Notes from the Road.(Column)

Byline: Rich Ceppos

"Breezewood, Town of Motels.'' So read the billboard hard by Interstate 70 in south-central Pennsylvania. One could only wonder what possessed the town fathers-there might be quite a few of them, judging by their town's slogan-to go with that ad campaign. A couple of miles later came the answer: a sign for Bedford County. Town of Motels, Bedford. Motels. Bedford. Something was going on here, something sinister.

Ah, road-trip humor. A lot of folks were reading road signs along with the Ceppos clan a couple weeks back, according to published reports. We and about 31 million of our closest friends hit the road over the Thanksgiving weekend, bent on getting to family, food and the post-feast stupor that brings us together as Turkey Nation.

Our mission: Washington, D.C., for a full family hook-up. Ride: AutoWeek's long-term Volkswagen Phaeton. Driving to and within the nation's seat of power would be a perfect opportunity to assess the State of the Union of automobile-dom, circa 2005.

First off, what could be a more American way of celebrating Thanksgiving than clogging up the country's major transportation arteries just as we were clogging up our own? America made the automobile the mass transportation freedom-giver it is, after all. Just a couple of miles from where I sit is Henry Ford's Piquette Avenue factory, where he figured out the first automotive moving assembly line and changed the world.

Our nine-hour jaunt from Michigan to Maryland showed how far that world has come. With the exception of a nasty rain, the drive was marvelous. If our particular route was any indication, the nation's interstates are in the best condition they've been in for years. The vast majority of the 540 miles we covered that day were creamy-smooth and well maintained.

That and the impressive capability of even the most pedestrian of today's vehicles might explain the blatant disregard for ...