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From: chin@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU (David Chin)
Newsgroups: net.auto
Subject: Re: Best Roads
Message-ID: <10792@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU>
Date: Thu, 24-Oct-85 22:56:59 EDT
Article-I.D.: ucbvax.10792
Posted: Thu Oct 24 22:56:59 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 26-Oct-85 03:48:58 EDT
References: <526@phri.UUCP> <3900003@tilt.FUN>
Reply-To: chin@ucbvax.UUCP (David Chin)
Organization: University of California at Berkeley
Lines: 33

In my opinion, the most fun road to drive on in the entire world is Highway
1, the coastal road, in California.  This wonderful stretch of highway
extends the length of the West Coast from Baja to Washington state.  Most
of the way, the road hugs the cliffsides with a fantastic view of waves
breaking against rocks below.  The road is very winding, abounding with
posted 10-15 mph hairpin turns.  The road is only two lanes wide, but that
just adds to the challenge of passing.  The sea breeze keeps things
fairly comfortable and the sunset over the Pacific ocean is gorgeous.  The
surface is fairly well upkept with ocassional turn-outs and parking spots
for people to stop and admire the view.  Also the road has very few cops.
For variey, every once in a while, the road goes by beaches, coves,
small towns, coastal forests, etc. for variety.  Where else in the world can
one drive continually at the limits of adhesion (tires squealing all the way)
for an entire day without repeating the same section of road?

The worst road in the world is much more difficult to state since there are
so many junk roads around.  My vote would have to go to the road to
Sun-Moon Lake in Taiwan.  This road (when I was there many years ago)
hugged the mountainsides, but was almost completely unpaved.  The crushed
rock surface was so bad that it could cause seasickness.  Also, the road
was so narrow that two small cars would have considerable trouble passing
one another on parts of the road.  Moreover, the people who regularly
travel on the road drove rickety cars which looked like they would fall
apart any second at speeds that were suicidal.  None of the cars had any
shocks left and it often looked as if they would just bounce off the road.
More than once, I saw tires go off the road and there were signs that at
least a few people hadn't made it (burned out hulks down the mountainsides).
The key points are that this road in combination with its drivers was not
only highly uncomfortable, but also extremely unsafe.

				Dave Chin
				chin@BERKELEY.EDU
				ucbvax!chin