My dream vehicle when I was a working journalist. -- Photo by Pat Bean
Travels With Maggie
“The everyday kindness of the back roads more than makes up for the acts of greed in the headlines.” Charles Kuralt
The first time I saw an “On the Road” television segment with Charles Kuralt, I knew that was the kind of journalist I wanted to be. I partially achieved that goal in my 37 years as a journalist with the stories I wrote about interesting upbeat people and aspects of a nature, along of course with my coverage of ditty-gritty city council and crime news.
I even got, albeit rarely, to go on the road to cover stories for my newspaper. But I never had the freedom to take it to his level – to travel cross-country in an RV and write only what pleased me.
Today, however, that’s exactly what I do. And it pleases me greatly to tell you about the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, outside of Detroit. It offers so much more than just the progression of the automobile down through the years.
Life used to move at a slower pace, and you can experience it at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. -- Photo by Pat Bean
One can wander through Thomas Edison’s Menlo Park Laboratory and imagine the excitement exuded when that first light bulb cast its glow. Or marvel at the dreams of fanciful flight Orville and Wilbur shared while working at their Wright Brothers Bicycle Shop. You can visit the home where Noah Webster wrote America’s first dictionary and walk through the first Ford Motor Home factory.
I almost wept when I viewed the sleek black Lincoln in which President John F. Kennedy lost his life in on that fateful November day in 1963. The vehicle represented a loss of innocence for my generation.
Thankfully, my tears, if I had shed them, would only have been of joy when I saw the next vehicle that moved me. It was the “On the Road” RV. If there is a heaven, and former free-spirited TV journalist happens to be looking down, I hope he realizes how much he inspired one lone female traveler.
Thank you Charles Kuralt for crystallizing my dreams.
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