On The Road Again

 

Illinois Countryside mid 1970s

Okay, so I've been sort of a prisoner in this house now for five months. Before that, before the virus lockdown, I was in a semi-lockdown because Mark is in no condition to go traipsing around. I simply couldn't leave him alone for long. I now find myself dreaming of my young days when road trips were a thing for me. Fifty one years ago my two cousins and I took the Route Sixty Six road trip to Los Angeles. It was the first time I ever traveled west of Saint Louis, and it was exciting to see mountains for the first time in my life. The problem with that trip and all the road trips that followed, were time constraints. I had to return home to go to work, or I had a destination I needed to get to within a certain amount of time.

The other day I scanned a bunch of photos into my computer from my oldest photo album. Among those photos were some I took when I was a delivery man for I. Sachs Leather and Shoe Findings. My deliveries took my all around Illinois, and now when I look at those old photos I wonder why I didn't get a good camera and take a hell of a lot more.

I know this period of my life, being confined to the house most of the time, will eventually be over with. I will be set free one day, and on that day I will go on a road trip, bad eyesight and all. I will go traveling around with no plan. I will avoid interstate highways, tollways, and areas clogged with tourists. My only worry is that the window of opportunity is going to close at some point in the not too distant future. After all, they took Mom's drivers license away when she turned ninety years old. For me that's only twenty years from now. We'll see. Maybe I can push it a little further. Like until I turn ninety five. Even longer if I do it without a drivers license.

Illinois Cows 1976

Illinois church on a country road 1976

Old house and gas station somewhere in Illinois 1976