Seven days. Seven states. Nearly 3,000 miles. Gustavo Arellano talks to Latinos across the Southwest about their hopes, fears and dreams in this election year.

I also took a side trip to Virginia, which was about a two-hour drive on I-95 South from PA. I drove through the Blue Ridge Mountains, where I started to do some hiking. It felt right.

So far, so Nashville. But this is about the drive, the best road trip in America. It would take me south along the I-65 and then the I-59, to Muscle Shoals and Florence, Alabama, the source of the ...