Another memory from my past...............

[Bob Wright]

US Highway 70 runs from Memphis to Bristol, Tennessee, and is known as the first state funded highway in Tennessee. Known when it was built as the "Memphis to Bristol Highway" it was the main road prior to the coming of the Interstate Highways, and stretches five hundred miles covering that distance.

With the end of WW II my Dad bought a new car and Mother decided we would drive up to see my oldest sister near Washington, D.C. Dad's aim was to drive 500 miles in one day, covering the distance across the state. We had a Nash Ambassador then, and we set out along US 70. It took nearly all day, leaving Memphis around 4:00 am. The highway was paved nearly all the way, with some construction, and we arrived at a motel in Bristol near dusk. As Dad got out of the car, he stood a little unsteadily at first, having sat so long. My mother, always making sure we were "proper" explained to everybody around, "He's not drunk, he's just tired."

The next morning we left about sun up and began the drive through the mountains of Virginia. I can still see in my mind's eye the green mountains with the early morning mist in the valley with wisps of smoke smelling of ham or bacon frying. Still very rural at that time, we passed small mountain homes with smoke swirling from the chimneys, and women hanging home made quilts out on the clothes line for sale to tourists passing by. Many women had on simple house dresses and were barefooted. Men wore overalls, and placed cane bottom chairs out for sale, along with other wood carvings and other craft items.

I've made that drive myself since then, but up I-40 or I-65, and gone are the rural folk that delighted my view in those bygone days.

Bob Wright

 

[Precision32]

That's cuse you're driving the InterState. When I vacation I look at the map and find the smallest roads and take them. You can still find that way of life, just not a 65 mph.

 

[Kevin]

I know what you mean Bob, when we were first married, in Bulgaria my wife and I would drive from her parents house to her grandparents town on the Black Sea. It is a few hundred miles away...Along the way there were many roadside fruit stands and people out selling handmade pots and woven baskets, just small town life like what you are describing. Some great out of the way restaurants too.

Nowadays there is a modern interstate to zip across the country. Sure it's fast but even in those small towns, people have packed up and gone on to other things simply because the number of tourists on the small back roads dropped. Lots of the restaurants closed up and now the interstate has big gas stations and fast food restaurants.

 

[don44]

Sure does sound familiar!

 

[Fox Mike]

Much like the old way to Florida on US301. Went through a lot of fun places that the Interstate doesn't have. I too have made that route through Bristol.

 

[Colonialgirl]

Reminds me of the various cross country trips across the USA when my Dad was in the Navy; Had relatives in Oklahoma (near Ponca City) in Missouri and in Arizona; OOPS did I leave out PA over the mountain from Shickshinny?

 

[graygun]

That statement by your mother made me laugh. I drove from Md to Az in Mar of '71 and drove across Tennessee on the interstate. I miss the old days.

 

[32shooter]

That's cuse you're driving the InterState. When I vacation I look at the map and find the smallest roads and take them. You can still find that way of life, just not a 65 mph.

This is the way I like to roll. Much more enjoyable driving, just don't be in a hurry.

Much like the old way to Florida on US301. Went through a lot of fun places that the Interstate doesn't have. I too have made that route through Bristol.

Just drove home from Florida a few weeks ago and I did take US301 for a good bit of the way. Got back on the Interstate and it was stop and go.

 

[Bob Wright]

That's cuse you're driving the InterState. When I vacation I look at the map and find the smallest roads and take them. You can still find that way of life, just not a 65 mph.

Well, I can't say I can find that way of life. I've been down many country roads of late and they have electricity and running water. Gone is the old wash pot in the front yard, the pump and wells. Not even a truck garden is seen. And everyone wears shoes, and most folks aren't at home in the daytime shelling beans or canning. Men plow with gasoline or Diesel tractors instead of teams of horses or mules.

And to call a neighbor folks use telephones, more often than not a cell phone, instead of hollering across the field.

Make no mistake, I'm not lamenting the passing of the times, just regret I didn't record it at the time.

