Exit the Highway

Highway 21, Missouri

I'm all about exiting the highway.  

So I was pretty intrigued about this program, sponsored by Toyota and Audubon, called Exit the Highway. Here's the idea: 

Pledge to drive the scenic route and spend extra time in nature learning about local conservation projects and heroes! You could win a new Toyota Prius v with your pledge and gain extra entries when you share your photos from the road.

There are suggested itineraries - and Missouri has five of 'em! One of them, Wildcat Glades, I had never even heard of. It's in Joplin, and I've been thinking to stop there on my way to New Mexico anyway. 

Highway 21, Missouri

It's timely for me to find this today - one of my Missouri cousins was just noting that he took the long way home yesterday; didn't have to get on Interstate 70 at all.

Highway 21, Missouri

I ran across the program while reading a Lonely Planet story of a couple stopping by White Sands National Monument outside of Alamogordo.


The deadline for the program is, um, today, but never mind ... the itineraries are worthwhile anyway.