Travel thoughts

Recently I was on another trip on American Airlines, this time Dallas to Charlotte, North Carolina, and again wondering what our ancestors of only 100 years ago would have thought. As the crow flies it’s about 1,060 miles.

In 1912 they would have possibly used rail or driven on rough roads to complete the journey I’m taking. Today, even taking into consideration the time spent removing shoes and belts to get through the TSA check point it only takes three to four hours.

Maybe a Model T Ford, with very hard rubber tires and unforgiving suspension could have made the trip over the mountains, lakes and rivers – did a road exist? Speeds then may have got up to 15 or even a racy 20 miles an hour – non-stop driving, though impossible to achieve, would have taken about 8 days to complete the trip assuming 15 miles per hour and 10 hour days. There may also have been issues finding gasoline along the route, no 7-11’s on every corner. I know there were railways but the necessary link may not have been in place to make the trip possible.

Take that back a further 50 years to civil war times, which would have been on horseback or wagon – that at a maybe 4 miles an hour with again 10 hours a day traveling – at total of nearly 27 days and some very tired horses.

Again fast forward 100 years how long will this trip take, will there be Star Trek transporters, or some light speed travel? Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to look into the future as easily as we are able to look into our past?