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See the USA at Chevyland

Contributed by: Stan Dyer on 8/23/2007



Back when people used to get their kicks on Route 66, a number of roadside attractions sprang up. There were restaurants, Stuckeys', big balls of yarn, a corn maze and, from time to time, some type monument or museum. A few of them still survive, and one of these is Chevyland right off I-80 between Ogallala and Grand Island in Nebraska. Since my first car was a Chevy (and a man never forgets his first girl), I had to stop in and take a peek.

It was right off the highway, but still a little difficult to locate. The crowds have stopped coming. It seems that people take road trips now just to get from one place to another. In days gone by, people used to take road trips to wander about, visit the heartland and see the USA in their Chevrolets. When I arrived, I wasn't even sure I was in the right place. We were the only ones there.

I walked inside and waited a few minutes before someone came to take the $6 admission fee. Even though the inventory was greatly depleted, there was still plenty to see. In addition to a wide variety of Chevys, there were other models of automobile, bicycles, motorcycles and other ghosts of days gone by. I loved the collection of hubcaps, banners and advertising media from the '50s and '60s. I didn't like that there were a lot of flat tires and a layer of dust all about the place.

I spoke with the owner, and it seems that most people have lost interest, including his kids. He keeps the place open, but I seriously believe he would sell out if anyone would come in and make him any serious offer. Part of me loved it, and part of me felt sad. I knew Chevyland was dying.

I loved it because it reminded me of my youth, all the Chevy commercials from the '60s, and that old orange '54 Chevy my mom owned that was the first car I remember riding in. We didn't have kid seats, booster seats or even seatbelts, but we did have those great steel dashboards. That might go a long way toward explaining my condition. Back then, my grandfather had a blue and white '53 Chevy that he later traded for a '65 Impala, Mom drove the orange '54 and my aunt had a two-tone '55. I guess we were a Chevy family. My cousin's first car was a '64 Impala and mine was a '62 BelAir. During my youth, my family also owned a Chevy II Nova, two Chevy Pick-ups and my second car was a '63 red and white Impala.

The sad part was the realization that the old days were long since gone. In a way, Chevyland represented my youth, which faded as rapidly as those carefree days of the '60s and '70s. You can look back at it, you can touch it, you can smell it and you can remember it, but you can never go back. Like a window of opportunity that is only open for a short while, it's now over and people don't seem to care. People are too busy moving into the future to enjoy the present and appreciate the past. So it is with Chevyland.

Slowly being buried by a growing layer of dust like a modern Pompeii, Chevyland represents the old days before color TV, before cell phones and before computers. It reminds me of a line inscribed above the "old" front door at George Norlin Library on the campus of the University of Colorado in Boulder that reads, "Who knows only his own generation remains always a child." I know more than just my own generation, but I hope I always keep some of that child in my heart. Places like Chevyland help me do it. It's still the Heartbeat of America to me.


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Showing 1-2 of 2 comments
Submitted By: Joan-Marie Reed
posted on 8/27/2007 @ 11:55:00 PM
Rated Story
Stan, your passion for the written word is hypnotizing. I was swept away by this story, and share your sense of loss of the past. It's bittersweet, isn't it?
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Submitted By: Brendan Leonard
posted on 8/23/2007 @ 2:08:45 PM
Rated Story
Kind of related: I used to wait on the guy who came up with the slogan "The Heartbeat of America." He had an ad agency in the town where I went to college.
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Showing 1-2 of 2 comments
CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Stan Dyer

Arvada , CO

Stan Dyer has posted 866 stories and 103 comments since joining on 9/14/2005. Stan Dyer 's average story rating is 4.92.
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