Taking a Sunday Drive

Did you ever go on a weekend drive, when growing up or have you taken any recently? 

Here's some background on the term Sunday driver which originated from a practice that has fallen by the wayside in recent years. But, in the 1920s and 30s taking a drive, mainly in the country, was a form of entertainment. These rides were for pleasure with no destination or rush to get there. Many such drivers drove so slow as to annoy other drivers who were in a hurry to reach their destinations. When WWII gas and rubber rationing hit, these drives were mostly abandoned. By the 1950s, there was an upswing, which quickly faded as people found other weekend interests. A 1970s fuel crisis and increased gasoline costs further caused a decline in these drives. 

The vintage car in the above photo reminded me of Sunday drives with my parents and, in my case, younger brother Our drives were in my parents mid-1950s Mercury auto. Most times, my parents didn't have any special destination. Despite a previous decline, this year, drives to nowhere special have become more popular with many folks and not just on a Sunday. In some religions, such drives can be considered inappropriate if done on Sunday or Sabbath.

That might explain why both Grenville and myself still enjoy these drives. The difference is that now we're the motorists and not just the passengers; one of us still had that status last weekend. A lot of fall color is showing up throughout New England. This weekend, we took a look-see locally in NH.

All the photos in this post were taken while on the drive, fortunately that part was left to Grenville. We went only about 20 miles through a few towns near Nashua, NH and a short drive to Pepperell, MA, where's we hoped to see skydivers. These photos were taken with an iPhone since the best camera is the one you have with you, so this was mine.

Power and utility lines are unavoidable on most roadway drives even when not traveling major routes as we were doing. For the purposes of this post, I didn't take time to remove any.

Luckily, we passed some open fields, and it was possible to snap a colorful grouping through the car side window without any interfering lines. In future travels, we expect to see foliage scenes where there are none; fall colors are slowly starting in nearby Mine Falls Park, a favorite walk.

The skies looked threatening and there were a few sprinkles as we drove along. It never rained during this outing, even though rain is sorely needed here. Unfortunately, the dense cloud cover cancelled the skydiving. We plan to return another time, as spectators not participants.

Steady rain is expected later this week, followed by temps seasonably cooler than the high 70s of last week and weekend. 

Weather permitting this week, we expect to be taking another road trip. Fall colors can be fleeting once they start. Colder areas are up close to peak foliage color.

How are the fall colors in your area? We hope that you will be able to get outside and enjoy the beautiful autumn palette as much as we do where we can safely social distance, unmasked.

We ❤️ Autumn 🍁🍂 and here's another favorite, great niece Autumn Rose, who will celebrate her 1st 🎂 birthday in NJ next month. we last saw her at 3 months of age and now she's starting to take her first steps. Yikes! We would like to see her and other family members before she starts school, hopefully much sooner.