You are allowing your imagination to run away with yourself. I used to be from the Newark '55 -'66 Irvington '66-'77 and Catskills from '77 to now. If your question is in the county: when you are home check your tires, oil, and gas at home or at the gas station. Do this often and regularly. When you think of your traveling through the Pine Barrens toward Philly there is not much to see outside of pine forest. Once you get into the Midwest and look down from the aircraft you may see something that resembles X;s, O’s and Boxes. Those are not crop circles but surveyor’s marks. If you are far enough from regular service stations check your gps. Adjust your route accordingly.
Burma Shave. Reduced speed limits out in the middle of nowhere and a cop car or motorcycle that comes out of someplace hidden. Especially in the middle of the night.
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How did I survive my first 50 years? Driven through every state south and west of Pennsylvania except Oregon and Washington. No cellphone, cash gas pumps, through small towns and large.
I do miss Burma Shave signs and Mail Pouch tobacco signs painted on barns. Thing I miss most—Car Hops at a drive in.
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Agree we will never see those days again.
Have not seen a “See Rock City sign forever!”, or a Wahls? drug store, free ice water.
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Wall Drug, in Wall, SD.
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Forgot that one until you reminded me.
How about south of the border north in North Carolina you gotta stop an see Pedro.
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We have car hops at the A&W root beer stand.
We still have 3 drive ins burger joints in our city of 100k, no roller skates and no more drive in movies.
A&W and White Castle were my favorite chains. Long gone down in FL. Favorite non-chain (see my avatar) Porky’s on Lake Street in Minneapolis.
We now have Sonic, they have carhops, but just not the same as when you are 16.
I have wondered where that was as I have never seen it before.
Yep every thing seems to change as you get older and not always for the better.
There were two on Lake Street, the one we frequented was east of Sears, the west Porky’s was towards Lake Calhoun. I left Minneapolis in ‘69, I don’t know when they closed. I think the last one, in St Paul closed in the early 2000s.
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Yeah we always went to the one on Lyndale. Great malts. I have no idea when they closed and in the back of my mind I seem to think they tried to re-open one. I thought the one was on University though and not Lake St. Long time ago.
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The one on University in St Paul was the last one to close.
Aren’t they closing South of the Border?
If they haven’t already closed it, they should. That place has to be the biggest collection of crapalacious junk that I’ve ever seen.
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In South Carolina. That’s why they sell fireworks, it’s main claim to fame.
you’re not kidding…I was…underwhelmed to say the least the few times I stopped to use the bathrooms
I realize I’m late to this thread, but I thought I’d throw in my thoughts since we just drove part of Route 66. A lot of the old gas stations, diners, and motels are still there, some dilapidated, some restored, and some have become museums. Some of the Burma Shave signs were preserved too; there are several sets of them in Illinois. (The old road parallels I-55 for much of it, but not so close that they’d be visible from the interstate.) Two Guns is also still there; it was a roadside zoo and amusement park (in addition to a diner and service station), back when that sort of thing was unregulated. If you’re passing through and the least bit interested in history, you should stop at some of these places, especially the ones that were remade into museums.
I’m also reminded of a story my dad told me. After graduating from college in 1971, he and a friend drove from Montreal down the east cost to the Florida Keys, then back up the Gulf side to New Orleans, and back up through the Midwest. They broke down in Grenada, Mississippi, and pulled into a shop just as it was about to close, then headed out in search of a place to stay. I forget the details, but a Sheriff’s deputy picked them up, and upon confirming their story (it seems they were a bit suspicious of outsiders, particularly from up north and Canada), they brought them to a motel owned by a friend of the officer, and called him for a room. A little old lady who could barely hear answered, and moments later, the owner came barreling up and screeching to a halt in an old truck. It turned out his mother was the one who answered the phone, and she thought he said the place was on fire.
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