TIN CAN TOURISTS
Imagine it’s a fall day and you live in Michigan (or Ohio or Wisconsin or any of the other northern states where raking leaves is an annual pain). You know another freezing winter is just around the corner; one cold enough that you dream about escaping to sunny Florida to bask in the warmth of the south, play a game or two of shuffleboard, go fishing on the flats, take an afternoon nap beneath the palms, and end your day toasting the sunset with a colorful cocktail.
Except that it’s the early 1900s and the only way to get to Florida is via passenger train and the only people who can afford to board a passenger train are the wealthy, which you are not. True, there are automobiles, like the Ford Model T, but it’s the early 1900s and the United States lacks a road system to get you from up north to down south. So you’ll spend another year suffering the brutal cold of winter.
That’s just the way life is. Or is it?
Along comes 1915 and the creation of the Dixie Highway, a national road system (some dirt, some gravel, some newly paved) that connects towns and cities all the way from Michigan to Florida. The race is on for families to escape the cold by heading south. Actually, it wasn’t a race, because it took an average of 17 days (about 100 miles per day) to make the trip. You and others loaded up Model T Fords with tents, cooking gear, food, clothing, and everything else needed to spend the winter months in Florida.
There were no campgrounds, so tents were set up in city parks in Arcadia, Sarasota, St. Petersburg,
