Russell’s Travel Center sits on a New Mexico hill just before the Texas/ New Mexico State Line. It is close to Endee, one of those almost vanished New Mexico towns that shrink smaller and smaller as time barrels forwards. At Russell’s you can gas up, have something to eat, buy food, use restrooms, draw cash from an ATM, and, most importantly, take a trip down memory lane. There is a car and culture exhibit in the Travel Center that is a blast to the past. While the 1920’s roared, danced around the edges of a champagne glass, the 1930’s were filled with clouds of dust and long faces. The 1940’s were filled with World War 2. The 1950’s were a return to consumerism, family, stability and hard work chasing your dreams in a country that encouraged you to look to make bigger and better things, have bigger and better ideas, and hitch your coat-tails to the best of capitalism. The 60’s were a crack in the Liberty Bell with dissent and revulsion by kids against morals and tradition.  This exhibit in the travel center holds icons of my 1950’S generation. Roy Rogers, Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, Betty Boop, Elvis Presley are some of the 1950’s icons.  Big chrome laden cars, soft drink machines, rock and roll music and parking meters were playing cards in our deck. To nieces and nephews it is hard to describe rotary phones, push lawn mowers, Dewey decimal card catalogs, the KKK, life without pizza and hamburgers, black and white TV’s. As old waves go out, new ones pile over the top of them. Being on the bottom is rough tumbling, and, not much fun.