Route 66

Santa Fe: Getting to Know The City Different

~ adriennecohen221 ~ 1 Comment

It has been more than a decade since I lived in Santa Fe. But it’s a city one cannot easily forget. In many ways, it’s a city that I will always miss. I fell in love with Santa Fe the first time I visited, about 1975, and I still cherish the years that I lived and worked there.  

Long described by both residents and visitors as “The City Different,” Santa Fe was known by its earliest inhabitants as “The Dancing Ground of the Sun.” Those of us who arrived to become new residents when it was still a relatively small town were attracted by its culture, its lifestyle, the spectacular sunsets, and the people. We were mesmerized by the changing seasons, the landscape, the diversity, and by city’s traditions and timeless quality. We hoped it would remain so forever.

But change is inevitable, and Santa Fe’s growth and growing popularity prompted many changes, some of them good and some not so well received. Over a span of nearly 20 years, the population grew by more than 20,000, with new residents from every state and many other countries. No longer was it a quaint New Mexico town with a predominantly Hispanic and Native American population. It became much more cosmopolitan, and more complex.

Prices increased, of course, not only for housing, but for all goods and services. New businesses opened, and new philosophies of growth, development, and government were born. Tourism thrived, and Santa Fe became an increasingly popular destination. Some “old-timers” feared then that Santa Fe would lose its appeal and become “not so different” from other prominent tourist destinations around the world.

Change and Growth Are Not Always Negative

Recently, my husband and I revisited Santa Fe. Our time was limited, but we made the most of the opportunity to see old friends, neighbors and business associates. We found, happily, that Santa Fe’s charm has not been diminished. The opposite is true.

Surprises still exist seemingly around every corner. Some of our favorite restaurants and old “haunts” have disappeared, but many are still there. New ones have opened and become popular, adding a new dimension. Annual celebrations and the festivals that we loved so much are still on the calendar — Summer’s Wine and Chile Festival, the traditional Spanish and Indian Markets, and the annual burning of Zozobra. This year marked the 72nd year of Spanish Market in July, and more than 1,000 artists from 200 tribes were featured at the 102nd Indian Market, held mid-August. But now, there are festivals and markets year round. The Holiday Folk Art Market complements summer’s International Folk Art Market, and popular Artists Markets are held near the Railyard Saturdays from May through December.

We found a large and lively market with fresh vegetables and crafts, much to our delight, when we visited, and our friends touted the appeal of new galleries, Meow Wolf, local pubs and breweries, and additional public art installations.

Historic buildings, parks, galleries, and art dominate the Santa Fe scene. New streets and highways make it easier to get around — and to get lost. We thought it would be easy to revisit our favorite places. Time and memory seem to have altered our perceptions. We found it difficult at times to even navigate to the addresses we once called home.

Santa Fe still proclaims itself The City Different and it remains unlike most other vacation destinations. There is a special vibe that’s difficult to resist, with much to see, do and learn in and around Santa Fe. Three historic travel routes converge in the city. It’s the end of the 900-mile Santa Fe Trail that began in Missouri and traversed the Great Plains, allowing goods and settlers to move westward. The pre-1937 Route 66 ran through Santa Fe on its path from Chicago to California, and the 1,600 mile route linking Mexico City, Spain’s colonial capital at the time, to its northern outpost at Santa Fe, was designated as an historic trail — El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro — by the U.S. National Park Service in 2000.

The city resonates with history, art that is sometimes quirky, and charm, and you’ll find wonderful food and a distinctive cultural experience no matter what time of year you visit the city.

What to Do in and Around Santa Fe

Whether you go to Santa Fe for two days or two weeks, there’s plenty to keep you busy.

Visit museums and art galleries, weekend markets, downtown shops and the stunning open-air Opera House just outside of town. Savor local food specialties. Talk with shopkeepers, artists, bartenders and street vendors. Purchase art and jewelry from galleries or directly from artist studios. Talk with the artists and artisans who sell their creations from the portal at the Palace of the Governors. Attend a service at the Cathedral, or step inside the 400-year-old San Miguel Chapel, known as “the oldest church.” Visit the Georgia O’Keefe Museum. Explore Santa Fe’s distinctive neighborhoods.

