Faded Memories

TUCUMCARI, NEW MEXICO: Paradise Café, once a stopping point for great burgers and a tank full of fuel in the 1950’s. The location also became the site of the Paradise Motel. However, fire took the motel while vandalism eventually took the small gas station and restaurant. Both, are now a memory along the scenic Route 66.

While the old route is filled with abandonment, the foundations still remind us of the past.

“Memories and thoughts age, just as people do. But certain thoughts can never age, and certain memories can never fade.”

— Haruki Murakami, Japanese writer

Somewhere between California and Arizona on Route 66... A small piece of what our history once looked like.

The old phone booth stands in front of a closed / abandoned soda shop.

Leaving the Past

People leave places and memories for so many reasons, some still owning the old and afraid to fully let go of it. Others leave and never need or want to look back.

American sociologist and Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley Robert N. Bellah stated, “Leaving home in a sense involves a kind of second birth in which we give birth to ourselves."

When you leave something or someone / they leave you and you held tightly to it for decades, you never fully leave and it is always hidden in your grasp... You just quit voicing the memory and that is okay to have that history - just don't live there.

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Photo: Abandoned 55 miles from Nashville in the countryside of Bedford County, TN

Be Careful What You See in the Past

There is no turning back at certain points of life, other than to remember the past as opposed to living the past.

Behavioral Scientist Dr. Steve Maraboli has studied life and talks about the difficulties that are presented to each of us, "Life doesn’t get easier or more forgiving, we get stronger and more resilient."

The author also wrote in his book "Life, the Truth, and Being Free," “Sometimes life knocks you on your ass... get up, get up, get up!!! Happiness is not the absence of problems, it's the ability to deal with them.”

Today, don't look back with regret and what-if's, but instead look forward with what you learned from the past.

Urban Decay in Florida

Empty, abandoned, deserted or vacant are all similar in so many ways... They are all alone or without any.

Jon Krakauer, author of "Into the Wild" wrote about the detriment of loneliness based on the last days of life for a man named Christopher McCandless who ceased all communication with friends in 1990 after college graduation.

McCandless went on an Alaskan journey where he lived on his own, alone. He lived for 112 days in an abandoned bus before dying.

“Happiness is only real when shared." - Christopher McCandless

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To feel that way or to be in that place is to be without the help of others. It is a humbling experience that some pick while others are forced to receive due to the circumstances of life.
However you arrived at the empty place, you should not make an effort at staying at that location as it will only equal more loneliness.

An article in Psychology Today suggested that being lonely can equal real physical pain. The article stated:

“In one experiment, the use of Tylenol lessened the aches of loneliness. With a dose of acetaminophen, scans of lonely individuals showed reduced activity in pain-processing areas of the brain. In addition, loneliness heightens the fight-or-flight response—a physiological reaction when a person faces harm or danger. This heightened response can make a person irritable, even angry. The sense of threat may feed a detrimental cycle of isolation and disconnection.”

Photo: Abandoned motel on the back roads to Florida.

Urban Decay: The death of an amusement park

It was like walking through a bad movie set in California… At the same time, it felt as if someone was watching my every step.

I was at Guntown Mountain Amusement Park in Cave City, Kentucky. The park opened in 1969 and closed down a number of years ago. It was later purchased by a Louisville, KY businessman who had big dreams in 2015. Will Russell renamed the park “Funtown Mountain” and reopened it with the idea of a multi-million dollar renovation plan set for the near future.

While the park was once again opened in 2015, the renovation plan was never executed.

The Courier Journal newspaper reported that Mr. Russell saw his plans threatened after a severe manic episode related to bipolar disorder. Later that year, the Cave City Police Department shut down Funtown after vandalism and looting were reported on the property. The article suggested that Will Russell somehow instigated the crime, but failed to report as to why that accusation was made.

The newly named Funtown was quickly closed for good when bank payments could not be made on loans to keep the park active. It was later sold at Auction in April of 2016 for less than $300,000. The new owner had grand plans of turning the property into a resort complete with zip lines, cabins and an indoor water park. Those grandiose plans have yet to materialize and the park sits like the movie set of an old Friday the 13th movie.

“We're all lonely for something we don't know we're lonely for. How else to explain the curious feeling that goes around feeling like missing somebody we've never even met?” 
― David Foster Wallace, American Writer (1962-2008)