At Home on the Road
At Home on the Road
A Fleeting History of the American Dream in RVs
This chapter presents the impacts of the RV on recreation and American lifestyle. The Great American Road Trip, now seen exclusively as a rite of passage for young males, once involved young women as well. The most famous young woman who RVed across the country was Emily Post in 1916. Even families chose to traverse the continent by automobile. Their well-publicized endeavors inspired the Good Roads movement, and ultimately the construction of the Lincoln Highway, later Route 66, and still later the north-south Dixie Highway. Although the railroads opposed national funding for transcontinental highways, they could not subdue Americans' passion for “going out for a drive.” Two other factors helped make auto camping popular. The first was the widespread panic caused in 1915, when more than 1,200 passengers died in the sinking of the Lusitania, and the second was the impact of modern public relations.
Keywords: RV, auto camping, Lusitania, public relations, Great American Road Trip, Emily Post, Good Roads movement, Lincoln Highway, Route 66, Dixie Highway
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