Stroll the Plaza and Canyon Road. Be awed by the imposing Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi and the impressive and mysterious staircase at Loretto Chapel. Have a drink or a meal at the sprawling Hotel La Fonda, which is conveniently located at one corner of the city’s downtown Plaza. Embrace the weather, the sights, the history, Pueblo and Territorial architecture, the scents of pinon or roasting chiles in season. Bask in the natural beauty of the site and breathe fresh mountain air.

Take the “white knuckle” drive up the winding road to the Ski Basin. Nearby Chimayo, Los Alamos, La Cienega, Las Vegas (yes, New Mexico), and Madrid are worth a day trip. See ancient pueblo cliff dwellings at Bandelier National Monument or go fishing at Cochiti Lake or along the Rio Chama. Hike the Sangre de Cristo or Jemez Mountains in the summer. Ski or snowmobile on mountain trails in the winter.

Learn about Santa Fe’s history, and visit a nearby Pueblo, especially if there’s a celebration or special ceremony scheduled. Most welcome visitors, but be respectful of their customs and regulations. Schedule a spa treatment or soak under the stars in a hot tub at 10,000 Waves. Sample street food or pub fare. Enjoy it all. Santa Fe is unique in any season.

Next week I’ll write more about where to stay, where to “play” and where and what to eat while in The City Different. Follow me to receive timely email notifications about future posts.

Getting to Santa Fe

Despite its popularity as a tourist destination, getting to Santa Fe, and getting around the city once you’re there, can be problematic. Public transportation is, for all practical purposes, non-existent. Unless you stay in the heart of the city, you will want a car.

You can fly into Santa Fe; there are direct flights from Houston, Denver, Phoenix, and Dallas. If you fly into Albuquerque, you can rent a car there — it’s an easy drive to Santa Fe and will take little more than an hour. There’s a train that runs between the cities, and it’s an interesting ride, but it’s better as an excursion than as a comfortable, reliable way to arrive in the city for vacation.

Finally, most tourism guides will warn you that lodging and meals are expensive in Santa Fe. And they can be. But more modest accommodations are available, including B&B’s or private “casitas,” and it can be worth the effort to search them out. Also, be sure to ask for dining recommendations from shopkeepers or guides. Savor delightful breakfast places and long-established local favorites for distinctive dishes and ethnic specialties. Learn what “Christmas” means when asked how you want your burritos served.

Santa Fe Today

Santa Fe has become a cosmopolitan city with an estimated 2024 population of just under 90,000, but its soul is still “small town,” rooted in the traditions of its more than 400-year history. It was originally established in 1610 as the capital of Nuevo Mexico, a province of New Spain. That was 13 years before Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts was settled by pilgrims who arrived on the Mayflower. Its history, however, began long before that.

Santa Fe boasts not only the oldest public building in the United States, the Palace of the Governors, but also the oldest community festival, first celebrated in 1712 to commemorate the Spanish reconquest of New Mexico in 1692. This year’s Fiesta de Santa Fe is scheduled August 31 through September 11. The city was built on the ruins of an earlier Indian Pueblo, and it’s not only the earliest European settlement west of the Mississippi but also the oldest state capital in the United States.

Want information about things to do in Santa Fe? Here are some specific suggestions, whether your interests are primarily arts and culture, outdoor activities, foodie experiences, or shopping. You might also want to order a copy of the Official Visitors Guide to help plan your trip. And when you’re in town, stop by TOURISM Santa Fe, located downtown at 201 W. Marcy St., for the best up-to-date information about local special events and exhibitions.

Once Upon a Frontier

~ adriennecohen221 ~ Leave a comment

In December 2023, Old West Magazine published a list of the “The Top 10 True Western Towns of 2024,” as it has annually for nearly two decades.

Cody, Wyoming, topped the list this year, but others include:

  • Miles City, Montana
  • Lubbock, Texas
  • Abilene, Kansas
  • The Dalles, Oregon
  • San Angelo, Texas
  • Deadwood, South Dakota
  • Tombstone, Arizona
  • Fort Smith, Arkansas, and
  • Prescott, Arizona

Some of these Old West towns have made repeated appearances on the magazine’s annual list. I have lived in several of these legendary locations — Santa Fe, NM, Fort Worth, TX, and Miles City, Montana. And I have visited many more.

