Then and Now

Teresa and I took a trip to Montreal a couple of weeks ago and the trip took us up the Northway, Route 87 above Albany. We had the top down in the Mustang and as soon as I smelled the pine trees I was flooded with old memories. You see, when I was a teenager I had a girlfriend in Vermont and I went up there every weekend to see her. What struck me were the differences between then and now. At the risk of sounding like an old geezer, I’d like to reflect on the differences in travel over thirty-five years.

Then (1973) I had a ’67 Mustang, which had seen better days. Parts of it were held together with baling wire and electrical tape (I don’t think duct tape had yet made its debut), plus I carried a small tool kit with me in case something broke, or fell off the car. Now I had an ‘08 Mustang convertible that is still under warranty. Then I had two maps, you know, the kind that came from a gas station when they gave them away. One was of New York, the other of Vermont. Now I had a road atlas and a GPS. Bt the way, the GPS kicked out when we crossed into Canada and she kept telling me to get to the nearest road.

Then I had twenty bucks in my pocket, in 1973 you were a king if you had a full tank of gas and a crisp twenty-dollar bill. Gas was .39 a gallon and lunch was three bucks. A date cost under ten bucks, and that was a movie, dinner, and ice cream. Now I had three hundred dollars and three credit cards.

Back then when you got where you were going you called home person-to-person collect and asked for yourself. The folks at home refused the call since they knew you were safe. Now we each carried a cell phone.

Yep, life was simpler then. But as I reflected more I realized that there were some things I didn’t want to change. The new car has airbags, front and side, disc brakes, ABS, and gets better gas mileage. I also like the fact that I wasn’t listening to a tinny AM radio, or trying to get the 8-track player to work (remember when you needed to put a matchbook in with the tape to get it to play?). No, this time the I-pod was tapped into the stereo and I had two days worth of music at my fingertips.

I guess every generation thinks their time was the best of times. Maybe it was. Maybe the best of times is now.