There's a particular joy in driving through central Mexico in late October — mountains on the horizon, small towns appearing and disappearing, each one clearly gearing up for something big.

Picking up the rental car took some patience at the counter and on the way out of city, but once I was actually on the road outside of Mexico City, all those was quickly forgotten. Somewhere between Puebla and Tehuacán, passing through a small town called Tlacotepec de Benito Juárez, the road ahead suddenly jammed up and people started gathering on both side of the road. I had no idea what was ongoing until I could hear the music — a local Día de los Muertos parade, during a weekday after sunset, people in costume, some on horseback, moving slowly down the main street. I pulled over and just stood there grinning. Nobody had told me this town did this nor seeing any mentioning about this small town event. It just happens here, every year, whether or not a traveler happens to be driving through. The by luck feeling was wonderful for me, a culture adventurer.

Later, somewhere between Tehuacán and Oaxaca, I pulled over again — this time for a flower farm stretching along the road, rows of cempasúchil marigolds, flor de terciopelo cockscomb, siemprevivas strawflowers, and trebol clover, as far as I could see. I walked the fields and bought bundles straight from the farmers who grew them, hands still dusted with soil. It felt more meaningful than anything I could have picked up in a market later.

One practical note worth passing along: double-check your rental car's GPS route settings before you pull out. Mine kept defaulting to avoid tolls and highways, which quietly added real hours to more than one driving day and driving on bumpy roads. On the way to Puebla and the final stretch into Oaxaca specifically, take the toll highway if you can — save yourself a couple hours or a third of the time.

If you have the extra days or enjoy road trip in your own pace, don't fly between these cities. Some of the best moments of this whole trip happened completely unplanned, on the road between everywhere else.