Many towns across America claim to be throwbacks to earlier times, dripping with the romance and spirit of discovery that characterized a new and uncharted land.

Most have become thoroughly integrated with modern life. The best, however, retain and celebrate their history as towns on the frontier of a fresh and growing America. Their residents may no longer subscribe to the lively lifestyles of the past, but they are also unwilling to completely put the past behind them. I find that refreshing.

The West Lives On

Last month, I visited an Arkansas frontier town, Fort Smith, for the first time.

Fort Smith has also made True West’s list more than once, and its past may be more colorful than most. The facts testify to its importance on the edge of the American frontier.

Situated on the banks of the Arkansas River and just a bridge away from Oklahoma, Fort Smith is a small town by any standard, but its history is long and varied. It was where “the Hanging Judge” of Old West renown held court — 83 men were hanged on the orders of Judge Isaac Parker between 1873-1896, and reconstructed gallows now occupy a prominent position at Fort Smith’s National Historic Site. Displays are housed in a former military barracks and the city’s impressive historical museum occupies a one-time Army commissary.

The city’s Visitors Center is currently in a former brothel, Miss Laura’s Social Club, and tours of the restored house are offered to the public on a regular schedule. A modern Visitors Center, however, is slated to open in 2025.

Despite its status as the third most populous city in Arkansas, with approximately 90,000 residents, Fort Smith retains its small-town appeal. Its boundaries encircle an area of about 63 square miles, but its downtown core consists of only a few easily walkable blocks.

The city played a contested role in the Civil War and fell under the control of both the Confederacy and the Union at different times. Today a National Cemetery is located near the center of Fort Smith’s historic downtown district. Walking among the headstones is an eye-opening lesson in American history.

Building a New History

Present-day Fort Smith also has much to recommend it, not the least of which is the United States Marshals Museum that opened July 1, 2023, after a decade of planning. It occupies a dramatic riverbank site only a mile or so from the city’s historic downtown.

If, like me, most of what you know about U.S. marshals has been gleaned from television and movies, visiting this museum is akin to a refresher course in reality. The modern building at first seems a bit incongruous on the river, sandwiched between a bridge that leads to Oklahoma and an RV campground. One wonders initially what this architecturally stunning building, set starkly between large boulders and clumps of prairie grass, can be. Closer to the bank, a horse and rider seem to stand watch.

Upon approach, however, the steel and glass building morphs into a stylized star – the badge of the U.S. Marshal. A single American flag directs visitors to the building’s entrance.

The museum tells the story of a small band of legendary men and women charged since 1789 with “keeping the peace and carrying out justice” in the United States. And it tells that story in an unparalleled way.

The Trail of Tears

Also in Fort Smith, there is a viewing platform on the river, not far from the city’s modern convention center, that marks the spot where the trail ended for native tribes who were forcibly removed from their lands east of the Mississippi. Although there were several routes to the designated “Indian Lands” in the West, the years-long relocation of thousands of indigenous tribal members is known as the “Trail of Tears.”

For some, that trail ended at Fort Smith. Indian Territory lay just across the Arkansas River, in what was to become Oklahoma. Last year, I stood near the bank of the Mississippi River not far from St. Louis, at a point where a marker now designates a beginning point of the Trail of Tears. Seeing both the beginning and end of that trail was a sobering experience.

My recent travels have opened my mind to the variety and wealth of Arkansas history, and to the reasons for its nickname as the Natural State. One need not travel far afield to learn more about this unique region.

The City That Holds My Heart

Old West towns beckon to me. To this day, each retains a kind of defiant swagger that sets it apart from other historic American cities, and each one has a distinctive mystique.

Some years of my early childhood were spent in Miles City, along with many summer vacations to visit grandparents. Miles City was then, and in some ways still remains a quintessential frontier town. Founded in 1877, the year after the Battle of the Little Big Horn, it was adjacent to Fort Keogh, at the confluence of the Powder and Yellowstone Rivers in eastern Montana. The fort’s reason for being was as a military outpost to urge local tribes — the Lakota and Crow — to resettle on the state’s designated reservations.

