I'm old enough to remember sitting in our '55 Chevy and reading Burma Shave signs on family vacations: Don't loose your head - to gain a minute - you need your head - your brains are in it - BURMA-SHAVE!
I remember those great pecan pralines we'd get at Stucky's and the soon to be run-down motels we kids loved because they had a pool, ice machines and a bed that shook, rattled and rolled for a quarter!
Ah, the joys of a summer car vacation in the Midwest with no air conditioning and bored kids. What were my parents thinking? But the memories of these trips lingers with me to this day tugging away at a corner of my heart and mind.
I saw a Stucky's on one of my last trips so I pulled in to wallow in a little nostalgia. Gone was the road side cafe, replaced by a fast food style order/pick-up counter. The restaurant had been swallowed by a run of the mill tourist trap complete with pre-paid calling cards. Yeah, they still had pecan logs and the pralines, but they just didn't taste the same - not rich and creamy but gritty and too sweet.
The phrase you can't go home again scrolled through my brain as I tossed the remainder of the praline into the garbage and I wondered if some Phantom adult from the year 2050 would be walking out of a McDonald's of the future with a "Big Mac for your X-Box Rehydrat-N-Heat" thinking "Man, this thing just isn't what I remember - guess you can't go home again" just like I had in the year 2006.
Still, some of the Icons remain, a little changed, maybe soon to be run down, but still kickin' and handing out tiny portions of the past for those curious enough to see.
