Here's a typical 1962 GPS System for cars in that day. [View all]

[MineralMan]

Most of the Interstate Highway system still wasn't built, so the old highway numbers are still on the maps in this old road atlas. I found it on eBay, and bought it so I could trace some trips from that time and stimulate my memory. One of those trips was a family vacation from Southern California to the World's Fair in Seattle. No Interstate 5, back then, so we drove up Hwy 101 for the entire trip. I was 15 years old that Summer, and it was a long, two-week vacation in a 1959 Plymouth Savoy.

Sometimes, it's worth taking some time to look back on life in this country before everything started accelerating. We barely had a color TV in 1962. Gasoline was about 29 cents a gallon. There was much to see on that drive, mostly on two-lane highways that went through every town along the route. AM radio blaring in the car and not so much traffic on the road.

Looking back is a good thing. It helps with looking forward.