As an active military installation, the fort had a storied history up to and including World War II. Miles City in its early days supplied liquor and services for the troops. Allow your imagination free rein; Miles City began life as a rowdy town.

The fort was deactivated in 1924 to become an agricultural research station. Miles City was an early railroad hub, with both the Milwaukee Road and the Great Northern Railway running through the town. And, for decades, motorists on both U.S. Highways 10 and 12 passed through Miles City. But in the latter part of the 20th Century, Interstate 90 and its I94 spur from Billings to North Dakota were constructed. The interstate bypassed Miles City, and it fell into decline as passenger train travel also diminished. The city’s airport had insufficient runway to handle jets, and most reasons for visiting disappeared.

However, to this day, Miles City clings to the pride that perpetuates its rowdy past. Some of that raucous past manifests each spring, during the third full weekend of May, at the legendary Bucking Horse Festival, held since 1951. The weekend celebration is a spirited event that includes horse races, rodeo events, and visits to Miles City’s throwback saloons. It is grounded in the history of the military and westward expansion, and characterized by high spirits and daring antics by contemporary cowboys. It is still a primary source of rodeo stock for the entire country and the annual rodeo and sale is one of those American “folk festivals” that one really must experience in person to believe.

More West to Explore

In just a few days, I will embark on another journey that will take me through several Old West towns in Kansas on the way to a week of R&R at a mountain cabin in Estes Park, CO. 

Kansas is another state with a rich frontier history, and I look forward to exploring a bit more on this quick journey west, visiting Fort Scott, Wichita, and Dodge City along the way. On this road trip, my husband and I will drive a few miles along Route 66 in eastern Kansas, and then return to the past further west as we follow part of what was once the Santa Fe Trail. I wrote before about Kansas in 2022 when I visited several of the small towns in the southeastern corner of the state that we will pass through again on our way west.

On the way back to Arkansas, we plan to revisit Santa Fe, which we called home for nearly two decades, then will see friends in Lubbock and the Dallas/Fort Worth area before returning home. My plan is to return and write more about these legendary Old West towns that are now redefining themselves as unique places in the modern world.

I hope you’ll join me as I continue to travel and find interesting and unusual places to visit. I urge you to venture out on your own as you have time — to your state’s parks, historic sites, regional festivals and the many small towns, lakes, streams, mountains or shores that surround you, wherever you may live.

Where dreams and reality meet . . .

~ adriennecohen221 ~ Leave a comment

I must confess that the 1962 red Corvette convertible I once owned spawned dreams of taking the ultimate Route 66 road trip. The car didn’t come into my life until years after the TV show ended, but both were classics. And, as they say, old dreams die hard. Sadly, that car and I shared memorable times on other highways and byways, but the cruise along Route 66 never happened. The Corvette was a part of my automotive “stable” for about 15 years, and I fondly remember that first sports car.

I later learned, to my disappointment, that the car used in the television show wasn’t even red. Even so, it was easy to fall into the rhythm and excitement of traveling along the Mother Road, on a press trip in September with fellow travel journalists.

Route 66 was just about 2,450 miles long. It began in Chicago and meandered through eight states on its way to Los Angeles. Only 13 miles were in Kansas, but much of the original Kansas highway remains. What was America’s “first superhighway” opened in 1926 between Illinois and California, and it became a primary “escape route” for those who fled middle America during the Dust Bowl days. It was, at the same time, a symbol of opportunity and the sign of a country that changed rapidly following the war years.

The Way It Was

One can still drive across the last surviving Marsh Bridge over Brush Creek, one of three concrete and steel rainbow bridges that once traversed Kansas creeks along Route 66. The bridge now is on a loop road off the thoroughfare, and it’s a favorite destination for photos, picnics, and an occasional wedding. The Route was officially “decommissioned” only in 1985, and it is no longer the highway of choice for modern travelers, other than those who are seduced by its history and its television fame.

