• BACKROADS PRESS NEWS

    I am proud to announce the launching of my new gallery site, Backroads Press. On that site I will be showcasing my landscape etchings and thoughts from the backroads of America. All of the work shown has been created and printed by hand on my own Takach Intaglio Press. I will be printing several new editions each month, so stop by the site often to see the progress and to find out about new scheduled showings.

    BECOME A BACKROADS TRAVELER

    Do you enjoy driving country roads like we do? Join our loose-knit group of friends. Read about the benefits of being a member. Click here for more info!

    NEW ON-LINE STORE

    We have opened a new on-line store for printed merchandise which is affiliated with CafePress. Follow the link at the upper right to find printed shirts and other fun stuff. We will be adding new designs each month, so check it out and let us know what you would like to see added.

    SUBMIT AN ARTICLE FOR PUBLICATION

    If you have an interest in writing about your backroad travels, we are interested in hearing from you. Follow "Join Our Road Team" link and read about our free-lance submittal requirements. We are soon going to be adding guest writers to our publication.

    NOTES FROM THE ROAD

    We invite you to follow along with us as we explore the scenic backroads. We will take you along as we undertake a great epic road trip covering 4200 miles to the California coast and back to the Heartland of Kansas and other future wanderings. The Notes from the Road link, on the black band above, will direct you to our travel blog. Check back with us often to get the latest from the backroads.

    A Publication of
    BACKROADS PRESS
    All illustrations, photos and text are copyright protected.
    © Stephen M. Perry 2008

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For a complete Articles Archive, click here. Below you will find our most recent Articles.

 
 
Communing in the Amanas

By Stephen Perry
Hand-quarried sandstone homes with traditional wall-mounted grapevine trellises, hand-crafted baskets and brooms and a four-star golf course. Those were some of the reasons we chose Amana, Iowa for a location to meet my sister and her husband for a few days of get-away. It also fit the criteria of being relatively half way [...]

Covered Bridges and a Step Back in Time

Covered Bridges and a Step Back in Time a tour of Parke County, Indiana, the Covered Bridge Capital of the World.

The Old Broom & Basket Shop

A step back in time. A breath of country air. A lot of hand-crafted workmanship. All that and more is waiting just off the Iowa Interstate. The tour busses have found the Amana Colonies, or Amana, Iowa in particular, but a leisurely tour around the laidback group of communities that hearken back to a different time is a refreshing bit of respite from the expanse of concrete interstate.

The Kansas Flint Hills

It’s only fitting that we begin our journey in the glorious Flint Hills of Kansas. This north-south strip of Tallgrass Prairie has been my favorite piece of America for more than forty years. It is seen by most travelers from the Kansas Turnpike (I-35E) between Emporia and El Dorado, at 75 miles an hour, and on K-177 from Cassoday north to Council Grove, part of the designated Flint Hills Scenic Byway. Those sections of highway are scenic and we will write about some of the great features of those drives, but to truly get to know the Flint Hills, you have to drive some gravel roads, stop at the roadside and learn to see the details in the land.

Treading Where Few Have Trod

On a recent trip to the National Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, just north of Strong City, Kansas, we were given permission to venture east of K-177, across from the Spring Hill/Z-Bar Ranch, to the ridge top overlooking the historic ranch and the Fox Creek valley.

Symphony in the Flint Hills

What could be more sensual and sensory-filling than listening to an orchestra and one hundred voices playing and singing a symphony composition written for the outdoors, at sunset, in the middle of the largest expanse of tallgrass prairie in North America, out of sight of any man-made structures?

Fraser River Valley, Colorado

Rolling down off of Colorado’s Berthoud Pass on US40 I could feel the tension of the Denver/I-70 drive melting away.