Bursting the nostalgia bubble

My old friend Michael is an occasional companion when I take to the road. We took our first road trip together a few years ago along the abandoned National Road in Illinois, a trip I wrote about recently. Along the way he asked me why I explored the old roads. I replied that it lets me enjoy imagining a time when drivers took it slow and enjoyed the scenery and people they encountered, something I wished for but found elusive. I said I wished I could hear stories about driving the old roads. Michael said, “I’ll bet Paul Ford knows about this old road. He lives nearby. Want to meet him?”

Abandoned National Road

Of course I wanted to meet him! Anybody who’s ever worked in Terre Haute radio, as I have, knows Paul’s name. He built Terre Haute’s first FM radio station, WPFR, in 1962 and operated it through the early 1980s. Later, Paul started building a small network of Christian radio stations that he and his wife operate from their home on US 40 a few miles west of the Indiana state line and within sight of a strip of the old brick road. Michael volunteers at Paul’s stations.

Paul dropped everything and sat down with us in his radio studio, which filled his house’s front room. He was tickled to hear that I had worked for WBOW in Terre Haute because he had too, many years before. He told a ton of great radio stories, including getting his first radio job in high school, how hard it was to get advertisers on FM in the 1960s, and how he got to interview former President Truman in Indianapolis just after he left office by going to his hotel and asking. It was great talking with him.

Abandoned National Road

I asked him about the brick road. “Oh yes,” he said, shaking his head, “I used to drive on that when it was still US 40. That was about the time my wife and I got married, which was in 1949. It was a dangerous road. People would get behind a truck, and they’d get impatient as it’d go slowly up the hills. They’d look for a chance to pass, but there were so many curves, and the road was so narrow. Eventually, they’d lose their patience and pass even if it wasn’t safe. There were a lot of bad wrecks on that road.”

I was jarred by what he said. I thought I’d hear him talk glowingly of Sunday afternoon drives in the sunshine with his family, waving and smiling at people in oncoming cars, stopping at a farm stand for an apple. Instead, I felt the bubble of my idealizations burst. Pop.

As we drove away, I felt unsettled and wondered what made me enjoy following the old road so much if my nostalgic visions were false. But I started thinking of reasons pretty quickly. I enjoyed feeling connected to the National Road’s history, following a path that had been in use for 170 years. I also enjoyed seeing the road’s 1920s concrete-and-brick construction. I enjoyed knowing enough general road history to predict that the road probably wasn’t even striped at first – because there were so few cars, people often drove up the middle and moved right when another car approached!

Abandoned National Road

But times changed in the postwar prosperity years during which Paul drove this road. Roads everywhere became more crowded as more people bought cars – for a time, demand for cars outpaced Detroit’s ability to build them. Also, through the 1950s cars became faster and more powerful every year. The old roads’ hills and curves just weren’t engineered to handle so many cars going so fast. Paul’s memory of the road made perfect sense. US 40 was soon rebuilt straight and wide, and later I-70 was built nearby with four lanes and limited access. Drivers undoubtedly welcomed the new roads without looking back because they could drive much faster and more safely.

Reality certainly cast my nostalgia in the proper light. I realized that it represented something I very much want from life – a peaceful pace that lets me enjoy the journey. Even if the old roads never offered that to travelers in their day, I can see that they offer it to me now. On this trip, I got to spend most of the day with a longtime friend. We took it slow, averaging barely 20 miles an hour because of all our stops to explore. And I met someone interesting who taught me something new. Most of my old-road trips turn out this way. The very thing I imagined I missed, I can have today when I go out on the old road. Now that I know that, I will enjoy it much more.

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Comments

13 responses to “Bursting the nostalgia bubble”

  1. Todd Pack Avatar

    Nice piece, Jim. It ain’t cheap anymore, but there’s nothing better than getting in the car and driving out in the country.

    1. Jim Avatar

      Thanks Todd. I’ve decided to just suck up the cost and drive anyway. I’m planning on touring the National Road (essentially US 40) across Ohio pretty soon.

  2. kodakkerouacs Avatar

    That’s exactly what I’m searching for on the road. I want the slow pace and friendly faces, I want to feel connected to myself and to other travelers. It simply does not happen on the big roads, and maybe it never happened on the smaller roads, but it certainly happens now. Kindred spirits seem to flock to old roads and old establishments. You know, when you’re there, that the people you are surrounded with are after that same human touch. So you open up; you laugh and joke; you ask about their lives or discuss the history of a place. Historical roads are about more than just re-living the past, they have a community.
    And let’s be honest: they look so much cooler than today’s highways.
    -V

    1. Jim Avatar

      Isn’t it great that everyone driving the Interstates have left the old roads to us?

      1. Virginia Avatar
        Virginia

        Whenever I have a good chance, I much prefer the old roads. All roads lead to somewhere.

  3. Richard Scholl Avatar
    Richard Scholl

    Jim,
    There were always back roads. The roads that were the main roads at the time (e.g., US 40, 136, 421, 52. . . ) may have been busy and dangerous in the 1940s and 1950s as described, but the back roads then were much as they are now, except fewer were paved.
    Rick

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      My grandfather avoided the paved highways as much as he could when I was a kid in the 70s, so I do know those kinds of routes!

  4. John Strathern Avatar
    John Strathern

    Hi Jim, now just exploring your site. Enjoyable.

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      I’m happy you found it!

  5. Judith Johnson Avatar
    Judith Johnson

    We loved exploring the Smokey Mountains and eastern KY.
    Fantastic scenery to be seen. Another nice area is Wiesbaden and French lick, IN..

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      We went to French Lick last year – lovely area for sure.

  6. -Nate Avatar
    -Nate

    All roads lead to the same place, some just take longer to get there .

    I too love driving my oldies on remote forgotten Farm to Market roads .

    -Nate

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      You must be in Texas? The wrong FM road will make it take a LOT longer to get there!

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