But... but...

[sid]

I don't DO historical AUs!

But it's funny what comes into one's head during a six hour drive (including a miserable hour going virtually nowhere.)

I've got this whole post-WWI road trip idea that would just take WAY too much research... but I do like research. *g*

Jack's driving to Denver for a job and picks up a hitchhiker, who's also headed for Denver.

Yeah, I'll have to do a little research just to see if my ideas are feasible, or if my dates are off.

I mean, what year would it have to be for a teenage boy to build a crystal radio set and wow everybody with the spiffy new technology.  What could he pick up on it?

What kind of beat up old car would Jack be driving in that year, and what would the roads be like?  How much other automobile traffic?  I'm pretty sure there were already auto clubs and maybe they gave out road maps?

Did Americans really fly with the Royal Air Corps before 1917, or am I imagining that part?

Dammit.  *g*

Comments

[princessofgeeks]

what a fantastic time period. america was in such ferment just after the Great War. Roads were very marginal; road building didn't really take off until after WWII. I'm not sure when the Model T came along but it was the first widely available, priced for the common man, car. Before that cars were specialty items. Until 1920 it was still Get A Horse most places.

I don't know about the technology thing but Wikipedia should be able to tell you about the crystal radio thing and the RAF. Planes were definitely a part of WWI, but in their early stages. I know US radio regulation was given a boost by the Titanic disaster (was that 1914?) but radio was an amateurish mess until the late 20s. There was a also a huge oil boom going on in the south and southwest.

I love that whole Between the Wars decade -- America was so isolated from the "end of an age" feeling in Europe, but we really did get dragged kicking and screaming into the 20th century then. And the Depression was a huge turning point.

Between the wars was a great time for women and a lousy lousy time for minorities -- the minority situation was quite grim. Women got the vote in 1921 so the postwar years were full of that.

*ponders*

Happy ruminating.

[sid]

I did do some research last night and bookmarked a bunch of stuff.

Crystal sets really started taking off around 1920 as did early radio broadcasting.

Yanks did serve as pilots in the Royal Flying Corps.

Roads outside of cities would be mostly dirt.

Jack would definitely be driving a Model T, and the closed-body option came along in 1915, which fits nicely with sheltering from the rain. *g*

*sighs* The only thing that won't work is my vision of Jack teaching Daniel to drive by putting his hand over Daniel's on the gear-shift. Shifting's all done with the feet. *pouts*