Ponderings...

Two Lane Blacktop, what an awesome film! It is one of our faves but upon our most recent viewing I couldn't help but feel like I was looking back at Hwy 90 back in the 1970's. I remember so much of the route from Del Rio to San Antonio looking just like that. No Wal-Marts, just gas stations, diners, motels, some mom and pop stores and farm houses with a garage for a mechanic and lots of space in between.

I remember those old vending machines at the gas stations, the Coke machines especially with the rack for the empty, glass Coke bottles. I miss the old gas stations and the pumps. I caught the tail end of full service gas stations. There is now a furniture store sitting on what was the last full service station in Del Rio, TX. We'd get full service  in some small towns en route to San Antonio too.

Vintage vending machines are tres cool. Again, if I had the space I wouldn't mind owning a jukebox or a cigarette machine. We don't smoke but those cigarette machines remind me of real glamorous places like old steak houses decorated with heavy woods and dark reds. They remind me of those hotel lobbies with the gold trim, fancy public telephone areas and giant rubber plants and palms next to a fountain in the middle of the room.

There was a time when a cigarette machine and a plant seen behind a commercial glass door meant adults only or a cafeteria, so we'd wait for our mother's cue. If those doors opened and out leaked a heavy air scented with cologne, cigarette smoke and booze then it was definitely adults only. I loved that smell as a kid because it meant travel. These were bars in hotels and train stations in the 70's. My brother and I always checked out the vending machines, could mean candy, that yummy, salty chicken soup, ice cream, hot chocolate or maybe, if we were lucky, toys (only experienced at the San Antonio Zoo but our eyes were now wide open to that possibility and we remained forever hopeful). Because we were so attracted to vending machines and had walked into a bar thinking it was a Luby's once, the rule was to stay out of all vending machines behind glass doors. We obeyed.