Rolling on through those Triple Digits

 

Southwest Roadscape

Southwest Roadscape

In some ways, a twenty-first century road trip is more a “beam me up, Scotty” experience than a “head ‘em up, move ‘em out” sort of ordeal.  I’m talking air conditioning, cruise control, books-on-cds, etc. here.  All those ‘creature comforts’ that we’ve incorporated into modern car travel that make the miles fly by in relative comfort.

As we rolled through Arizona yesterday and we watched the “outside temperatures” soar into the triple digits, I thought about those days of my childhood when the radiator would overheat, the tires would go flat and traveling in summer was always as much ordeal as pleasure.  It was when “horses sweat, men perspire, women glow” were words to live by. (Well, maybe not the horse part so much.)  Road trips were definitely Adventures with a capital ‘A.’I

On Our Dashboard

On Our Dashboard

have memories of interminable roadside construction delays, of driving with all windows open despite having to breathe the dust stirred up from miles of unpaved, graveled roads, and of carrying extra water and two spare tires against the inevitable breakdowns of one sort or another.  Getting ‘roadside assistance’ was a matter of waiting for a kindly motorist to stop or maybe even leaving the carat the side of the road and hitching a ride to the nearest service station. No cell phones.  No rest stops.  No radio reception.  Road trips were hard work.

Our Santa Fe, New Mexico to Hurricane, Utah leg yesterday was really a piece of cake.  The 570 miles sped by as we listened to one of the Charles Todd “Bess Crawford mysteries and enjoyed the view from our 65° cocoon.  Outside temperature: 107!  Really?

A Perfect Ending to a Day of Travel!

A Perfect Ending to a Day of Travel!

“But it’s a dry heat,” everyone says, apologetically.

“Doesn’t really matter.  We’re enjoying it all,” is our response.  Especially when compared to what we remember from ‘the olden days’ of travel!

One Response to “Rolling on through those Triple Digits”

  1. Stephanie Frieze says:

    When Dave’s Honda hybrid was new, Amy and I drove from Gig Harbor to Prescott, Arizona to bring Dave home from FAA training–actually Lockheed. I chose a lonely route between Boise and Las Vegas that I would not have temperated with another car. My Boise cousins thought I was crazy. We went for miles and miles without seeing a creature or dwelling. Signs said to report fires. How? There were no phone booths or cell service. Thank goodness for a concrete block privy. I was glad to roll into Las Vegas even it 8th was 116!

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