Black & White Highway Travel Part II.

Due to the overwhelming response of the original Black & White Highway travel post, we will do one more, before go back to full color. We really do appreciate all the positive feed-back. Thanks, john :)

On June 29, 1956 President Eisenhower signed a bill creating the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways. Based on Germany's Autobahns as the example of the Super Highways President Eisenhower wanted for America. Roads built in the 1930's were inadequate for the faster and wider cars of the 1950's. Roads were widened, straightened, and divided. New Interstate Highway shields cropped up like weeds as the new Super Highways were built along or on top of US Routes.

Interstate highways are a great way to get somewhere fast, from one big city to another, state to state without all the small towns, stoplights, speed-traps, and tourist traps in-between. Mass transit on a grand scale, moving people and goods as efficiently as possible. It is the micro wave/fast food way of getting from point A to point B, thru to point Z.

There was a time when roads were curvy two-lane black tops, with neon signed motels along the way and those funky tourist attractions. Gas stations had service bays with a person who greeted you at the pump, checked your tires air, water and cleaned your wind-shield, all at no additional cost. Life seemed like it was simpler and we were young.

Popular things were; Drive-Ins, sock hops and hula hoops. Premarital sex was taboo ;-). Popular slang; square, chick, be bop, threads, keen, back seat bingo and cat (for a cool person). Cruising around in your car was very popular among the young. Celebrities were; Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, and Ricky Nelson to name a few.

Sure, there are a few great Highways left that are still operational that make for a fun Road-Trip. One is US Highway 281. Most of this road travels thru rural America and the small towns that have hung on since the advent of the Superhighways. You may not find a gas station attendant, but a sure bet is there are more stop signs and traffic lights. You will be traveling at a more leisurely pace on these back roads than the high-speed Interstate Highways.

Sometimes it is not the destination that is important, it is the journey. Savoring a sit-down meal with beverages compared to whisking through a fast food drive-thru. Do you recall a road-trip from your past? When was the last time you were inspired to take a road-trip? How about now? Willie Nelson said it best "On the road again, Goin' places that I've never been, Seein' things that I may never see again, Just can't wait to get on the road again".

Keep the speed on the down-low for the PoPo :-)

Roads are so much a part of our lives that they are a part of our cultural life as well. Here are a few movies inspired by the road in no particular order; It Happened One Night (1934). The Grapes of Wrath (1940). The Long, Long Trailer (1954). The Great Race (1965). Two-Lane Blacktop (1971). Vanishing Point (1971). Smokey and the Bandit (1977). The Cannonball Run (1981). Cannonball (1976). The Gumball Rally (1976). Honky Tonk Freeway (1981). National Lampoon's Vacation (1983). Lost in America (1985). Roadhouse 66 (1984). Highway 61 (1991). The Chase (1994). Coast to Coast (1980). Convoy (1978). The Wild One (1954). Easy Rider (1969). Eat My Dust (1976). From Dusk to Dawn (1996). I liked American Graffiti best for it's look at when Cruising and Drive-Ins were popular. Source: Many of the films listed here were located in Leonard Maltin's 1996 Movie & Video Guide.