Summer

Summer affords us the opportunity to take the off ramp onto perhaps less traveled highways. The leisure of slowing down and enjoying the scents of new mown hay, or hickory smoke drifting from the chimneys of local meat houses. You can stop and stroll through towns that have not changed since the interstate highway bypassed them years ago. Sample an authentic "home cooked" mean at the local diner, or pull over along a deserted stretch of highway and imagine the hum of millions of wheels that have passed this way before you.

When the smaller towns were bypassed by the interstate system, many businesses and even entire towns closed. Although many of these properties have deteriorated and even been removed, others have been restored, at the very least, maintained.

The season of "summer" always meant family vacations, camping, and travel to places we did not experience on a daily basis…