US-6 THE LONGEST HIGHWAY - Day 2

Come with me on Roadtrip-'62's TM second day on US-6. We start with a whale-watching cruise and then immerse ourselves in Cape Cod's rich history. And along the way we pass hundreds of these great hydrangeas!

Then, stop back here at the top of this page each week to see what's new!

READY TO TRAVEL!

Hello, and welcome to ROADTRIP-'62 TM! My name is Don Milne and I'll be your travel guide on this virtual tour of the U. S. of A. First, I suppose you're wondering why ROADTRIP-'62 TM is different from other travel sites? There's a very simple answer: everybody else travels only in space, but we also travel in time! That's right, we don't just go somewhere, we also go somewhen. And the when is 1962. We'll try to see what's left today from 1962, by driving as if it were 1962. We will drive on highways as they were in 1962, try to eat only at restaurants that existed in 1962, try to stay only at motels that existed in 1962, try to buy gas and sundries, play the music, see only the roadtrip destinations across America, and just generally live in America as it was in 1962!

What we will do is enjoy the FUN of cross-country driving. And the fun of cross-country travel is all the differences from our everyday life! We'll talk about politics, food, great inventions, how people lived, movies, television, and more. We'll get to see some of the people that made our history; that made this country great. We'll stumble across unexpected pleasures, like one trip I made through Cherokee, North Carolina where I just happened to be in town as the 1996 Olympic Torch procession came through on it's way to Atlanta, Georgia. You really never know what you'll find when you travel, or here on ROADTRIP-'62 TM!

Of course we'll need a time machine to reach those roadtrip destinations, and ours is this beauty of a car! It's a 1962 Chevrolet Impala, lovingly restored to look and run like new. Why that car, I can hear you asking? Well, there's this great old TV commercial from the late 1950s with a great theme song, "See The USA In Your Chevrolet." In fact, a few years ago it was named one of the five best advertising jingles of the 20th century. So I just had to use a Chevy. I thought about a Corvette, because I've always loved the way they look, but then decided on the Impala because I remember watching them as a kid and loving the multiple tail lights. And besides, my late father-in-law owned a 1965 Impala that he kept restored into the 1990s, so that was just plain inspirational.

Now, let's see where we'll be going! We're going to drive the US-numbered routes of 1962. Because we'll be using the roads of 1962, that means we won't be on freeways very much. There weren't many freeways in 1962, as the country had just begun building the Interstate system, so we'll travel mostly the two-lanes through every little town on the way. Sometimes even where there was a freeway, I'll go back on the old road just to see what roadtrip destinations were there. Anyway, even if there was a freeway in 1962, it was only there for a couple of years and things had not changed much. Sometimes a "business route" ran through a town on the old route, because there were no services at the freeway interchanges yet. You can begin the journey at the start, or from any random point from the Archives page.

Just in case you're asking why 1962, it's because I remember 1962. I traveled on my first freeway as a boy with my dad about that time, and fell in love with both travel and freeways. But, besides my own memories and the fact that it was a time largely before interstate freeways, 1962 is just cool...wait and see! And I'm writing this virtual tour just because I like to drive. I like to go places, see things, and just drive for the joy of driving! I decided I want to talk about it, to share the fun with others. I'll be doing the driving on ROADTRIP-'62 TM , but if you see any roadtrip destinations you like, I encourage you to get out on the road and enjoy it in person. This virtual roadtrip may be fun, but there's nothing like the real thing!

Keeping with our format, these web pages are designed to have some of the look and feel of 1962 magazines. There was no internet back then, so you would likely have read a magazine to find travel information such as ROADTRIP-'62 TM . We're going to use older style typefaces, large pictures, and a larger ratio of text to graphics than you may be used to. Icons will be kept to a minimum, in favor of more text. Other than photos, colors will be rather simple blocks with little shading. This is what it looked like then, so prop your feet up, enjoy some iced tea or a beer in a tall pilsner glass, and enjoy the magazine.

Remember, you can find ALL the ROADTRIP-'62 TM articles listed conveniently on the Archives page. That will take you to all the great roadtrip destinations. And you can send me a Comment if you want: I'd love to hear from you.

And don't forget to click the button to add our RSS feed to your news reader.

Share Us!

More Fun Stuff:

Brought To You By...

Enjoy some great music from 1962 while you read, and then buy some to take home!

Please visit our sponsors, all of whom were open to serve you in 1962.

Books, Music, Movies & More at Booksamillion.com