In my first car - right out of college [you know, in the days when kids didn't get cars until they bought their own!] - I'd think nothing of hopping in my VW and heading west out I-64 to I-81 to make the nine-hour trip Knoxville, Tennessee, to see my mother. Nestled between a couple of 18-wheelers and listening to them babble on the CB radio while I sang with whatever blared from the radio, I'd spend the day traveling light and fast and comfortable in the knowledge that if I did have a problem the truckers would make sure I got help. Those were carefree, fun times and certainly low tech.
Y
esterday as we headed south for a week of "us time" I was reminded of how far we have come since then. When it was my turn to drive, Mitchell turned on his Galaxie and hooked it into the car radio so that we could listen to Pandora as we passed thru the NPR-less radio wasteland. No singing with whatever on this trip. With Gypsy navigating [get it? GyPSy?] we drove south. [Let's see... the route is I-95 south for seven hours and turn left at Exit 8 in South Carolina. I really needed Gypsy's help!] Then the red lights appeared ahead - like three lanes wide and as far in advance as I could see.
Mitchell jumped the Galaxy to Googlemaps and immediately
found us a lovely country road at the very next exit and successfully navigated us around whatever was happening ahead and back onto the Interstate five mile farther south. The tie-up completely averted and a lovely drive thru North Carolina cotton fields.Let's hear it for technology!
Times have certainly changed. I often left my office in Austin at 5:30 on a Friday and drove to rural Louisiana to see my family, arriving after midnight. I, too, had a CB radio. Every so often the semis would let me caravan with them. Often telling me to slow down and biding me safe travels as I veered off on another freeway. (now they just want to run me off the road) I always suspected the CB was my Dad's way of keeping track of me on those trips. He always seemed to be waiting for me at the gate as I pulled into the lane leading to our home. Thank you for once again taking me on a trip down memory lane.
ReplyDeleteHave a wonderful weekend! Bonnie
I've never seen a cotton field in real life, your pic is lovely.
ReplyDeleteMy first car was a beetle too, a bright yellow one, it was so unreliable and I was a terrible new driver, it is amazing I survived! xx
Have a wonderful dose of 'us time'. xx
"NPR-less radio wasteland".
ReplyDeleteI know the feeling! I grew up in the Midwest, where weather reports and hog prices dominated the airwaves.
My God you two are organized. I want to travel with Mitchell.
ReplyDeleteHave a lovely and relaxing time where ever you are. You both seem to work like maniacs.
Reeeeelax.
xo jane