Indholdsfortegnelse for May/June 2024 i Cobblestone American History and Current Events for Kids and Children

It wasn’t the first nor was it the longest interstate highway. But more than any other road, Route 66 is famous in U.S. history. It became a symbol of freedom, opportunity, and the beauty of the American West. Heading south from Chicago, it passed over the mighty Mississippi River and then headed almost directly west before stopping near an amusement pier on the shores of the Pacific Ocean. It linked small towns along a tourist road. It also connected major cities on an important trucking route. Some travelers on this road were looking for the fastest way to reach California. Others just sought an interesting route to leisurely explore. Oklahoma official Cyrus Avery was an early supporter of a southwestern route to California. As a member of the state highway…

Do you get bored when you are stuck in the car on long trips? Here are a few ideas to help make those times more enjoyable. Some can be played on the spot. Others require a little advance planning. Either way, you’ll be ready to roll on any trip. Alphabet Game 2 Pick a category, such as movies, famous people, titles of books, or titles of songs. Beginning with “A,” take turns going through the alphabet to see if you can name something in the selected category for all 26 letters. A variation of this game is to let each person try to do the A-to-Z list on his or her own while racing against the clock. LICENSE PLATE Make a list of all the state license plates you see…

I love history, and I’ve spent many vacations going to historic places. (Civil War battlefields are some of my favorites!) But I also love exploring by car and just enjoying the scenery. I took the gang on a tour of some of my all-time favorite drives. Take a look! West Coast California’s Route 1 follows more than 650 miles of road along the Pacific Ocean. It has been designated an All-American Road for having some of the most beautiful coastal scenery in the country. Beginning in northern California, the highway winds through historic places such as Monterey, which was once the state capital, and Carmel, which is the site of California’s second-oldest Spanish mission, Mission San Carlos Borromeo del Rio Carmelo. In the Big Sur region, you’ll be amazed at…

Scenic road trips aren’t exclusive to the United States. Check out these famous international drives. DOWN UNDER One of the best drives in Australia is the 151-mile-long Great Ocean Road. It runs along the southeastern coast between Torquay and Warrnambool. Built by soldiers returning from World War I (1914–1918), it was designed to be a war memorial to those who had died in the conflict. The two-lane road winds along the ocean past landmarks such as the Otways rain forest and distinctive limestone and sandstone rock formations, including the Twelve Apostles, London Arch, and the Grotto. Road-trippers can also stop to listen to Thunder Cave or take a break from their cars and hike on the Great Ocean Walk, which connects 65 miles of walking trails. On the (Silk) Road…

Dr. Horatio Nelson Jackson agreed to a wager that made road-trip history on May 19, 1903. He proposed to drive across the continent within three months. He wanted to disprove the belief that over long distances “the automobile was an unreliable novelty.” Although he had learned to drive only a few weeks earlier, Jackson was enthusiastic about the new vehicles. He thought he could succeed where earlier transcontinental trips in 1899 and 1901 had failed miserably. The wealthy young doctor had enough money, time, and optimism for such an adventure. He decided to drive from San Francisco, where he was on vacation at the time, to New York City. After wishing him luck, his wife, Bertha, took the train back East to wait for him at home in Vermont. Jackson…

Between 1914 and 1924, inventor Thomas A. Edison, automotive pioneer Henry Ford, rubber tire developer Harvey Firestone, and nature writer John Burroughs took weeks-long autocamping trips together. Calling themselves the Four Vagabonds, the close friends traveled in luxury as they toured the nation. They drove in new cars while custom-built trucks hauled their food and gear. One Ford truck was rebuilt to serve as a kitchen on wheels. When all their tents were set up, their campsites looked like miniature cities. Once, when the Vagabonds camped on private property, Firestone had to convince an angry woman that the man reading a newspaper on her lawn really was Edison, the famous inventor! Like the first auto-campers, the Four Vagabonds were never sure exactly where they were headed. They were in it…

When people share their memories of Route 66, its billboards and neon signs always come up. In fact, some advertisements along the road have become as famous as the road itself. Take, for example, the creative use of billboards. Travelers through Arizona saw the words “87 miles” next to a jack rabbit silhouette, and then later “69 miles” with the same picture. The signs got more frequent, until the final jack rabbit billboard read, “HERE IT IS.” The owners of the Jack Rabbit Trading Post hoped that by the time the last sign was reached, kids would be begging their parents to get out of the car and find out what “it” was. Muffler Men also caught motorists’ attention. These 20-foot fiberglass statues of mechanics, lumberjacks, and other characters lured…

The earliest car headlamps were fueled by oil. By 1912, an automobile electrical system was designed, which powered a car’s headlamps. The first commercial radio was installed in a car in 1930. It offered AM frequency only. FM radio was not included until 1952. The first car trunks were literally separate crates strapped onto the rear of automobiles. Trunks were incorporated into a car’s design in the early 1930s. Air conditioning was first installed in 1939. Automatic or powered windows became available in 1940. Prior to then, a crank rolled windows up or down. The modern safety belt—with one strap over the lap and a second strap crossing from the shoulder to the lap—appeared in cars in 1959.…

Imagine living in a place where your front yard is constantly changing but the grass never needs mowing, where going to school means a field trip, and where every day is full of new discoveries, new people, and new things to learn. Sound exciting? It is, say the growing number of families who give up a conventional home to live, travel, study, and work full-time in their RVs (recreational vehicles). For families who want to explore and who have a taste for adventure, a house on wheels can be an amazing experience. But what’s it really like to be a kid growing up on the road? Let’s hear from the experts themselves. The Palmer Family Mark, Stephanie, April (11), Joshua (7), Caleb (1), and Maximus, the dog Avid fisherman April…

Car is defined today as an “automobile or vehicle.” But centuries ago, the word referred to a “chariot, cart, or carriage.” The word’s origins come from an Old French variation of the Latin word carra, which referred to an “ancient type of wagon.” The English language has several words that are used to refer to a machine that people drive. Automobile is defined as a “self-propelled passenger vehicle that usually has four wheels and an internal-combustion engine, used for land transport.” The word comes from the French, which combined the Greek auto (meaning “self”) and the French mobile (meaning “moving”) to combine as one word. Vehicle is defined as a “device or structure for transporting persons or things.” It derives from the Latin words vehiculum and vehere. Vehere means “to…

A vocal group of Americans expressed frustration with the state of rural roads in the late 1800s. Most early roads were built and maintained by private groups in the individual states through which they passed. Roads often were just spurs that did not really connect to other places or other roads. The majority of roads were just dirt. Rutted or covered with gravel, roads turned to mud in the winter and clouds of dust in the summer. They were simply impassable, and serious bicyclists began to take action. That’s right, bicyclists. In the 1880s, several decades before automobiles became a familiar sight on America’s roads, bicycles were all the rage. And bicycle riders wanted the same privileges as those given to horse-drawn vehicles. They wanted their own paths alongside public…

Ask a group of people to help complete this story. Read the clue below each blank line and ask someone to provide you with a word that fits that description. Encourage silly answers—the result will be funnier! Once all the blanks are filled in—and only then—read the entire story aloud. If you email your “story” to cobblestone@cricketmedia.com, we’ll print the best ones in a future issue. Please include “COBBLESTONE’s Road-Trip Story” in the subject line!…