Here is between another relic from the past, an old campground (Two Guns) between Williams and the Meteor Crater in Arizona.
It felt really strange to wander around the campground and see what was left of someone's dreams. I could almost feel the excitement and hope for the future that they must have felt when they opened, now replaced by the despair and desolation of failure. It was really sad, and the stormy weather only added to the feeling.
We wandered around, and could see the dying shade trees trying to hold on, gravel campsites becoming overgrown with weeds, rock-edged flowerbeds with weeds in them, the deserted swimming pool filling with dirt and leaves, the laundry, office and washrooms, all just deserted and not really vandalized much.
It kind of harkens a time when families would load up the station wagon and pull behind Air Streem and go off on family vacation to explore West. Maybe a boy with a cap gun and holster. Maybe a belt buckle and a red cowboy hat with a white leather string laced around the brim. A daughter that you may have never seen wearing anything else but a dress. Maybe she had sme old fashined dolls.
Mom and Dad's maybe like the ones in Christmas Story. Very real. Leaning over the back seat saying "Don't make me pull this car over!", but never having to get that far.
When did that stop? What happened? Was it the gas crunch in the 70's. Was it decreased emphasis on family and more on careers.
We drove out to California when I was 7. This was in 1986 but for me it may as well have been during the hay day of "Two Guns" pictured above. I didn't know the difference. I was little, we had an old station wagon. We would play in the cargo area as we drove down the road. We listened to one tap the entire way it seamed. Beach Boys, Summer in the City, If youre going to S.F.
We stopped at the Grand Canyon, Alcatraz, Disney Land and Hoover Dam. We stopped ate every state line and took a pic of all of up in front of the sign. We stayed at KOA's. This got me interested in wat the landscape is like around our country and made me more aware of geography.
Sure the cars on the road were different. The songs were slightly different, toys we took with us were different but everything else was the same. A family traveling in a wagon, camping, eating sandwiches on the side of the road and not at McD's.
I am anxious to share this with my daughter but it will definately be different for her than it was for me. No siblings to fight with or play with, we'll probably eat more fast food than sandwiches,.........
I will do my best to keep the Great American Family Vacation alive.