Kansas, at least this portion of it, hasn’t changed much visibly over the past several decades, but its people have. Modern highways move vehicles and people faster and more efficiently, but traveling the short stretch of Route 66 is definitely more fun! It’s clear that this section of the historic highway still does what it was designed to do — it “connects the main streets of rural and urban America.” The best part? There are ample opportunities to pull off the road and explore Kansas communities!

Nostalgic reminders of a very different past are evident along the way. History comes alive when the Route 66 signs appear.

Nelson’s Old Riverton Store has been in continuous operation since 1925. Today, it looks much as it did then, and operates similarly, welcoming locals and tourists alike. It’s worth a visit – try a beet-juice pickled egg or purchase kitchy Route 66 magnets, ball caps, license plates and t-shirts. Why? Just because!

Locals still come to buy a loaf of bread or a can of beans, grab a soda and a sandwich, or just while away the time with friends. It’s that kind of place. It appears to be decades ago that any repairs were made to the building. Wildflowers grow up along the fence line and hanging baskets add color to the scene. Shopkeepers are welcoming and only too willing to share stories with visitors. It’s like stepping back in time.

It’s impossible to escape the influence of the Route in this part of Kansas.

Cars on the Route

Fans of Disney’s “Cars” are in for a treat at Cars on the Route in Galena. Visit the old Kan-O-Tex station and get up close to the rusty boom truck that was the inspiration for Tow Mater in the movie.

Walk down a dusty stretch of road and around a corner to enjoy a sack lunch at rustic picnic tables in the shade of a ramshackle lean-to. Snap some shots of the quirky old photo boards before moving on.

Other attractions in Galena include outdoor art and murals, a Texaco station turned curio shop on Main Street, complete with pumps set to recall the low gas prices of the time. There’s also a rusty old “jail” near the city’s square that provides an irresistible photo op!

We broke for lunch at Bricks & Brews in Baxter Springs, and what a treat that was, with a menu to satisfy any palate and attentive service accompanied by big smiles. We also stopped for an all-too-brief visit at the Baxter Springs Heritage Center and Museum. We had only limited time to spend, but it is a treasure trove of information about the town, the history of Cherokee County and southeast Kansas, the Civil War, and Route 66.

Nature and More

We pushed on to the Southeast Kansas Nature Center/Schermerhorn Park, near Galena. Admission is free, and the hilltop site acts like a magnet for anyone interested in visiting the 32-acre Shoal Creek Wildlife Area. There are wooded hills, streams, and caves to explore; dedicated anglers can even drop lines along a ¼-mile stretch of the creek. Indoor exhibits include live snakes, exploration drawers, plant, animal, and history exhibits, educational films, and the attention of a knowledgeable curator/guide. A bonus was a squirrel that visited the feeding station just outside the one-way glass!     

Add in a visit to Big Brutus, standing tall and proud at an old coal mining site on the Kansas prairie, and we were ready to sample Kansas comfort food — fried chicken with all the fixins at not one, but two, local restaurants with long histories in Pittsburg, Kansas.

I’ll fill you in on the food — and there was lots of it — next time. Our group sampled both downhome dishes — some with a new twist — and culinary delights for sophisticated palates.

Planning a road trip to this part of Kansas from the neighboring states of Missouri, Oklahoma, and Arkansas, or from farther afield, is easy. It seems appropriate to leave the Interstates behind and enjoy the miles of farmland punctuated by picture-postcard views of old barns, fields filled with growing crops that stretch towards the sun, and animals lazily passing the time doing what farm animals do. The route stretches on with gentle curves; small towns are not far apart and each promises a unique and unusual experience.

Be sure to request your Kansas map and state travel guides in advance of a road trip to Kansas. Knowing where you’re going and what there is to see makes a driving trip so much better!

Full Disclosure: This trip was sponsored by Kansas Tourism, and the itinerary was prearranged. But the impressions are mine alone. I want to return, and it’s an easy road trip from my home base in Arkansas. I’ll be writing more about Kansas as well as about other travel to new destinations abroad in 2023. Subscribe to my blog here, or follow me on Facebook and Instagram.

