Land Rover

The world rushes by me – a whir of greenery on my left and the steady waters of the Hudson River on my right. I am speeding on Amtrak from Albany to New York City after two days of Range Rover testing in the Vermont woods.  I love train rides  — the long linage of open tracks offer moments of contemplation, when ipod playlists reverberate with crescendos, pulsating beats and chords and the deeper lyrical content of favorite songs rings in my ears, where possibilities are revealed with each mile covered. Train doors open and close, the conductor passes through the cabin, new passengers arrive; change is constant, but steady and sure.

I spent a good part of my late teens and early twenties on trains in Europe. I was lucky enough to be spend summers studying and researching. Trains are where I found my love for solo travel. Brussels to Zurich. Berlin to Dresden. Dresden to Prague. Paris to Amsterdam. Back then, I wrote in journals in my best handwriting. I read books, unburdened by a laptop.  Ironically, I lost my longest journal on the last train ride – two years of my life bequeathed to the endless journey.

Trains make me want to write – a saving grace for a woman who has long defined herself as a writer — first and mostly for myself, then for my teachers, and ultimately for a broader audience that sometimes I find.  I’ve been writing about music for print publications for over 14 years – covering rock stars, hip-hop heroes and little-known emerging artists in every genre.  Along the way, I’ve written for national magazines about all sorts of topics  – painting, fashion, travel, design, architecture, wine, sports, community news, social justice and many, many cars.  How I’ve covered so many beats is not because I have a short attention span (at least I hope not), but because I first consider myself a disciplined writer, and with enough research, study and observation, I like to think I’m worthy of the challenge of to tackle unchartered ground.

When I first started out in automotive journalism, I thought it would be another area where I would write an occasional article.  I wanted to write and where I lived in Detroit, cars were an obvious choice. I never dreamed I would get to know the inner workings of the automobile industry intimately, that I would know the intimate details of every manufacturers creed and their areas of weakness.  I preferred walking and train riding to driving, and though in some ways I still do,  I would have been surprised to know that I would develop a wanderlust for roads, too.  I would have laughed if I knew I would travel the world driving high speeds and offroading in rugged terrain, in high heels and clunky boots. I’ve been writing articles about cars for nearly eight years, and I’ve yet to grow tired of this beat.

What draws me to car writing is two-fold. First there is the obvious experiential aspect – the amazing journeys that take me far and away, that push me past my comfort zone and have made me a stronger, more confident individual. I continue to live that life – reaching my personal high-speed best of 156 mph in a 2010 Aston Martin DBS last week, and off-roading through treacherous ruts in the Vermont woods yesterday in a 2010 Land Rover LR4. It is a lifestyle that is romantic with opportunity, the price being a precarious juggling act of ethics, sincerity and scheduling. The biggest perk in this is that my writing affords me these opportunities.

On another level, what compels me to stay focused on the car world is the broad impact transportation has on our lives, a connection that is not apparent on the surface. Encouraging people to buy new cars is generally not a noble pursuit, but providing new information is part of what makes an astute journalist. Yet, it is the decisions that people make that fascinate me, and here are the stories I like to chronicle best. The driving instructor who took me to the train station this morning exemplified the kinds of driver’s choices I like to uncover. He drives sturdy SUVs for personal reasons, because he is looking for the best way to get back to nature. He spends all of his free time in the woods, where he says that’s where he finds his soul. This conversation started with the kind of Range Rovers he likes, and what he likes about new models in general.

I’m interested in how people express themselves, and cars are one way where some personal statement is initiated, even by those who don’t have a driver’s license, or cycle, or walk, or simply who stand still. I like that cars are common ground, a conversation in the making. I like knowing about a tangible industry that helped build the modern world, for better and for worse.

That industry is changing rapidly, prompted by a world that is changing superficially, a world that is more electronic,, interconnected, but not by one that is more evolved.  And here lies the untold stories – how human beings make choices, not always logical, but how our desires and directions determine our histories. And it is here on the train, the lost American art of travel, where I get the time to think about this journey.

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