The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1957-09-27
SLOWER DRIVING OFFERS
MANY CONVERSATIONS

MANY CONVERSATIONS
I always thought Fall the best
time of the year to make a trip,
and in addition / now recommend
that it be made at a speed of not
more than as miles per hour. Sat
urday i had occasion to drive some
800 miles at similar speed and
it is amazing how many interest
ing things one sees when travel.
ing at leisurely gait.
/ drove from Manteo to Rich
mond at As miles per hour, and
from Richmond to Washington at
so m.p.h., the reason being the
breaking-in of new motor in an
old car. Travelling slower is a lot
less firing. One has a chance to
view things on both sides of the
roads. One doesn't find himself in
tight places due to the reckless
ness of other drivers.
1t was nice day, and the roll
ing lands of Old Virginia were
fascinating. There were miles of
pine-covered young forest unclut-
tered by advertising junk, on the
road halfway between Norfolk
and Richmond. Traffic was lighter
than usual on a week end. Views
were interesting across the fields.
There old stumps of chimneys
with gaping fireplaces left from
dismantled ancient houses. Hay
mows were in the fields, and there
were fat cattle, and rotund hogs,
and green pastures on which they
spread out. There were many
signs of development. Bypasses
are being built, new homes going
up; many subdivisions laid off.
The roadside diners advertised Old
Virginia Ham. Broad fields laden
with green soybeans stretched
forth. These fields were once red
with the blood Of southern men,
victims of the bitter venom of in
tolerance born in beam bloated
Boston, just as the same group
now would willingly slaughter the
south again.
Roads were good, and it was
nice to enter into the shade of
and the cooler moist air of the
valleys.
One can really cover ground
these days. l arrived in Washing
ton shortly before eight p.m., but
the heat made it an unhappy
town, and Il was. really glad to
get away. l found a swift taxicab
which got me to the airport,
where, getting aboard a plane at
the last minute before departure,
l reached Norfolk airport in less
than one hour. My stay in Wash
ington was about as brief as one
! made to New York several years
ago. On that trip I never saw a
street. Arriving into the Pennsyl-
vania station, / crossed town by
subway, went directly up in an
office building to see one man,
and after an hour, went down the
elevator to the subway, across
town again, aboard the train, and
back south.
/ suppose all of us have to get
old before we think much about
it, but my conclusion is that the
biggest trouble with this world is
that we are all going too fast. We
just don't have time to enjoy the
fine things of life. Because l could
get back quickly to Norfolk / did
so. l might have stayed over in
Washington and enjoyed visits
with friends. / could still have
come down Sunday by noon to
Norfolk where / caught the bus
for Manteo.
We often go fast only because
there is an opportunity, or we
think we have to do so. If the
whole world could slow a bit, we'd
find something more pleasant to
do. We have lost the enjoyment of
visiting, and we have missed the
delights that come from more ex-
tended stays in the smaller places
where there are really wholesome
and interesting ways to pass the
time.
noted that while travelling at
As miles per hour, all the big
trucks which are limited to this
speed by law, travelled at higher
speeds, usually so miles per hour.
Both trucks and buses get away