[Descant]

Thanks Garysanfran and trfour for sharing these experiences. I don't have pictures but you bring back recollections of trips my wife and I made when I first joined the Navy. We were living at the lake, and my first duty was to report to Pensacola FL. Six months there, then three months each at Corpus Christi, TX, Newport, RI, Norfolk, VA, Pax River, MD and finally to Brunswick, ME for a few months before my squadron deployed overseas for 4 months. We had a 4x8 plywood trailer I had built based on a 1932 axle I scavenged from my folks barn. Harry Swinnerton in Center Harbor swapped me out some wire wheels so that I had two the same size instead of
mismatched, and at that time you could buy tires from Sears to fit antiques. We were in business. Everything we owned fit in there except the St. Bernard who filled up the back seat of our Mustang.
When I was in grade school we used to visit my grandparents in Hastings FL for a week, then go tourist for a week before flying back to Massachusetts. I remember driving (riding for me) from Hastings (near St. Augustine), to Sarasota. Mile after mile, hour after hour, it seemed, of orange groves. Like magic (pardon me) not many years later, the groves were gone replaced by monorails, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Tomorrowland. Around this time, I thought my wife was a little magical. She demonstrated once between Pensacola and Orlando. She whispered some magic words, and I turned into a motel.

OK OK. Groan. But the rest is true history.

Also, between Pensacola and Orlando. We were now based in Maine and my wife worked at a Volvo dealership. We were driving a brand new Volvo 164, top of the line, with Maine dealer plates. The speedometer cable broke, so we were using the tachometer to gauge speed. In 4th gear, 2500 rpm was 50 mph, 3500 was 70 mph. No problem, except we forgot to compensate for the electric overdrive which reduced 450 rpm. Oops. The state trooper who stopped us suggested we judge our speed by not quickly passing every other car on the road. I can imagine his thoughts. Two young kids in FL in a very expensive car with dealer plates going way fast. Instead of walking up to us, he opened his door and stood behind it and waved for us to get out. I expect my driver's license convinced him a ticket wouldn't go anywhere. It was a NH license, with a Maine address, and being in the Navy, I renewed it by mail, so it had a stamp on it that said "Valid without photo or signature". I think he liked the Navy ID card better and we were on our way, no longer in the passing lane.