Highway column stirs the memories
A woman stopped me at the grocery store Sunday afternoonon on the aisle by the dill pickles. She wanted to tell me how much she enjoyed last week’s column on Highway 41.
A week ago today, I rolled down the landmark highway from its urban trek through Macon and Houston County along its rural route to Vienna. I had intended to drive to Cordele to get a watermelon on this sentimental journey but I had to get back to Macon for an appointment.
It was a timely column, since this week marks the 50th anniversary of when President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a law funding the U.S. Interstate Highway system.
I don’t hate interstates. I just consider them a necessary evil. As I stated in the column, there is a numbness to that kind of travel. The scenery rarely changes. As Charles Kuralt once said: "It makes it possible to go from coast to coast without seeing anything or meeting anybody. If the U.S. interests you, stay off the interstate."
I have had many comments from folks who said it stirred memories. One lady called me, crying over the phone. Her husband died a few years ago, and they used to travel U.S. 41 all the time. Others said they remember much of the scenery I described along that route. One said I passed her grandmother’s old house. Others remembered those summer fields of kudzu and roadside vegetable stands.
A man at my church related a story the late Joe Pruett used to tell. Pruett, who was in advertising in Macon, used to joke that growing up along Highway 41 near Cordele he and his friends used to sell sweet gum balls to Yankees and tell them they were porcupine eggs.
The lady in the grocery store said she particularly enjoyed the column because she and her husband had recently returned from a trip to Nova Scotia. He wanted to take the interstate the whole way. She preferred the back roads. So they did what it takes in any marriage – they compromised.
I hope to share other comments from readers later in the week.
A woman stopped me at the grocery store Sunday afternoonon on the aisle by the dill pickles. She wanted to tell me how much she enjoyed last week’s column on Highway 41.
A week ago today, I rolled down the landmark highway from its urban trek through Macon and Houston County along its rural route to Vienna. I had intended to drive to Cordele to get a watermelon on this sentimental journey but I had to get back to Macon for an appointment.
It was a timely column, since this week marks the 50th anniversary of when President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a law funding the U.S. Interstate Highway system.
I don’t hate interstates. I just consider them a necessary evil. As I stated in the column, there is a numbness to that kind of travel. The scenery rarely changes. As Charles Kuralt once said: "It makes it possible to go from coast to coast without seeing anything or meeting anybody. If the U.S. interests you, stay off the interstate."
I have had many comments from folks who said it stirred memories. One lady called me, crying over the phone. Her husband died a few years ago, and they used to travel U.S. 41 all the time. Others said they remember much of the scenery I described along that route. One said I passed her grandmother’s old house. Others remembered those summer fields of kudzu and roadside vegetable stands.
A man at my church related a story the late Joe Pruett used to tell. Pruett, who was in advertising in Macon, used to joke that growing up along Highway 41 near Cordele he and his friends used to sell sweet gum balls to Yankees and tell them they were porcupine eggs.
The lady in the grocery store said she particularly enjoyed the column because she and her husband had recently returned from a trip to Nova Scotia. He wanted to take the interstate the whole way. She preferred the back roads. So they did what it takes in any marriage – they compromised.
I hope to share other comments from readers later in the week.
posted by Ed Grisamore at 5:53 AM
1 Comments:
My inlaws took 41 from KY to FL for their honeymoon in November of 56. Grandma Sarah of the Mitcham family takes ONLY that route when she comes to Warner Robins from McDonough. I must admit, I only have taken it a time or two: when forced to detour due to a wreck and during the flood of 94 to a doctor's apointment when I was 7+ months pregnant!!
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