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By Tom Boggs

Traveling east on Highway 80 out of Demopolis the other day, I looked over to my right at the vacated old highway, which looked like nothing much more than a pig trail, but that little two lane road was an important route from coast to coast, passing through every little town as it went.

I zipped up to Birmingham the other day, and got back before noon.  Not many moons ago that was a major trip on two lane roads, including having to traverse straight through downtown Tuscaloosa, through the campus, and finally through all those traffic lights in Bessemer.  

But you know what?  Back yonder in the 40s and 50s, and up into the 60s abit, you’d get to see some of the folks living in the United States as you motored along through small towns with maybe no red lights atall, and you’d see farming folks in fields beside the road, or coming into town for provisions.  You could stop in the middle of any town, and run into the local drugstore to get an aspirin or a milkshake without having to figure out where the exit off the road was or where the drugstore was located. 

Motels right there on the side of the road as you traveled, and even though most did not have air conditioners or Televisions, they only cost about ten bucks a night.  Any of y’all left on top of the ground who remember those Indian Tepee motel units going into Birmingham?

Hey, what about the mode of transportation? The granddaddy of the modern sport utility vehicle folks are buying today would be the 1946 Chevrolet Suburban.  In 1955 I remember the big Nomad, along with that sleek lined Ford Crown Victoria, and that rip roaring V8 Oldsmobile Super 88.  You talking about an elegant landmark of American automotive design:  that would be the 1957 Studebaker Golden Hawk.  It looked like a daggum bullet shotting down the road, but you know I still get the tingles remembering that high finned 1957 Chevy.   Two tone green with overdrive.

How could I forget that Pontiac daddy had when I got my license?  The one with the lit up Indian head on the front, so everybody could recognize us Linden boys when we rode into Demopolis on a Saturday night, or else we’d be in Jerry Kirkham’s daddy’s pink DeSoto, which Jerry drove from Demopolis to Linden one late summer’s night in seven minutes flat, and we all lived to tell about it. Glad the statute of limitations has expired on that speeding ticket.

I was just thinking about sitting around listening to my Ma and some of her cousins talking about stuff, and one of the cousins, who loved a joke,  laughed as she told about seeing folks sitting on their porch as she drove by in a strange area.  She’d slow down, throw her hand out the car window, and holler out, “Hey, we’ll be back for supper!”  She said she always wondered  how many of those ladies sitting on the porch swing really got up to be sure they had plenty of food for company that night.

Well, when you’re traveling about, even these days, and you see folks on their porch, don’t forget to wave.  They’re liable to wave right back to you as everybody used to do….and , shucks, they might even be prepared to have you for supper. 

Tom Boggs is a columnist for the Demopolis Times and a native of Marengo County. His column, “Days Gone Bye,” appears weekly.