It’s not altogether uncommon to hear a weary traveler – particularly…
It’s not uncommon to hear a weary traveler – particularly one advanced in years – criticize the present state of air travel. The cramped seating, the cardboard flavored meals, the dreary lounges. Nothing, they will tell you, compares to the bygone era of jetliners as they once knew. But it’s easy to forget that auto travel had a golden age as well: a time when a young and suddenly mobile nation reveled in its brand-new motor hotels, manicured camping areas, and welcoming roadside restaurants. The whole country was free game, as the prosperity of the post-war years and developments in engineering turned a previously sedentary population vacation-prone and ready to hit the road.
Today, relatively little of that gas-powered grandeur remains. After all, few people relish the idea of staying in a neglected motel or a run-down campground. However for the nostalgic, and the adventurous, there is still the Airstream. With a lineage dating back to the 1930s, the design took much of its inspiration from Lindbergh’s aircraft, The Spirit of St. Louis. Hawley Bowlus, the Airstream’s creator, had managed the construction of the famous plane, and wanted to bring the same slick, aerodynamic shape to the open road. The innovations were visually pleasing, but also practical, minimizing air resistance and improving efficiency.
The business expanded in the 1950s with the creation of the Interstate Highway System, and their eye catching trailers and motor coaches continue to be made to this day- although vintage Airstreams are increasingly hard to find, as symbols of an easier time, when our highways felt as new and unspoiled as the nation that was creating them.
