Summer starts on Memorial Day, even though the solstice is about a month later. Schools are out, it’s warm enough to stay out late and it’s the beginning of road trip season. Whether its families packing the station wagon (or modern equivalent) for vacation or an individual making a short journey, now is when the open road beckons.

No doubt these travelers will rack up millions of miles along interstate highways this summer. Sometimes it’s not the journey, but the destination that counts. The interstate will get you there faster than any other road, but the time savings comes at a cost.

The interstate system, thanks to President Dwight D. Eisenhower, is a marvel of engineering and efficiency. Its effectiveness is its downfall, however, for experiencing the joy of driving.

Long straightaways and gentle grades, coupled with wide lanes, generous shoulders and one-way travel create a sterile and monotonous experience. The monotony of hurling down the road at a constant speed is imprinted on the faces of tired travelers at roadside rest stops.

It’s far different from how driving evolved along U.S. Route 66, the so-called Mother Road, which turns 100 this year. Its pavement connected Chicago to Santa Monica, though imaginations and travelers mostly headed west.

Though it still lives on, including the 13-mile stretch in southeast Kansas, Route 66’s glory days are long gone. Its legacy lives on as the first corridor of roadside commerce, fueling the growth of motels, restaurants and service stations all catering to cars.

The car culture it created still exists, but it seems to be headed to the same fate as the manual transmission. There are still paths out there that are worthy of drivers who understand driving is as much about the road as it is about the surroundings and the vehicle you’re in.

Kansas Tourism has a helpful guide of our state’s more traveled byways. Yes, Route 66 is included, as is the stretch of K-177 between Council Grove and Cassoday, which offers some unrivaled Flint Hills vistas. Other hills to explore via designated byways include the Glacial Hills in the northeast and the Gypsum Hills in the south-central part of the state.

Out west is the “Land and Sky” route along K-27 which cuts through Cheyenne, Sherman and Wallace counties. At the southern terminus in Sharon Springs, head east on U.S. 40 and you’ll be on the “Western Vistas” trail that features Kansas’ badlands.

There are two byways dedicated to fencing, the aptly named “Native Stone” from Manhattan to Dover and “Post Rock” between Lucas and Wilson.

I’ve traveled on all of these and can vouch they’re all worth driving if you want to feel like part of the landscape as you navigate narrow lanes with mirages shimmering on the blacktop, float a little as you crest hilltops a little too fast and feel the rush of the unknown around the next corner.

Sometimes the destination is more important than the journey, but every now and then it’s worth the extra effort to take the slow way. Whether it’s a backroad or byway, summer is a good time to buckle up and enjoy the drive.