about how we need to build more windmills to save the Earth…as he pollutes the same in a gasoline automobile. In response, I’d just like to inform Mr. Cotter that these windmills he loves are not the unmitigated panacea he thinks they are: they are enormous bird-killers, exist because of government subsidies and cannot prosper without them, the amount of maintenance – especially oil – they require is counterproductive, they cannot be recycled and fill up landfills at an alarming rate and, besides, they are just plain ugly. Would that Cotter had stuck with describing the wonders of our nation between the elitist coasts and the people who populate the same, but, perhaps in penance for polluting the nation in his toxin-spewing Model T, he felt compelled to sing the praises of this dubious alternative energy boondoggle (sure am glad I paid a mere $6.99 from Ollie’s for this, rather than the retail $35 The Henry Ford wanted for it).

Anyway…my advise is to skip the preachy bits and enjoy this latter-day road trip manual as the celebration of America as it should be; I, for one, would dearly love to make my own trip upon the Lincoln Highway one day and discover all that America has to offer those who are willing to look for it, far from the maddening crowds.