| As a kid, Laurel Kane saw new and fascinating worlds from the back seat of a 1951 Plymouth, not the least of which were the motels along the route. Her childhood was spent drawing motor courts and swimming pools, and her adult life has revolved around that most iconic of American motorways, Route 66. Now she has collected over 5,000 vintage postcards of motels along this "mother road," and these images are scattered throughout her site. Not only do postcards bring the pleasures of travel home, but collectors also enjoy the voyeurism of reading what's on the back. Recent road trips took Kane to the very motels pictured on her postcards, catching them in the act of living or dying. She's even renovating a 1930s gas station on Route 66 in Afton, Oklahoma. Her husband collects vintage Packards, which they plan to display at the station. While not everyone can preserve history like Kane, we can take her advice and stay in an old motel on our travels. It's saving a piece of Americana, one night at a time. |
# posted by SV @ 12/03/2003 06:49:00 AM