A Long Distance Life with David Coggins

When speaking with the good people at Canoe Club, I recently shared why a single road trip, from Ohio to Colorado, became a no-turning-back moment for my 18 year old self. I’ll never forget driving across the familiarly flat Midwest into what felt like Mars. Are there any trips you can point to that marked the beginning of your love for the road?

DC: The first time I drove my Minnesota to Montana was a major experience. I drove through North Dakota, which is fairly empty, in a good way. Then around sunset you arrive at the Badlands, which is vast and beautiful and very quiet. I stayed in Miles City but it was the next day when you start driving along the Yellowstone River and you leave the dry area and get into more mountainous country that’s really great. You feel like you’re in a vast space and you start seeing signs for the famous rivers are everywhere.

I’m less interested in the literal act of driving than I am in the art of slowing down. Spending hours on end in the car has been a reliable source of ideas for me over the years. Has long-distance travel consistently served as a source of inspiration in your work?

DC: I think you used the right word: distance. When you drive you have a sense of distance and space and the feeling of moving through the world that you just don’t have on a plane. I used to drive a lot at certain times of year, to Wisconsin from New York in the summer, for example. So that drive felt like a time in the calendar and had significance. Then, in September, when I drove back to New York and left the country for the city then that was something to reflect about. The end of summer and the return to real life in Manhattan. That’s the sort of thing I think about and write about.

There comes a point on every trip when getting lost in thought starts to feel less effective at passing the time. What are a couple of go-to albums you turn to for keeping things moving?

DC: Well that was really the case before podcasts and audiobooks. I would plan out CDs for a while before trips—it was like packing. I still think Tom Petty is great for driving. I like other American bands on the road: Uncle Tupelo, R.E.M., Cracker. And then if it’s getting moody then I go to arthouse English music that I’ve loved forever: The Cure, The Smiths, Depeche Mode. That has nothing to do with driving, that’s just what I’ve always been into as long as I’ve been able to drive.

In my experience, road trips often consist of a series of (hopefully) low-stakes decisions you’re not typically forced to make at home. Where will I get gas? Where will I find food? Are you the spreadsheet-everything, dialed-in type of planner, or do you often find yourself Googling “hotels near me” from the side of the road?

DC: I love these considerations. If I’m in a place like Montana or Idaho where there are a lot of great places to fish and small towns then I’ll just figure it out. If you’re doing something brutal like getting from the Catskills all the way to Wisconsin that’s a true long haul and you don’t want to mess around with improvisation. And the easiest way not to worry about food is to have some Snyder’s of Hanover pretzels in the car.

When faced with these decisions, I do my best to shop small. In addition to supporting a local business, I get a thrill out of sifting through the less-than-corporate ephemera of budget hotels and roadside attractions. Are there any items you’ve collected over the years that stand out as especially meaningful?

DC: Oh totally. I keep all the business cards of lobster shacks and fly shops I’ve visited over the years. They’re in the console of the car so it’s fun to look through them and maybe visit them again if I’m in Melrose or Wiscasset or wherever it is. And you’re right, you want to keep that sense of discovery. Any farm stand is good. Any antiques place on a Main Street is usually good. I was in Pennsylvania and there was an old ice cream stand, the type of place you order at a window outside. They had a handmade sign for peach milk shakes, something I’ve never really thought about before. Apparently it was a seasonal thing and I ordered one and it was so good I just started laughing. If this was in New York or Tokyo people would have been lined up around the block. But it was just out in a small town, I don’t even remember the name.

Looking ahead, are there any upcoming adventures you’re especially excited about?

DC: I did some driving in Iceland this summer—it’s about the size of Ohio, you can get from end to end on two-lane highway in about 8 hours. As soon as I drove for a while I thought that this was a country you just wanted to drive around in a complete loop. That’s something I’m hoping to do another time—when the salmon are running.

I’ll be in Spain doing some trout fishing in a few weeks and that driving, up in the Pyrenees, should be very scenic. Looking forward to that.