The Lowell Milken Center: Recognizing Unsung Heroes

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The Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes occupies one of the newer buildings in Fort Scott, Kansas, situated across the street from its original location. Several century-old historic buildings in downtown Fort Scott, Kansas, were destroyed by fire in 2005 and have since been rebuilt. An adjacent outdoor park opened earlier this year and is a contemporary urban delight. The downtown still retains its former character, with traditional brick buildings and brick-paved streets, but the city’s history is being written with renewed vigor.

Stories told at the Center are larger than life, brought to life in a way that is truly remarkable. The history of the Milken Center is as awe-inspiring as the lives of the featured heroes. Visitors are introduced to real people who lived seemingly ordinary lives, playing largely unknown and unrecognized roles in history. Their stories have been uncovered, researched, and retold by students, through art and drama, photographs and videos, essays and interactive displays. Their truths are as thought-provoking as they are disturbing. The history of the Milken Center is as awe-inspiring as the lives of the featured heroes.

In 1999, Norm Conard was a social studies teacher at Uniontown High School in rural Kansas. He had given his class a History Day assignment. One of his student teams learned of Irena Sendler, a Polish Catholic social worker who was instrumental in rescuing children from the Warsaw Ghetto during World War II. She buried the names of rescued children in milk jars hidden under a tree. It was, and still is, quite a story. Read a more detailed account here. The students found that Sendler was alive and living still in Poland. In 2001, Conard accompanied a group of students to Poland to meet with her. Several other trips followed, until she passed away in 2007. The student-written play about her deeds, “Life in a Jar,” has been performed more than 350 times, and it continues to be be staged in the U.S and Europe.

During his tenure at Uniontown High School, Conard’s students created more than 85 projects, telling the stories of other common people who performed uncommon acts. Those stories are now the focus and backbone of the Center for Unsung Heroes. New heroes continue to be identified by groups of students — from fourth grade through high school — who have been inspired to dig deep into history and to move far beyond the obvious.

Today, Norm Conard serves as chief executive officer of the Center and is also the director of the Life in a Jar Foundation. It was, after all, his classroom motto for the History Day project in 1999 that gave birth to the idea. That motto? “He who changes one person, changes the world entire.” The Lowell Milken Center was founded with the goal of creating ripples of influence that will engage even more educators and students in an effort to change the world. Megan Felt, one of the students who first identified Irena Sendler, is the center’s program director.

Plan to spend longer than you may originally intend at the Milken Center. It is no ordinary museum. It’s a place to discover the true meaning of heroes in a time when that word is often overused. It’s mesmerizing and unforgettable.

But the Milken Center isn’t the only reason to visit Fort Scott.

Before Kansas was even a territory, Fort Scott was a military outpost. It was established on the frontier in 1842 but the Army abandoned the garrison in 1853. The city was chartered in 1860, one year before Kansas became a state. Today, it’s the only such town to survive. Its military cemetery, one of 12 originally designated by President Abraham Lincoln, is listed as U.S. National Cemetery #1.

Our group spent that first night in Kansas at the Courtland Hotel and Day Spa. Situated in a building that dates to 1906, it was once a bustling laundry with a boarding house on its upper level. Proprietor Frank Adamson, a Fort Scott native, is only too happy

to offer insights into city history! He and his wife, a massage therapist, purchased the building as a location for her to open a day spa. They remodeled a portion of the main floor for the spa, with refurbished guest rooms on the second floor. Today, each room in the hotel is distinctive, filled with antiques and period decor to complement the architecture and honor the building’s history. A main floor lobby, office area and dining room retain the period charm of the past, and serve as a gathering spot where Adamson regales guests with stories of Fort Scott’s past.

A center of pre-Civil War turmoil between slavery proponents in nearby Missouri and local anti-slavery forces, this part of of the state was known as “Bleeding Kansas” until the end of the Civil War, even though Kansas entered the union as a free state in late January 1861, before the war began. As the U.S. Army’s district Headquarters, Fort Scott was a quartermaster supply depot, training center, and recruitment station.

