Jump to content
American Road Magazine
Celebrating our two-lane highways of yesteryear…And the joys of driving them today!

More Days On The Dixie


DennyG
 Share

Recommended Posts

I'm three days into a drive north on the Dixie Highway east trunk and will reach the northern endpoint today. The story so far is at:

http://www.dennygibson.com/dixienorth2011/

 

Off on the Dixie......great sport, Denny! The shot of the Dixie soft freeze and Dixie Speedway were a kick, but the chicken restaurants were the prize.

 

It was all the rage 50-60-70 years ago to serve chicken, and restaurants that featured chicken dinners sprung up along the two lane roads of the day. They tended to look like grandma and grandpa's farm house, at a time when the family farm was still vivid in the memories of Americans. The chicken dinner was up there with mom's apple pie. Those were the days when the family that stayed together, took Sunday drives together, and they all piled out of the old family sedan at the chicken restaurant for Sunday dinner.

 

The empty buildings of Detroit are sad, tragic in human terms, but an almost inevitable product of change. Like any chronologically challenged guy, I wish things would stay as I recall them, the days when you could step out of high school into a living wage job in a factory (as in Detroit), work there 40 years and retire to a comfortable home, and maybe own an RV.

 

Road travel is a movie of life, and your comments about Detroit are one scene. We can see the past, present, and future on the road, but we have to provide the narrative and dialog. For someone like yourself, each new drive can be a premier, and you have a great seat. But someone with less insight may just see abandoned buildings.

 

Dave

 

Keep the Show on the Road

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm home and can now add all of the Eastern Mainline and the Northern Connector to the bits of Dixie Highway I've driven. Of course the Dixie has more termini than some roads have intersections so there's still plenty to do. The journal for the nine day trip is here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...