Welcome to the Future.

Brad Paisley is one of my favorite country singer/songwriters. I think his lyrics are brilliant; sometimes funny, sometimes sweet. One of my favorite songs is "Welcome to the Future". If you don't know it, Google the lyrics. They range from funny to profound as he looks back over his past and sees how the world has changed. His song came to mind, recently.

Travel has really changed from the days when I was a kid. For one thing, travel trailers, or campers, were about 15 feet long and were pulled behind a pickup truck. Our 35' Class A RV probably wasn't even an idea for the drawing board yet. But our last trip gave me pause, when we stopped at a rest area in Florida.

For you kiddos of today (anyone under the age of 40 will probably qualify) you have it pretty good. Be happy. Rest Areas are not what they used to be. Looking back to the '60's when I was a kid on a cross country trip with my parents, I remember a trip we took out west. Travel, back then, was just a different experience than it is now. Turnpikes were the express route. Most roads were simple two-lane roads through America's rural landscape. We fixed picnic lunches in the motel in the morning, because you never knew where you would find a restaurant or what it would be like.

As we drove down the highway around lunchtime, my parents would start scanning roadside signs for a pull-off with a picnic table. If you found a really nice one there might be a parking area for a few cars and two or three picnic tables. And if you were really lucky there would be a porta-potty. But usually it was just one picnic table and a path into the bushes for a "Discover your own" restroom. Of course, we could always look for a gas station. I don't remember anything good about using the gas station restroom, except on a rainy day, it provided four walls and a roof. To this day, most people shudder when they think back to the conditions of those gas station restrooms! EW..... ugh.

Well, on a recent RV trip through Florida, we stopped at a newly renovated Rest Area. I got out to stretch my legs and started walking. The RV parking lot was huge. It probably covered as much space as a regular parking lot on a standard rest area. After I trekked the RV lot, I got to the Truck lot for tractor trailers. It too, was huge. Finally, I got to the Car parking lot, right in front of the main building which housed restrooms, a welcome center, and of course the vending machines.

And then I got to the dog run.

Let me rephrase that. Then I got to the Dog Park!

Maggie and I traveled many miles, and over the years we have searched for the perfect pee spot. We have huddled on narrow strips of grass surrounded by moving vehicles, or scrounged through scrub brush, dirt and empty cans at the back of a parking lot as she found a suitable place to relieve herself, all the while, attached to me by a 4 foot leash. How she would have loved this place. How I would have loved a place like this!

There were two separate runs, (one for small dogs and one for large dogs), each complete with a double entrance, a large open area for the dogs to run and play, a bench for people, and a shade tree. (For those of you who have never taken advantage of a dog park the double entrance provides a safe area where the owner can leash or unleash his dog prior to entering the run or leaving the park.) The small dog run was as large as the large dog run and both were quite spacious. I've seen community dog parks that weren't much bigger. A couple of us stood around and marveled at the dog park. One woman remarked, "you can tell we are in Florida". I'm not sure if she was referring to the use of tax dollars or Floridians love of pets. (Both points have some validity) The dog park at a rest area really had me. I thought it was marvelous.

And then as I got to the front of the building, I noticed a sign I've never seen before. 

"Preferred Parking for Alternative Fuel Vehicles"? I'm guessing it was for electric or hybrid cars....a charging station? I didn't see any plugs but that's what came to mind. I'm still wracking my brain for what other kinds of "Alternative Fuel Vehicles" there could be.

Huge parking areas for cars, trucks, and RV's, security officers, fenced and shaded dog runs....
I never imagined such things back when I was holding on to my hat and my sandwich as I stood in the wind, by an old beat-up picnic table surrounded by ants, or braved the restroom at the back of a gas station.

But then, I never envisioned traveling with a home and car in one vehicle, like a turtle at warp speed. (By the way, I never ventured into the Welcome Center. Now I also travel with my own bathroom.)

Again, I hear Brad Paisley singing..."Welcome to the Future."