An Ode To The Montauk Highway

[Image via NYT]

The Montauk Highway (NY-Route 27) is everywhere, or rather, every lane, restaurant, antique shop, and farm stand on the south shore seems to be just off of it. The only time I've driven on the MH sans a heavy influx of sport and safari vehicles was at 2 a.m., and even then I had buddies. I have yet to decide where I stand regarding this road. On the one hand, it's somewhat of a bonanza for gps-less, spacey navigators such as myself. On the other, there's the traffic, the 5 minute wait to enter the traffic, and the impossibility of finding a back road that does not somehow deposit you back into the traffic you struggled to leave. And then there's the frustration in knowing things will ease up east of East Hampton and west of Quogue, and in knowing that you, with your countless u-turns and space-hogging vehicle, are one of the choke's biggest benefactors. Or maybe that's only me... What about you all; how do you deal? Give me your scenic routes!