Bob Wright

 

[turd]

They are called blue highways now, check your map. :mrgreen: Yes, things have changed, but as my grandfather used to say, don't let anyone kid you, THESE are the good old days. Life was more colorful then perhaps, but also much more difficult.

 

[737tdi]

That's cuse you're driving the InterState. When I vacation I look at the map and find the smallest roads and take them. You can still find that way of life, just not a 65 mph.

Well, I can't say I can find that way of life. I've been down many country roads of late and they have electricity and running water. Gone is the old wash pot in the front yard, the pump and wells. Not even a truck garden is seen. And everyone wears shoes, and most folks aren't at home in the daytime shelling beans or canning. Men plow with gasoline or Diesel tractors instead of teams of horses or mules.

And to call a neighbor folks use telephones, more often than not a cell phone, instead of hollering across the field.

Make no mistake, I'm not lamenting the passing of the times, just regret I didn't record it at the time.

Bob Wright

Bob Wright: I know you realize that memories are fogged and skewed. Not to make lite of your memories though. I can remember telling old friends that you will look back on these bad, poor times as the best times of your life. We all wish we were there again. We made squat, lived in squalor and had a ball. My time in the military living in town. It was awful, we ate like 60's college students. It was awful, we could barely pay for gas to get back to base. Nostalgia is cool but it is not always accurate. Heck, I can remember when I 40 across Arizona wasn't finished, opposite of your story it pissed me off. I needed to get back to Lemoore.


Semper Fi:

Karl

 

[vito]

Back in 1966 my new bride and I (and we are still married, now at 50 years!) left New York City for San Antonio, Texas where I had to report in as a newly commissioned 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Army. Driving our new VW Beetle, and armed with my AAA "TripTik" we traveled the U.S. highways and state roads for several days since there was hardly any of the Interstate system yet built. Stopping in small towns for gas and food (usually asking the kid at the gas station for a recommendation for a good place to eat) and inspecting the room at a Mom and Pop motel where we might stay for the night, it was a real adventure. After arrival at Ft. Sam Houston, we rented a small furnished apartment for our 9 week stay, bought a bunch of groceries, filled up the gas tank of the VW, and had $3.45 to last us until my first payday, 21 days later. Somehow we made it, and had a ball as well! Maybe it is just the glow of nostalgia, but my life was simpler, and though financially poorer, in many ways the best days of my life. Its a lot easier to be optimistic and excited for the future when you at 22 and feel you can conquer the world, than I am at almost 73 and dread thinking about very far ahead in the future. I wish I could do it all over again!

 

[Ale-8(1)]

They are called blue highways now, check your map. :mrgreen:

Driving the "Blue Highways" . . .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Highways

A really great read. I recommend it highly.

:mrgreen:

 

[Coogs]

If only it was so simple today.................................................

 

[Kevin]

Ale: yep, "Blue Highways" is a great book. I've read it twice now. That and "Travels with Charlie" by Steinbeck. Charlie is his dog and they travel around in an old RV.

 

[Precision32]

That's cuse you're driving the InterState. When I vacation I look at the map and find the smallest roads and take them. You can still find that way of life, just not a 65 mph.

Well, I can't say I can find that way of life. I've been down many country roads of late and they have electricity and running water. Gone is the old wash pot in the front yard, the pump and wells. Not even a truck garden is seen. And everyone wears shoes, and most folks aren't at home in the daytime shelling beans or canning. Men plow with gasoline or Diesel tractors instead of teams of horses or mules.

And to call a neighbor folks use telephones, more often than not a cell phone, instead of hollering across the field.

Make no mistake, I'm not lamenting the passing of the times, just regret I didn't record it at the time.

Bob Wright

We have a gent around here that still plows his fields with a mule. We have vegetable stands selling the crops grown in the field that the stand sets beside. Everyone around here has a private well and we are members of an electric co-op to be able to get power. Not a bucket on a rope over a dig well and candles but no Starbucks on the corner.

Agree that it's nothing like it was when we were younger but something close to that way of life can still be found if you look.