[Welcome - Please Introduce Yourself!]

Thanks guys for the warm welcome!

 

Denny my two favorite vintage cars are a '58 Mercury Montclair and a '62 Oldsmobile Starfire (thus the handle). Restoration works in progress include another '62 Oldsmobile Starfire, a '56 Cadillac Eldorado Seville, and a '57 Cadillac Eldorado Seville. We also have a pair of heavy duty road cruisers in the form of a matching pair of '76 Lincoln Mark IVs (really great road cars). Of course those '50s and '60s cars are not exactly easy on fuel consumption, particularly those Cadillacs which were what I call "luxury factory hot rods" both having been produced with dual 4bbl carburetors and loving premium grade fuel at around 9 mpg tops, down hill with a tail wind.

 

 

Dave, I'll keep you and everyone else up to date on the partial U.S. 90 photo essay I'll be doing. This is really a neat stretch of road as the original alignment is clearly visible where the present alignment replaced portions of it. There are very old bridges with bronze plaques indicating the construction dates on some of the bridges, which are still in use today as county maintained roads. We have many two lane roads in Texas which either are or were formerly U.S. designated highways. Some are absolute treasures. Among those are U.S. 75 (now Texas 75) from Conroe, Texas on the South to just South of Corsicana, Texas to the North......but that is another future photo essay.

 

Dave if your Washington trip will take you through Texas let me know the general route and if you have the time to spend I can put you on some fantastic two lane trips to take as you pass through. Now the folks in Louisiana ain't going to like this but I would recommend you avoid I-10 through Louisiana, the Western parts of it have been in really bad shape in places for years (they have been working on it).

 

Jim

[56 Houses Left]

Boy, you guys are getting downright melancholy! But I understand and appreciate your comments. As the ole guy, let me add to that perspective.

 

I can drive an old alignment today and with almost no conscious effort, I can often reconstruct in my mind’s eye the scene of 50 or even 100 years ago. That comes from 50 plus years of experiences, reading, looking at old photos, and enjoying road maps and road descriptions.

 

What the two of you can look forward to have, earlier in life than I did, is a treasure trove of insights and knowledge, almost without realizing it, that makes every old road a wonderful adventure...almost like going to a good movie.

 

I don’t even recognize that I have that “ability” until I travel with friends who lack my interests, and they are amazed at the stories the road and the setting tell. I was recently on an old alignment with my son, and we stopped beside some tall cottonwoods.

 

“Why are we stopping here?” he asked.

 

“Andrew, do you see that foundation across the road from the cottonwoods? It was once a gas station. And notice that pipe and rocks under the cottonwoods...there was a water fountain there. Travelers in the teens and 20’s pulled in under the cottonwoods to cool and fill their radiators from the fountain. Look up the hill a little and you will see the spring that made this site attractive as a stage stop even before the automobile came.”

 

The little scene along the road now had meaning, and as we drove on we discussed how the old stage routes had formed, and where the early auto travelers stayed, and what they carried with them for a trip along muddy, rocky, or sandy roads...etc.

 

The two or you already have the interest and the skills, and much of the mind’s treasure trove. Almost without realizing it, you will discover that you can step into the past while traveling in the present.

 

Along with the lore of the old roads, I urge you to read local histories, especially of the communities you travel through. They often describe the early roads, so they are interesting for that alone. But what will creep up on you is the character of life in the period of the history.

 

I also think old newspapers are good, and many are free on line. I have a year’s run of our local Olympia newspaper from 1911, and it is great fun to follow the arguments for n against grading and paving the main road, or the excitement that an aeroplane will come to the area in a few weeks!

 

And another suggestion...buy a Sears (or similar) catalog for each ten year period say between 1900 and 1950 or 1960. Look at the clothing, household goods, “technologies,” auto and wagon supplies, etc.

 

Then when you see an abandoned house along an old alignment, you can fill in the blanks with pictures in your mind of the lives that may have been lived there.

 

Happy travels, you lucky guys!

 

Keep the Show on the Road!

 

Dave

 

 

Until I ran across this now somewhat older post I thought I was the only person who could look at the ruins along the old roads and paint a mental picture of what was happening there 40, 50, 60, or 70 years ago. It can get real spooky for me when it happens along a stretch of now almost abandoned roads like parts of Route 66 traveled with parents when a child. Not only do I see the buildings no longer there but people going in and out, cars in the parking lots, and music heard on the radio at the time plays in the head. Being a collector of recording music one such occurrence lead me to go searching for a copy of a song recorded in 1948. After years and years of searching I finally came up with a copy a few days ago. Sometimes visions in the mind are a blessing, sometimes I think they may be a curse.

 

Jim

[Welcome - Please Introduce Yourself!]

Hello all from another "Road Warrior." The given name is Jim and I would describe myself as a two lane highway nut case. My passion is restoring vintage automobiles from the 1950's into the mid 1960's. For fun and enjoyment I hit the old two lanes in one of my restored cars with the top 40 recordings from the '50s & early '60s blaring away through the speakers. Stuck in time? No, but I do get a kick out of finding those eateries and motels still in business from that era. There are many if one hits the right highways. A secondary hobby is collecting old maps, road atlases, and post cards. Living on an almost untainted stretch of U.S. 90 I'll soon be doing a photo essay of the stretch of that highway between Columbus, Texas Westward to Seguin, Texas. Many, many motels, restaurants, and service stations just as they were fifty and even more years ago.