52 Ancestors Week 39: Road Trip

 From Amy Johnson Crow: The theme for Week 39 is "Road Trip." I love a good road trip! Have you ever taken an ancestral road trip? What did you discover? Maybe you have stories of an ancestor who took to the open road. Share the stories this week!

Ladies and gentlemen, Rascal Flatts!

  Road trips can be loads of fun because you get the chance to see just how large the country you live in really is. I've gone from New Hampshire to Virginia by car so many times that I've gotten a pretty good idea of what routes to take and what places to avoid. For example, you should never stop at the "Subways" in Pennsylvania. You ask for an Italian sub and they'll give you three pieces of salami and a bunch of lettuce for your trouble. I think that constitutes as a war crime. Sigh. Never again. Still, the route is amazing and you do get to see the purple mountains' majesty. 

    Of course my family and I have taken shorter road trips to places like Kennebunkport, Boston and Middlebury. Those don't really quite compare to the time my grandparents, my mother and four of her siblings went from Sacramento, California to Haverhill, Massachusetts and back! That's over three thousand miles!

You know I'd walk a thousand miles....

    The November of 1963 seems to be a fixed point in the history of the world because so many earth-shattering events occurred in just that one month alone! President John F Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. Doctor Who premiered in the United Kingdom. However, one event that month was probably one of the most important events in my family's timeline because it was the 50th wedding anniversary of my great-grandparents, Austin Felker and Henrietta Legault.

    Austin and Henrietta were married on November 29th, 1913 in the city of Haverhill and fifty years later they threw a massive party celebrating the event. Everyone was invited and my grandmother Natalie would never have missed it for the world! I suspect her siblings would never have let her live it down, either!

    In November of 1963, my grandfather Robert Hamel was stationed in Sacramento as part of his tour with the Air Force. He and his family had been there for two years at that point. My mother was a freshman in high school and her siblings were between the ages of two and twelve. Trust me when I say that they were a rowdy bunch! To this day I have no idea how my mother managed to wrangle them all. I suppose having two kids is a walk in the park compared to babysitting FIVE siblings. One more was added to the family in 1966.

    I think the road trip probably tested her resolve as she had to watch the kids and keep up with classes at the same time! My grandfather also wanted the family to see the country and planned two routes to take. Why not? It was as good a time as any for them to see the sights. They were supposed to camp in a random spot and head back out on the road in their compact Ford Falcon towing a trailer full of luggage for seven people and camping equipment. I never said it was COMFORTABLE!

My grandma, mom, Aunt Susan and Uncle Bob circa
1955.

    Overall, it took about a week to get from their home in California to Massachusetts and they were gone for about a month tops because of all the stops they took. They took one route to Haverhill and a different route back to Sacramento in order to maximize all the different sites they could see around the country. That's pretty efficient!

     My mother remembered one specific leg of the journey where they were going through Wyoming and they were caught in a pretty bad snowstorm! I think she remembered it because it was the only time my grandfather actually gave up camping overnight and settled on a motel somewhere. It was probably for the best. I wouldn't want to camp out in a snowstorm, either. I wonder if they put it to a vote. My mother probably voted with a resounding "YES!" Wyoming snowstorms are no joke.

    Snowstorms aside, they did get to see some historic sites like the famous Route 66! Now that "Cars" reference I made earlier makes sense, huh?

"Life could be a dream" intensifies.

    Route 66 is the famous route from Chicago, Illinois to Los Angeles California. It's famous for being one of the original highways that crisscrossed the continental United States and at the time of my grandparents' journey it was still operating!

    Can you imagine what they saw back then? At the time, Route 66 was known for many tourist destinations, motels and plenty of fun things to see. To list them all would probably make this blog run really long. I think this Wikipedia article would have to do. Check it out here!

   I really hope they saw places like some of the drive-ins. Imagine watching a movie while on the road. Then again what were they showing in the early 1960s? Well, aside from cheesy movies that would eventually be riffed by Joel/Mike and the bots on "MST3K".

  

    While Route 66 was probably the highlight of their adventure across the continental United States, they still needed to contend with a bunch of kids in the backseat. I'm sure my grandmother had tons of activities from them all to do. After all there were no screens to occupy their time. Still, can you imagine taking in the sights on their journey? It does sound like fun. Snowstorms aside!! They probably even have pictures somewhere. I'll have to locate them!

The Hamel clan circa 1969.

    The following year another road trip took place as my grandfather was transferred back to New England. The caravan was the same and they went on the same route that would lead them to their new home in Newburyport. 

    By then the historic Route 66 was in its waning days. Urban sprawl and new towns made large chunks of the highway obsolete. Times were definitely changing as the country plunged into the turbulent 1960s. My mother had transferred to Newburyport High school and the rest as they say is history. As for her siblings, I think they did alright because they all have fond memories of their amazing road trips!

   Traveling on the road can definitely heighten one's appreciation for the land they call home and growing up the road trips never really stopped for my family. I've been around New England a few times. My aunts Linda and Peggy have both competed in dog shows all around the country. Going out and seeing the world is something I highly recommend. It doesn't matter if you're crossing an entire continent or exploring another one. Go out there and see what adventures await you!

See ya next time!

Images of Google Earth are property of Google Earth.