The simpler days of motoring weren't necessarily better. People still drove fast, but there was less traffic. Cars weren't as safe, but, well, there was less traffic. Think of how rest stops, for instance, were originally designed. The sites were meant to be as bucolic as possible. The rest areas were set back in the woods. Peaceful. A place to rest your weary eyes. There's a fairly new rest area on I-69 between Lapeer and Imlay City that's absolutely beautiful. You drive up a hill from the freeway and the parking area is set back in the woods. I wish I could live there. But now there's a movement to make the rest areas more visible. I stopped at a rest area on I-94, west of  Kalamazoo, that was simply a flat parking lot laid out right next to the freeway. People were still resting, I guess, but it wasn't bucolic by any stretch of the imagination. I slept for a couple hours early in the morning and, I have to admit, I felt safer being out in the open..