Sometimes, when I'm alone and bored, I'll find the longest surface street I have time for, and just drive as far down it as I can, or head in a direction far away entirely on surface streets. No rush, no direction, just some road and a willingness to go.

It's interesting to see the city change through the viewing pane of the windshield. Neighborhoods morph and change in character, all to the organic rhythms of the city. You can see wealth and poverty, creativity and the mundane, attraction and repulsion, all in the same stretch of road.

If you're really lucky, you may even find something new about the area you live in, especially if you're used to sailing above it from the distance of a freeway. If I've got time, I like to stop and check things out, but if I can't, it's still nice to note what's out there to be explored further later.

I usually can lose yourself in the city for a while, and just think about things in isolaton. Turn off my connections to the outside world, turn on some cool music, and do some roadway meditation.

When it's night, you get an entirely different view of the city. It feels voyueristic peering into the lit windows of buildings, like you're spying on someone else's life for the brief moments as you pass by.
The shadows and light give you the feel of another world of mystery waiting out there.

It's a good way to clear my head. When my view of the world has contracted too much, for whatever reason, it's a simple way to expand it a bit, and remind myself there's still so much to explore and experience. Everybody needs that once in a while.