At one time, it was a noted frontier city, one of the largest in eastern Kansas, and it rivaled Kansas City as a railroad center. All that now remains of that time is the original, restored Old Fort building, now relocated to the town square. But the stories that date to those times are fascinating, and visiting Fort Scott is like stepping back in time to a simpler era. Brick-paved streets, sturdy brick buildings, and stately period lamp posts reflect its history, but its people have their sights set on the future, and they’re doing their best to integrate the two.

We left Fort Scott and headed for Route 66 — The Mother Road. Only 13 miles of the unique highway traversed a corner of the state, but it’s impossible to escape the influence of the Route in this part of Kansas. Come along next Wednesday as we recreate a legendary road trip. We had great fun along the way and discovered more unique attractions in Southeast Kansas!

Along the road: The giggles are gone

~ adriennecohen221 ~ 1 Comment

The road goes on foreverIt’s hard to know just what will trigger a long-forgotten memory; it’s harder still to know just where that memory will lead. A small piece in last Sunday’s paper mentioned that the Highway Beautification Act was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson on October 22 — 50 years ago. Of course, here in Texas we all credit Lady Bird Johnson with the impressive expanses of bluebonnets and wildflowers along our highways. That’s all good.

But highway beautification as a national mandate — Wow, I missed that one, I guess, in my youth. Actually, now that I think about it, I was living in Europe at the time — billboard proliferation along American highways was not something I concerned myself with then. But, on Sunday, that little news story suddenly brought back the memory of red and white Burma-Shave signs — and the realization that the act signed into law that long ago October day most likely spelled the end of a long tradition. Those clever advertising messages sometimes contained important messages; they certainly prompted adult smiles and kept young minds occupied for almost 40 years.

The 1965 Outdoor Advertising Control Program did not actually mandate the removal of signs, and it really didn’t force states to control those massive billboards. It was designed to discourage excessive signage along the Interstates, and stipulated that development funds could be withheld for non-compliance by the states. In that way, it was effective. And the Interstate highway system soon supplanted most of the older highways.

You had to be there: Missing one of the signs could sometimes be the cause of tears; more often, an attempt to fill in the missing word or phrase spawned uncontrollable giggles. It was, for generations of kids, one of the few fun things about road trips — often long, hot, dusty treks along not-so-good highways. Towns in most of this United States at that time were far apart, usually small, and boasted no readily available “fast food.” Gas station and rest room stops were the result of advance planning, for the most part.

Summer or winter, travel could be iffy — heat, cold, mechanical problems, flat tires, boredom, seemingly endless stretches of blacktop. Radio station signals made news and music unreliable across vast distances. But the signs — oh, those signs! We all looked forward to them. The “game” became who spotted the first sign first. Then, everyone “won” as the message was revealed across the miles. At the height of their campaign, Burma-Shave had 7,000 signs in all but four of the Lower 48 states.

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Yes, the occasional giant billboard may have ruined the view, distracted drivers and “polluted” the landscape. But, Burma-Shave signs? Although I haven’t thought about them for decades, I miss them. I’m also sorry  I  couldn’t play the game with my own child; I have trouble even explaining the concept to my grandchildren. But, then, today we travel on smoother Interstate highways — and the kids are plugged in to their own virtual world of movies, music or audio books.

The times have changed — but, the “road goes on forever.” I’ll just spend the rest of the day humming that tune and laughing about those verses! There’s currently a new interest in Route 66 and its associated memorabilia. Sadly, though, Burma-Shave signs seem to have disappeared forever.

Some of them were totally about the shaving cream. In 1932:

You’ll love your wife

You’ll love her paw

You’ll even love

Your mother-in-law

If you use

Burma-Shave

Others were just plain clever! From 1945:

‘Twould be

More fun

To go by air

If we could put

These signs up there

Burma-Shave

Sometimes they had important messages. Here’s a good one from 1949:

When frisky

with whiskey

Don’t drive

‘Cause it’s

Risky

Burma-Shave

Another:

Ashes to Ashes

Forests to Dust

Keep Minnesota Green

Or we’ll ‘

All go Bust

Burma-Shave

They could also be a little risque. This one’s from 1959:

Baby your skin

Keep it fitter

Or “baby”

Will get

Another sitter

Burma-Shave

You can read more of the iconic road-sign jingles, indexed by year at Burma-Shave.org.