More practice at posting via phone, because my laptop is dead: Another photo close to the Oregon Trail. It pleases me that this part of history actually has an effect on me. And perhaps that makes sense for a dispersed camper and mountain biker.
But other parts of history also seemed interesting to me, but perhaps unimpressive to other people? For instance, the little dog and I were mountain biking on a rather straight dirt road, and found this old wooden bridge:
It was quite a bridge in its day, say, two generations later than the Oregon Trail itself. Perhaps it shouldn't have surprised me so much; after all, the name of the dirt road was 'Old Post Road.'
The area had one more pleasant surprise for me, one more manifestation of the 'old historic road' idea: I ended up camping near a mile of 'old highway', shown below.
I was surprised by the yellow paint. This old highway lapsed into non-use after World War II perhaps.
How can we explain the appeal of such visually unimpressive artefacts to some travelers? When we see the remains of another Age, we are reminded of how quickly our own age is melting away. At first this sounds depressing. But actually there is a consolation in connecting with the general course of human events, and in not seeing the Here & Now or your own puny existence as the center of the universe.
Comments
Spending way too much time on screwtube, I've come to find a lot of people who discover old photos/maps/artifacts of past civilizations. While it is interesting to get their take on things, it does leave you with a "What the hell?" feeling and thinking we've been left out of knowing so much about Earth's past. Can we trust the history we're told or is it someone's revision of the truth? I'm left with, I'm just here for the ride. It's getting a little bumpy.