From the Editor:

While I was reading through this issue of ROVA before sending it to press, I noticed something: “the Devil” is mentioned in the names of four different attractions, from Arizona to Florida and Niagara Falls.

Why is it that we so often cross paths with the Devil on a road trip? Why does the nefarious little guy keep showing up? Maybe early explorers, when faced with landscapes that seemed inexplicable or otherworldly, turned to the language of myth and mischief, and perhaps fear, to make sense of what they saw.

Perhaps the Devils Garden in Arches National Park, with its fiery red dirt and rocks, seemed like somewhere that a supreme spirit of evil might play. Certainly, the turbulent waters of Devil’s Hole, near Niagara Falls, could be the work of a malevolent force whipping the river into turmoil. The Devil’s Rope Museum in Texas—well, the museum is dedicated to barbed wire, so you can see how that parallel was drawn. And Florida’s Devil’s Millhopper—a sinkhole littered with the bones of animals that met their end there—that’s not so much of a mystery.

It’s no surprise that we look into the wilderness and feel a shiver of trepidation. It’s the unknown, the strange, and, in some cases, the downright dangerous—that’s what we call “the Devil.” And it says a lot about road-trippers that we look the Devil in the face and say, “Sounds cool, be there soon!”

There are plenty of discoveries to be made in this issue of ROVA—whether it’s tracing the rhythms of the Mississippi Blues Trail, lingering a little longer at a winery stop (purely for research, of course), or chasing the nostalgia of a fading drive-in theater. There are deeply wild landscapes and meditations on the meaning of life. Call it the Devil if you like—or just the pull of the unknown—but it has a funny way of convincing you to take the long way, make one more stop, and see what’s just around the next bend.

Enjoy this adventure, friends. And if the Devil shows up, it might be worth following him.

Safe travels!

Gemma Peckham
Editor
ROVA