Memories of Travel

     I can only remember traveling on a vaction once as a child.  In the early 60's, our car didn't have air-conditioning.  My brothers and I leaned out the opened windows, bounced around in the seat, whined and argued.   My dad's right arm became both a front-seat passenger restraint in case of a sudden stop and thrust of discipline to any child within reach.  Rest stops were hours apart.   Restrooms were dirty.   You couldn't count on passing an open gas station or even a sit-down restaurant.    There were few interstate highways.  Just bumpy two-lane roads with miles of fields and pastures.  No MacDonalds.  No DVD  or MP3 players for entertainment.  At points along the way, we could listen to a static-ridden, snowy AM radio station playing early pop or country/western music until it faded out of range. 

     So, it's understandable that my parents didn't enjoy traveling with three youngsters.  Work filled most of their lives, and recreation was a new concept.   Travel was a real luxury.  For the most part, we stayed pretty close to home and usually visited relatives "on the farm" to get away.  It wasn't all that bleak though.  The beach was right around the corner.   A short thirty-minute drive offered peace for my mom and  wonderful memories of sand and surf for everyone except my fair-skinned dad. 

     The one real vacation of my youth was a trip to Tweetsie Railroad and Grandfather Mountain.  Remember we lived at the coast.  It was a two-day trip to visit the mountains.  Luckily, my dad had a cousin in Burlington for a night's stopover.  She showed us around the town and took us to ride a train in the town's park before we headed out the next day.

     Most of the event is a blur, but two moments from the entire trip are planted firmly in my memory.  The first is a scene of the Indians boarding the train at Tweetsie met with the screams of my little brothers.  And the next is the horror on my mom's face as the boys headed for the cliff at Grandfather Mountain. 

     I understand why that was our only vacation.  From then on, we stayed close to home! 

    Today, travel is still a luxury.  I appreciate the cost and time sacrifice.  However, the contemporary path to discovery reaches out to us with comfort and convenience.  I hope to bridge my grandson's eagerness for thrills and entertainment with my desire to enrich his understanding of our state's cultural wealth.  Hopefully, he will write one day about the year he spent with Mimee and the trains!